Winter, June 2013

June is almost over and we have already had some pretty awful weather. All the better for getting stuck into new creative projects with the heater cranked up and our minds firmly focused on what we are doing!
Winter is a great time to gather together and share new skills and our lovely warm studio at both the monthly workshops ($20), and Saturday and Wednesday when the studio is open*, ($10, or $8 if you buy a concession card). Don't forget The Third Thursday evening members' evening at 7pm either, it is a great time to meet up, share ideas and use the facilities we have, and it is free!  Parking is pretty good, but you might like to bring a torch as the street lights are a bit far apart on these dark nights. We have a movement sensitive light above our door, and we fly our banner above the window when the studio is open.

Actions you can take!
Send me a photo, of you or a piece of your work, and a few words about yourself. I will post them here to introduce ourselves to each other. joannacrompton@gmail.com  It could be a good way to find other members to share resources and time with! Or just post a request by sending a comment at the end of this newsletter.

We are also looking for good photos of your work to include on a beautiful bookmark that Crystal will design for the guild. It will be used as a giveaway to encourage people to find out all about us, and come and do some courses etc. You can send them to her at quartzcrystal@hotmail.com

*Don't forget you can contact one of the members in the list in the right hand column to organize time in the studio at other times.

Social Media:
There is a facebook page set up where people share what is going on and some great photos are there too. Click on the following link for that.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Silversmiths-Guild-of-Canterbury/178480395532782

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM is coming up on Monday 29th July, 7pm at our Studio Workshop at 39C Tanner St. There will be light refreshments provided, and we are hoping there will be a good turnout now that things are gradually settling down after all our earthquake upheavals.

Please consider whether you can give some time to serve on the committee for the following year, or if there are any other skills you can share with us. It is a rewarding, fun group of people to be involved with!

All paidup members will receive a mailout with the required paperwork for the AGM. If you didn't receive my email announcing the AGM, or want to update your membership, or your contact details need updating, please email Anita Parris who has taken on the membership secretary job for us. her email address is anitagann@yahoo.com

Coming Up - For your Diaries

¶ Saturdays Workshop Open, $10, or $8 with concession card 9.30am-1pm

July:  6th, 13th & 14th Casting- Investment & Lost Wax Workshop,  20th, 27th

August: 3rd, 10th Precious Metal Clay Workshop, 17th, 24th, 31st

 

¶ Wednesdays Workshop Open, $10, or $8 with concession card  

 10am-3pm

July: 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st

August: 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th

¶ Free Clubnight, 3rd Thursday of the Month, 7pm-10pm

July: 18th

August: 15th

 

¶ Monthly Committee Meetings, 1st Monday of each Month, 7pm - how long it takes

July Members' Workshop - Investment & Lost Wax Casting Weekend  

13th and 14th July

This is another fabulous workshop, and we have been unable to hold it for a couple of years so it is much looked forward to. 

Basically, the first part is creating wax versions of what you want to cast. These waxes are then placed in a mold and a plaster cast created. This is dried overnight, and fired in a kiln on Sunday morning, removing the wax in preparation for casting. The next part has an excitement all of its own! The silver scrap or granules are melted and poured into the mold, which is mounted in the centrifuge. This is released and spins furiously, forcing the molten silver into the spaces left when the wax was melted away in the kiln. The mold is then dropped into a bucket of water and the plaster falls away, leaving your silver ready for the finishing as you desire.

It is a very exciting process, and has been very popular in the past. The whole weekend still only costs you $20, plus any silver granules you may need to purchase. Bring all those accumulated scraps, ideas, some lunch, any tools you think will be useful for carving, and a certain level of anticipation!

Places are limited so ring Arthur on 03 382 1332 to secure yourself a place.
Take a look at the links in the left hand column for a bit of inspiration. Perhaps you can share some sites you have found in the comment box at the end of this newsletter - hint, hint!

Repousse´ Workshop

Saturday 8^th June.

It was a great Saturday workshop - and a very full one at that - when we all gathered at our new studio for the “Repousse and Chasing Workshop”, run by Arthur Harrison.

If you can picture those old fireplace covers, usually in copper or brass, that had ‘pushed out’ or 3D images on them, usually of hunting dogs or some kind of farming scene, then that is the technique of Repousse.

A selection of tools and a pitchpot

Using the large selection of chasing and dapping tools at our finger tips we started by sketching out a design on the metal – either Brass (easiest), Copper (thicker, so harder to indent but still effective), or Silver (a bit expensive for most of us who were trying it for the first time) then heating up the metal to soften it.

Designing on paper

After the metal was cooled off and dried, a tool was selected and the process of hammering in the design began, using your selected tool and a hammer. I should also note that actually scratching in your design helped in the long run, considering the heating and cooling processes involved.

Silver piece in progress, showing the attachment to a wood block

For stability, the pieces of metal we were working on were either drilled through then nailed onto a piece of wood, or were clamped on. Alternatively if the wood was too hard, the metal could be placed onto a piece of lead, which was surprisingly soft, so a design could end up quite deep. Also available was ‘pitch’, a tar-like substance that needed to be heated, and the metal pushed in so it was ‘gripped’ by the pitch. Mounting metal in pitch is similar to mounting a piece in setters wax, for those that have used that.

Working on a pitchpot and closeup of wolf design set into pitch

Tap, tap, tap!

The design was then worked in from the back, by selecting a tool and hitting it in with a hammer, gradually hardening the metal so it needed to be heated again to soften it, and the process repeated. A piece could also be worked from the front to define a strong outline or add detail.

The trickyness was to keep in mind that everything was reversed, so for example if you wanted ‘deep set eyes’, then on the back of the piece the area around the outside of the eyes would be hammered in. I had a bit of a challenge with this myself and ended up having to tap on the front also, to keep the eyes deep set while the surrounding metal rose up.

A tip from Arthur is that plasticine could be used fill the back of the piece, if the front needed more work, then alternatively the piece could sit on the plasticine face-down, so the back could be worked. This would be a cleaner way to work, but not the best choice – lead, pitch or a soft wood is much better.

I should mention that to finish a piece, the indented creation could be mounted onto a flat piece of metal and worn as a 3D piece of jewellery, or it could be left hollow and worn that way. Repousse also looks great as a lid for a jewellery box, or art for art’s sake and mounted on a wall. It’s a very flexible technique and could provide an artistic challenge for a variety of end-products.

We saw some great work done on the day with a wide variety of patterns, textures, tools used, different depths, different metals and sizes of the designs undertaken. It was very inspiring to see all the creativity and originality on the day.

Special thanks to Arthur for teaching this great workshop, lending tools and bits and pieces, and generally going above and beyond to ensure we were all making the most of our day in the workshop.

- Crystal Mathieson.

Summary of June Committee Meeting

Minutes for SSG Committee Meeting

June Monday 10th 2013, 7pm

Apologies: Karen Atherton, Noeline Walker, Solvejg Ruarus

Previous Minutes:

Corrections to previous minutes still need to be done. ‘No receipt for membership subs will be issued unless requested.’

Minutes accepted as read.

Arthur is still waiting for the builders to respond regarding filling the gaps in our floor. He will follow this up.

Treasurer’s report for AGM.

There are some problems reading the files Diederic sent.

There is a loss if we include the silverstock. the silver stock seems to be confusing things with the value of silver fluctuating globally.

Running costs are in profit.

Online payments for silver are proving problematic, with some sales needing to be followed up. A better system may need to be developed. Would a WiFi connection help, making online payments from the workshop at the time the sale was made? We will ask Solvejg to take the slips to Diederic during the week. Sirnames must be included on the slips to remove any confusion when the online payment comes through.

Fran was happy with the way the accounts have been presented for the year, an is happy to take the same job of reviewing our accounts next year. We sent her a gift voucher as a thankyou.

Classes Report:

For the 3rd Term

Tuesday Night, Level 1  - 10 students enrolled and paid. This class is now full

Wednesday Night, Level 2 - 4 confirmed studens, 2 paid

Thursday Morning, 4 confirmed, 2 level 1 and 2 level 2. 2 paid.

We will continue to advertise, and Noeline will contact her data base, and see if there is any interest from current students.

We would prefer not to mix levels in the evening classes.

For the AGM:

Monday 29th July, 7pm at the studio, 39C Tanner St.

Committee members will supply supper

Only paid up members can vote.

Members will be notified by email 6 weeks before the AGM - Jo will do this

All paper information will be posted out 3 weeks before the AGM

Anita will follow up membership, and mail out membership cards.

Bookmarks

Crystal has a quote for printing out some bookmarks, which will be used for publicity

Full colour, glossy finish on the front, black and white on the back

Master Classes:

Discussion regarding providing members with some masterclasses, particularly for members who have belonged a long time and may have already attended our regular workshops many times already.

Kobi Bosshard is available on the 19th or 26th October.

He is interseted in holding a class on the Design Process. (on paper)

We need to sort out costs, for accomodation, getting to Christchurch, and teaching rates, to determine the cost of the class. Solvejg will follow this up.

There will be a limit of 14 places.

Nicla Roake will be holding a class on Silver Raising on the 14th September, which will have a similar price structure

We may open these courses to non-members if we can’t fill the spaces from the membership.

Tutors - New 

We need some new tutors, or at least some who are keen to be ready to step in when required.

Arthur will arrange a ddate for John Ogilvie to set up a problem solving morning for tutors and interested parties.

A training date to be organised for people interested in becoming a tutor, to familiarise them with toos, processes, safety issues etc, and build confidence.

Studio Time:

Studio time on Wednesdays is going well. Saturday is still a bit quiet.

Noeline is filling in for Karen while she is away in the US.

Workshop:

Arthur suggested we need to hook up a couple of vacuumn cleaners to the polishing wheels, in the same way we were set up at the Arts Centre. This should reduce the amount of rouge getting in the air and over everything else.

Next Committee Meeting will be at 7pm, July 1st

Meeting ended at 8.10pm