Teaching Wire Creation Classes
June 16, 2014
This spring I was asked to teach my wire creation classes to a local outdoors club. Look at the great plant stake decorations the kids (and adults) created. If you look closely, you will see bugs and butterflies of all colours and sizes bouncing on the wire spring. There are also some beautiful spiraled wire garnished with gemstones.
I first created these classes for my children’s school for their annual Art Day. I wanted to find something that the kids could make with ease and yet still leave with something exceptional. They did! I designed the first wire working project to be a gentle twisting of copper wire with a spiral on the top. We then wire wrapped real gemstones in and around the twisting copper plant stake.
Our second project became a little more difficult. I wanted something really fun for the kids. Once I came up with a design for a winged insect, I taught the kids step by step as I worked along with them. Nimble fingers are an asset and not everyone has them, but I did discover that every child left with a unique treasure that looked great. They were able to choose from a selection of large gemstones for the bugs abdomen and a smaller gemstone for the head. The wings and thorax are created by using wire wrapping techniques. Once the bug is made, they are attached onto their perch and a spring in the wire is added. Voila! A gift any mother would adore.
My next class was created to show the art of cold forging metal. Garage style hammers and granite slabs are not usually in the jewellers studio, but I needed to find an economical way to let kids try this process out. Luckily, with connection from a local renovation company, I discovered that granite blocks would work nicely to pound out our copper metal. Hammers also worked nicely as they have a rounded edge which is more forgiving than the chasing hammers that jewellers use. We worked on created bookmarks – first shaped out of copper wire, then hammered flat to add strength, dimension and interest. Some embellished them with gemstone beads.
These students were especially creative and found interest in making cuff style bracelets along with wire shaped sea birds. Below you can see another unique bookmark created by a very talented young woman. Of course, along the way, we did have several casualties of granite slabs from the overly enthusiastic metal smiths…..usually our boys.
If you decide to give this a try at home, please use caution by wearing eye protection and ear plugs. Wire can easily scratch the eyes when shaping the metal. The hammering is very loud and can damage your hearing.
Resulting from the creation of these classes, I began making my own bookmarks for sale. Sea Horses, Octopuses, Orchids, and Birds of Paradise became my favourites.
I then began to paint my representation in water colour to symbolize the bookmark features, had them scanned for packaging and put them up for sale along with the original copper bookmark.
My bookmarks can be found in my Etsy shop online at:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/stonewillowjewellery?section_id=7767902&ref=shopsection_leftnav_9
Happy Summer everyone!
Nicole