Harold O'Connor (www.haroldoconnor.com) came to town last week to teach three worshops, and I was fortunate enough to be in two of them: Surface Embellishments and Unconventional Stone setting.
We learned about reticulating sterling Silver, forming and folding metal, laminating copper to silver, laminating gold to silver, plus a demonstration on granulation.
In the stone setting workshop we watched Harold make Sterling Silver cable, a silver cone shaped piece that was then attached to a small stone by pegs and wire, how to use a tap and die set, and how to make a slide mount (among other things).
We learned about reticulating sterling Silver, forming and folding metal, laminating copper to silver, laminating gold to silver, plus a demonstration on granulation.
In the stone setting workshop we watched Harold make Sterling Silver cable, a silver cone shaped piece that was then attached to a small stone by pegs and wire, how to use a tap and die set, and how to make a slide mount (among other things).
Here's Charlene working on reticulation:
And this is Amy, obviously enjoying herself:
Harold brought a few of his works to show us. Here are a couple of my favorites:
It was an excellent workshop. I learned so many new skills that my head is still spinning! I especially enjoyed learning how he reticulates silver and how to fuse gold to silver.
Here is the piece I finished a couple of days ago, inspired by Harold's workshop:
Here is the piece I finished a couple of days ago, inspired by Harold's workshop:
It is made of sterling silver, reticulated silver, granulation, and 22k gold fused to silver. It was then oxidized with liver of sulphur, which gave it all those wonderful colors.