About the Instructors
Meet 2023 MOTM Instructors
Unusual Clasps
Suzanne Williams
October 17-21, 2023
Students will create the following 6 clasp samples in sterling silver: 2 versions of a rotating insert clasp, a basic and a more complex version of that clasp, a rotating key lock clasp, an interlocking puzzle clasp, a wedge lock clasp, and a side-box clasp. These clasp mechanisms can be modified and incorporated in unique and unusual ways, in innumerable variations, into necklace and in some cases bracelet closures - becoming integrated into the design, or as the main attraction of a jewelry piece. Clasps don’t have to be an afterthought at the back of a chain. These are clasp mechanisms that are functional, fun, and invite being taken apart and put back together like a puzzle.
ImPRESSive Earrings
October 17-21
In this workshop, participants will learn how to utilize the hydraulic press to make different styes of earrings. Pancake dies, silhouette dies, embossing dies, impression dies, and complex forming dies (synclastic and anticlastic) will all be utilized to create fabulous earrings in multiples, or for one-of-a-kind works. Participants will learn to fabricate several different earring mechanisms from traditional ear wires to hinged hoops. Emphasis will be placed on taking simple forms such as pancake die cutouts or silhouette-formed shapes and elevating them to more complex forms through scoring and bending, hollow constructed forms, and combining multiples. Other techniques covered in the class will include texturing, complex soldering, hollow construction, finishing methods and patinas.
