Forged metal bracelet jewelry making class

I had the pleasure of teaching another jewelry making class at Gifts of Avalon this past Monday night.  I had two class regulars and two complete newbies to my class.  This class was forging metal with a hammer and block to create a cuff bracelet.










This is Judy, who is one of my class regulars.  She is usually with her "partner in crime" Claudia, who actually had taken the class when I taught it in May.














This is Elaine, who had come from Ocala with her friend Debbie to take the class.


















Judy shows that as a part of hammering the bracelet to a half circle, it also makes a nice smile.















This is Elaine as she's finishing up her bracelet.  You can't tell from the picture, but she was absolutely determined to make that bracelet perfect.  A girl after my own heart!









This is Debbie's finished bracelet.  My photography skills don't allow you to truly appreciate the pinks, blues and golds she was able to get with a torch on this copper bracelet.  The colors really are beautiful.









Judy loved making her bracelet. She left a polished look to her copper bracelet and wore it home that night.  (I think she was happy not to have needed to use the jeweler's saw, but that's another story...)

Lastly is Jill, who has also taken several of my other classes.  She was the class "curve buster" and decided to make two bracelets in the class.  The one further down on her wrist is made of copper, while the other one is made of sterling silver.  She got a chance to use the propane torch and liver of sulfur to expand her metal coloring knowledge.






If you're interested in taking this class, drop me an email.  I schedule classes once a month based on what people are most interested in taking.

Jewelry making class pictures

Last night, I taught my forged metal bracelet class for the first time at Gifts of Avalon.  This was a brand new class, which is tough for me sometimes because I never know if people are going to want to come and learn a new technique or not.  (The woman at the far left in this picture, Claudia is actually responsible for pushing me to come up with new classes!  Her partner in crime, Judy, couldn't make last night's class).

This was a large class of seven students.  Sometimes they can get a little crazy for me as I try to make sure everyone is being tended to, but this class had some great chemistry and they were really focused!  I wish I could play a sound track for this class.  They all had to hammer bracelets and it sounded just like what I'm guessing it does in Santa's workshop during the month of December.  Lots of dinging and hammering!

I wanted to share the finished projects everyone got done.  Most of the class had no metalsmithing or jewelry making experience, but everyone had a new bracelet in under three hours (some even a little faster)!  This bracelet is made from sterling silver.  Chris, one of my class regulars, gave a shiny, mirror, polish.

These bracelets were done by Rebeccah (below) and Christine (right).  They made both of their bracelets from copper.  I showed them how to finish their bracelets by applying heat with a torch.  They got some beautiful pinks, blues, and touch of gold color on their bracelets.

Chuck was my only guy in the class.  He was kind enough to come and make his wife a bracelet.  (Is that dreamy or what??).  Chuck finished his bracelet with a matte finish using steel wool and liver of sulfur to highlight the details.

Remember Claudia from earlier in the post?  This is her bracelet.  She said was HOOKED on making these and wanted to make one for her daughter.  We also talked about what she wants to me to teach next.  *wink*

JoAnn also took the class but managed to sneak away before I could get her bracelet photographed.  (Probably was so good she didn't want to put me to shame.)

 The last two bracelets are from Trude  (copper one on the left) and Susan (sterling silver one on the right).  Both turned out great and Trude completely amazed me by putting her own flair to her bracelet.  (By the way, Trude is one of the shop owners and is always happy to help customers.)

Wow!  It was a great night!!  There were several people on the waiting list for this class, so I will be running it again in early July.  You can contact Gifts of Avalon now to get on the waiting list.

Make your own forged bracelet

I'm teaching a completely new class next month at Gifts of Avalon. In this class, I will show you how to forge a cuff bracelet from your choice of metal. Learn how to make the bracelets shown here. They will post information about upcoming classes in their next newsletter, but you can go ahead and call them directly at 352.379.1272 to sign up.






The top bracelet is made from copper. The bottom bracelet is made from brass. The copper bracelet has been finished to have a "multi color" look, whereas the brass bracelet does not have the patina.









Even if you have no metalsmithing experience, you will be able to make this bracelet.












A model shot! The funny part in this is that I was the model. Hard to hold the camera and extend my arm at the same time, but you get the idea.