September / October

Hello All

Here we are and it's October already - time has got away with me so you have two sets of minutes here. Press on through that and get to Crystal's review of the Cuttlefish Casting workshop! 

Don't forget the AGM tomorrow night - 7th October at 7.30pm, we look forward to seeing you!

There is a bit going on with the evening classes going well with great work from Solvejg, Arthur Crystal, and myself tutoring at the moment. 

We have also had the workshop available for members to use on Saturdays between 10am and 1pm - the next Saturday is this week on the 8th of October. We will be reviewing this after the AGM. It costs the Guild $20 per hour to use the workshop so we will need to work out how to meet that cost if we continue to make Saturdays available - and of course we will have to have a system to have someone there to open and set up too! 

The Cuttlefish Casting workshop went very well, and we are putting on a Delft Clay workshop to follow on Saturday, November 19th, 10am - 4pm, $20. Please contact Arthur on 382 1332 to book your spot. Take a look at the last Delft Clay workshop photos , click on the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/silversmithsguild/sets/72157619972545091/

Check the bar on the right hand side for some tools for sale from Betty Inglewood. A great opportunity to add to your kit, or start up your own workshop.

Karen is back home and making a good recovery , although she is feeling a bit tired and is taking things very easy for a bit. We wish her the very best as she gets back on her feet.

I hope you are all enjoying a creative moment or two as the weather is improving and no doubt, the garden calling too

Cheers

Jo

Minutes for September Committee Meeting

September 5, 2011 

6:30 p.m. at SIT rooms

Apologies:  Chloe, Crystal, Noeline

Present:  John Weeber, John Ogilvie, Karen Atherton, Arthur Harrison, Solvejg Ruarus, Diederic Ruarus

Minutes taken as read.

Workshops:  The tool-making workshop was a great success.  We agreed we should try to schedule a few more workshops.  Arthur, John O. and John W. will organise a cuttlefish.

casting workshop.  Date of Saturday October 1 to be confirmed.

Studio Time:  We will cancel the Saturday classes scheduled for Term 4.  Since we have Saturdays free we can have Studio time on Saturdays for members.  Propose next four Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. open for members to come work.  Karen will be there to

open up and supervise the workshop and will send out email announcing it.  

Classes:  Solvejg and Karen reported that the first month of classes has gone well.  Solvejg will teach  Level One class for Term 4.  Crystal and Jo will teach Level Two class for Term 4.  We will cancel the Saturday classes for Term 4 since only one person has signed up for them.  Karen will try to get the person signed up to move to a weeknight class. 

We discussed offering one-day silver ring making courses for a minimum of 3 people.  We need to charge enough to cover SIT rent, pay the tutors, and pay the Guild something.   Minimum would be three people at $100 each.    

Discussion of AGM plans.  We discussed the agenda for the AGM.  Documents to be attached are constitution, financial documents from Diederic Ruarus, proposed changes to constitution.  Discussed purpose of AGM as both to approve the financial reports and to elect new committee members or confirm current ones until next AGM in June 2012. Diederic proposed that all current members of the executive committee hold their positions until the next AGM". Diederic suggested using the same auditor next year as he used this year.  It will cost $500.

Exhibition discussion:   Karen said there has been no further progress re an exhibition venue.  We agreed to cancel the exhibition plans for this year.  John Ogilvie suggested a BBQ party at his house for members in the summer.  He will let us know when.

Financial:    We have an internet banking account set up with Diederic, Karen and Jo as signers.  Currently we need two signatures to pay bills.  Diederic suggested that the treasurer be allowed to pay bills by himself up to $3000.  Bills over that amount will require authorisation by the other two signers.  Agreed by committee after discussion.

Diederic said that it causes problems when people pay bills online without including a note stating who is paying and for what.  He would like a note in the newsletter asking for cooperation by members.

Susan Brown wants to borrow lost wax casting equipment.   Discussed and decided that she should buy her own crucibles gas and oxygen, and any other consumables.  The hoses, along with new blow-back stopping attachments and the centrifuge will be lent to Susan.  She will need to pay a bond (returnable) of $200.  Solvejg will contact Susan and arrange.

Bond for borrowed items.    Discussed allowing members to borrow tools and place a bond to insure their safe return.  

Discuss one-day workshop plans.   Three people from Culverden want to attend a one-day class geared to making a silver ring.  Discussion regarding what fee to charge.  $100 each plus materials for three people minimum.  We can combine this with studio time. 

Meeting ended 8:05 p.m

Next meeting is AGM on Friday, October 7th. 

Minutes from Canterbury Silversmith Guild October Committee Meeting

Monday 3^rd October 2011

Present; Arthur, Dierdric, Solvej, Jo, John O, John W, Crystal.

Apologies; Noelene, Chloe.

No minutes from previous meeting are available to read.

Tabled resignation from Karen Atherton. Accepted with regret.

Solvej will arrange a token of our appreciation for Karen and Mark.

Dierdric – Structure of Finances Report.

Dierdric also suggests we keep the same account in coming year/s.

Noelene is prepared to be class co-ordinator (as advised by Arthur, as Noelene absent).

She is willing to do this – with a backup. Solvej is willing to be a backup.

Crystal to make sets for student handout – photocopying notes from previous classes.

Will gather information at Fridays AGM.

Jo and Crystal to redo brochure for next year when needed.

Discussing prerequisites for allowing new people to become members of the Guild.

Previously this was run past the Committee. Possible checklist of required skills and/or presenting work to the Committee were some ideas discussed.. Otherwise up to Tutor discretion?

Changes to the Constitution – to be included in the AGM.

Solvej suggest we ask Katrina & Harvey if they would like to re-involve themselves in the Guild/join the committee – when they are back from overseas.

At the AGM we will ask if any members are willing to join the committee.

Arthur is ‘reluctantly’ prepared to take on the role of President.

This issue needs to be decided at the AGM.

Nibbles and drinks at the AGM? Solvej has offered to arrange this.

Studio Time ; Last arranged session this Saturday. The duty of opening up needs to be shared. This also needs to be discussed at the AGM – as well as a possible cost per person for the time, perhaps a gold coin donation or a set $5.00 fee.

Committee agreed to paying Arthur for his time spent tutoring with the rest of the teachers.

Teachers should be paid based on the amount of sessions they teach.

Next Committee meeting will be 6:30pm on the 7^th November.

1^st February – is the start of the new year for the Guild.

Discussed possible Guild Barbeque in February (as used to happen in past years).

John O. is keen to host this barbeque and we’re all very keen for this to happen.

Discussed difficulty with members paying online. Sometimes hard to distinguish who has paid if no further information is given. Best way to do this would be to email a copy of the transaction, and to include your name on the actual transaction.

Meeting Closed 7:30pm.

Cuttlefish Casting Workshop

The Silversmith Guild’s Cuttlefish Casting Workshop went off with a bang! … well actually the bang came later when ‘he who shall remain nameless’ turned off the oxygen and gas in the wrong order. Ahem. Nonetheless it was a wonderful day of attempting to cast objects – like keys, beads and tiny figurines – into the dense powdery substance of a cuttlefish.

Tutors John O, John W and Arthur did a wonderful job of showing us the ropes, with very clear instructions both as a hand-out supplied with the initial introduction (for those who made it on time), and in their patient and enthusiastic hands-on teaching.

All equipment was supplied as well as an initial cuttlefish, then more were available for purchase as needed. There were many successes, many ‘almost successes’, and a lot of ‘attempting’, but for those with the panache to keep trying it was a day well worth the effort. Indeed, some of the pieces that did not appear to work as planned turned out to be extremely successful in their uniqueness and potential, and we look forward to seeing the final products when these casts are worked into finished pieces.

One student walked away with a beautifully completed pendant in a shell-like design, created by scraping the powdery substance into a pattern using dental tools and casting that unique shape. The finish of a cast, when brushed with a brass brush, turns out an originally beautiful finish of it’s own, and there are also many other ways to polish and finish a cast object.

As the day progressed many of us were able to handle more and more of the process independently – with a helpful tutor standing by, which was very empowering.

We had quite a few of our current students – both from the Beginners and Advanced Classes attend, which stands us in good stead for recruiting new members in the near future.

And for those who attended, to avoid the unpleasant kind of bang-for-your-buck remember ; GO GO = Gas on then Oxygen on, to turn the taps on. Then Gas off, followed by Oxygen off – to turn off. Thank you to John for this very memorable little tip.

HUGE THANKS to John O, John W and Arthur for their fantastic organising, shared expertise, and general enthusiasm in passing on such creative and enjoyable skills as were involved in cuttlefish casting.

Needless to say - we eagerly look forward to the next workshop!

- Crystal Mathieson.

July- and heading towards Christmas!

I hope you are all keeping warm in our wintery weather. I love the way that a cover of snow changes how everything looks. You see all the bare branches of the trees in stark contrast to the snowy background and all the edges of our buildings become soft and blurry against the sky. It makes you look at things differently, which is a great place to start thinking about new designs for our jewellery as we enter the eighth month of the year and - don't growl - Christmas is on the horizon! I have been hibernating and nursing a cold but the gorgeous sunshine outside today is making me wake up a bit and feel as if it is time to make some new creations - I'll have to warm up my shed and put in a brighter lightbulb to get making but there are a few ideas that are fighting to get onto paper first. I recently attended a great class on making cold connections which has got the little grey cells moving, and can't wait to get busy with some new ways of doing things. 
Jo

Our next Committee Meeting is on FRIDAY, August 5th at 6.30, at SIT You are welcome to attend! Synopsis of last committee meeting: We had a committee meeting on July 5 at SIT. We discussed starting up the workshops with a chain making one first and possibly a tool making one soon after. We also discussed the formation of classes and noted that there was interest stemming from our new Facebook page. A teaching preparation day was planned for July 24 at SIT. The plans for an Exhibition are not moving as fast as we would like.  The Lapidary Club will rent us cases again but they need to check on the condition of the cases first.  They are locked up in a container right now.  We are looking at the Hagley Park Events Village and Redhouse in Redcliffs.  We also discussed possible mini-exhibitions after the completion of each course. There seems to be a lot of community and earthquake money available right now that we should try to take advantage of. We discussed setting up a committee to deal with seeking grant funding, perhaps for display cases of our own, tools we might want, etc. Our next meeting is at 6:30 on Friday, August 5 in the Guild Rooms at SIT. Chain making workshop report:    It was great to get the workshops started up again.  SIT is a good, comfortable, airy space with plenty of bench room.  Arthur Harrison brought his examples and expertise to teach two members how to make circle link, bone and money chains -- also known as link-in-link chains.  I met a fellow-member, Louise, who had some creative time away from her 15-month-old twin girls and managed to make a beautiful money-chain necklace of .8 sterling wire in about four hours.  I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it.  She did very focused work and Arthur was able to give her lots of individual instruction since Louise and I were his only customers that day.  Along with trying to work on my own chain, I was pretty busy doing last-minute work to fine tune the workshop for classes that are coming up soon.  We tried out our new pickle pot and made some adjustments to our bench pin assemblies.   We are planning to have a tool-making workshop as soon as possible.  Thanks very much, Arthur for donating your Saturday to teach us some of your excellent skills.  We appreciate it! Karen Teaching day and class report: Our jewellery-making classes are starting on August 2nd with a Level One class (six students) tutored by Solvejg Ruarus, and on August 3rd with a Level Two class (nine students) tutored by me.  Even though these are not full classes of ten yet, we are happy to have contacted most of our old students who will be able to finish the classes that were stopped by the earthquakes.  We tried to organize Saturday afternoon classes but had very little interest right now so decided to cancel them for the time being and use the Saturday time slot for something else.  We will keep the Term 4 Saturday class in reserve and hope that we can fill it when people hear that we are up and running again. We have all new tutors this term.  The tutors, Solvejg, Karen Atherton, Crystal Mathieson and Chloe Judd spent a day with our mentors, Arthur Harrison and Noeline Walker, and our backup tutor, Jo Crompton to run through our curriculum, studio set-up, workshop safety and handouts.  We needed to learn the best way to set up the new space and utilize storage because everything we need for a class has to be removed from storage, set up for action, and then stowed neatly away again.  It's the new reality of working in a shared space but we think we have it sussed now.  Everything we need is in bins that can be taken out as modules and then stored again in its fixed place.  We are (thankfully!) allowed to keep the gas bottle and the pickle pot under the sink rather than in the storage locker. Safety was another big issue.  We spent a lot of time practicing running the drills safely, learning how to change the regulators, hoses and torches, attaching the polishing hood and mops, and learning how to use the SIT guillotine to cut our supply of brass and copper.   We have all new handouts that used Ed Freeman's generous notes as a starting point.  We finally have a full set of notes for students on how to construct the Fish Brooch and detailed safety instructions for most of  the equipment.  We are ready to roll and will report later on how the classes go. Karen Question about Studio Hours: We have Saturdays free at least until Term 4 and would like to initiate regular Studio Hours if there is enough interest.  Please let us know if you would like to come in on Saturdays to work and what times you would normally prefer.  We will need to arrange a responsible person (a tutor, probably -- someone with a key and safety knowledge who can sell silver) to be there and we will have to pay rent for the room but we think we can offer it as a benefit of membership if we can get a regular group of people who want to participate.  It will be a money waster and a time waster if people say they will come and then no one shows up, so please think about what you would like us to do. Karen

Inspiration
What gets your juices flowing, how do you kick start the creative process, what inspires you? Send me an email joannacrompton@gmail.com and I'll make a list of prompts based on what you say in the next newsletter. Or put something in the Comment box at the bottom of this newsletter. (just click on the word 'comments' and a box should pop up), or try your hand at the new box at the top of our newsletter - go on try something new!

A Couple of Handy Jigs
Noeline Walker has spotted a couple of useful looking jigs that you could knock up fairly easily - or persuade someone handy to do it for you!
The first one is another take on cutting jump rings. Personally this is a bit of a trial and I usually wreck a few jump rings before I get into the way of things, but this looks as if it would work.
First you need to collect some dowelling of different sizes, and measure their diametres. 
Match their sizes to drill bits, and drill holes in your piece of wood. Check for a snug fit, you don't want the dowel to wobble.
Next drill a small hole to one side of each large one. This will take the end of your wire when you start to wind it round the dowel.
Cut a slot to the large holes - this will take the blade of your jewellers saw.
To use the jig, place it in your vice, or clamp it to your work top. Take your wire and poke one end into the small hole to hold it in place. Carefully wind your wire to create the number of jump rings desired. Hold the loose end of the wire tight and place your saw blade in the slot, saw the jump rings apart against the dowel.
Voila! Let me know how you get on, any ideas on how to improve the idea?

The second jig is a handy idea to hold your metal still when drilling a hole - without burning your fingers!
Take a largish dowel and cut a slot in it slightly less than the thickness of your block.
Drill a hole in your block to receive the dowel, it should be snug but you will be taking it in and out.
Place your piece of metal on the block and slide it into the slot in the dowel. Push the dowel down, holding the metal firmly in place, and drill your hole in the metal.
The only problem I can see is to make sure the dowel is short enough not to conflict with your drill.
Again, let me know what you think, and thank you Noeline for the contribution!
Jo

June 2011

What's Happening This Month?
There is lots going on behind the scenes at the moment, but not a lot of news.
We are having to postpone the AGM again as the accounts have not been fully audited yet, but things are underway! We are aiming at the August Committee meeting at the moment and will confirm that in the next newsletter.

Everything is nearly ready for the start up of the night courses in Term 3. There has been a lot to organise and the challenge of having to set up at the beginning and tidy everything away as efficiently as possible at the end has been a logistical challenge. Karen has been working hard organising the way things are stored, with some helpers providing ideas and a bit of muscle!

I have added a list of blogs you might find inspiring, in the panel running down the right hand side. Tell me about what you have been looking at on the web. I love the way you can end up looking at all sorts of blogs when you visit other people's favourites!

Report on the SSG Committee Meeting

June 5, 2011 at SIT 

Next Meeting Tuesday July 5, 6:30 p.m.  

The workshop will be open for general Guild use directly after the meeting.

Workshop: Ten committee members met to take care of current Guild business for our first meeting at SIT.  Arthur and Mark have made and installed the shelving for the storage area.  Arthur managed to acquire the timber at no cost (good work, Arthur!).  David Caddie was a hero to make the bench pins.   Karen demonstrated how they attach to the bench with suction cups. Mark is working with SIT to get a set of keys and key-cards for tutors.

Classes: In order to get the classes up and running for next term the tutoring team and mentors will get together for a planning session on Saturday, June 18 at Karen''s.  There has been interest in the classes via our hotmail account and we will also contact previous students whose classes were interrupted.

Financial: Diederic has the accounts ready for the auditor.  We have $8000 in savings and less than $1000 in our regular account.  

Exhibition: We are investigating several venues.  The Christchurch City Council event village in Hagley Park, the Redhouse Gallery and SIT are possibles.  It will probably be a one weekend event just to let people know we are still here.  

Workshops:  We are currently planning several workshops with outside tutors including a glass beadmaking workshop, stone setting and metal clay to be held several times a year. These would be more expensive but would complement our in-house workshops. 

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Courses Timetable
Term Three
Level One    -   Tuesday Night, 7.00pm to 9.30pm    10 weeks $240
August 2nd - October 4th
Level Two    -   Wednesday Night, 7.00pm to 9.30pm    10 weeks $240
August 3rd - October 5th
Combined Level     -   Saturdays, 10.00am to 4.000pm    5 weeks $240
1. August 6th - September 3rd
2. September 10th - October 8th

Term Four

Level One    -   Tuesday Night, 7.00pm to 9.30pm    8 weeks $192

October 18th - December 6th

Level Two    -   Wednesday Night, 7.00pm to 9.30pm    8 weeks $192

October 19th - December 7th

Combined Level     -   Saturdays, 10.00am to 4.000pm    5 weeks $240

1. October 22nd -  November 19th

For more information ring our Class Co-ordinator, Karen Atherton on  (03) 337 6632

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Feedback

I have had some great feedback, thankyou. I would love this to become a place where people respond, leave comments, places to visit, events, tips and hints, and anything else that can be shared.

Membership reminder

Time to renew your membership. To vote at the AGM your membership needs to be current. Contact John Ogilvie at jogilvie@clear.net.nz 
We have a special offer of $180 for a three year subscription at the moment. The regular rate is $65 for one year.