Our mentoring programme is now operating from the Guild Workshop. This is a great way to get some help with problem solving, exploring a new technique, or just a bit of a refresher while making a new piece of jewellery. It is designed to be flexible, you ring around the list below, until you find someone who is available, arrange a time that suits, and make a $10 donation to the Guild to cover costs.
Noeline Walker ph 322 4131
Arthur Harrison ph 382 1332
Karen Atherton ph 337 6632
Jo Crompton ph 981 8061
Guidelines:
• The mentoring and Studio time programme is available to all financial
members of the Guild
• The member would need to ring the mentor and discuss the project to ensure
they have the mentor who can best meet their needs
• Once the mentor has been established the member will need to arrange a time
for a session which is suitable to all involved
• The duration of the session will be arranged between the mentor and member
• The member should organise the materials – silver, stone etc - required for
the project – mentors will not be responsible for providing any materials
• The mentoring and studio time is to enable members to learn, solve problems
and complete projects started at a workshop or for the Guild Exhibition.
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Hi Everyone,
We hope you all had a happy Easter and enjoyed a few days break as we enter Autumn and start thinking about the approaching Winter! There are quite enough excuses for a small indulgence in chocolate in my mind.
Things are ticking along nicely as we grow into our new facilities and all the opportunities they offer us as members. We are drawing to the close of the trial period for the various times we have had someone available at the workshop for members to come along and make use of the space. It has been a bit mixed response with some discussion needed about where this will need to go in the future. Your feedback would be welcomed, an email to Arthur or a phone call to one of the committee members is all it takes. You could even leave a comment at the end of this month's newsletter.
April's members' workshop is shaping up nicely.... Arthur has ordered some titanium for extra interest - just offering a little temptation! I know lots of people are intrigued by those lovely colours that can be achieved. Details below.
It is now time to renew your membership subscription for 2013 - 2014. I will include the details below. Your membership gives you voting rights in the upcoming AGM, access to the Guild's monthly workshops, our library, the workshop and all the associated tools, the monthly newsletter, the mentoring program, and the chance to engage with a group of other creative souls with a huge range of skills and interests! There is someone amongst us who will have the knowledge and skills to help solve your technical problem, explore new ideas, or at the least point you in the direction to find out about what you want to do. I think that is one of the things I enjoy the most and there are some great conversations to be had!
We are also looking for people to serve on the committee, help teach the evening classes, and perhaps share some skills in our monthly workshops. Of course you can be involved in any, or all, of these areas as your time and energy dictate. It is a fantastic forum to participate in, I have learned all sorts of things I wouldn't have if I hadn't taken the plunge, and made some good friends as well.
Contact Details for your Committee Members
Arthur Harrison (Chairman) 03 382 1332 craftyart2002@yahoo.co.nz
Karen Atherton (Secretary) 03 337 6632 markaren20@yahoo.com
Noeline Walker (Class Co-ordinator) 03 322 4131 noelinew@xtra.co.nz
Solvejg Ruarus 03 329 9887 solvejgr@gmail.com
Diederic Ruarus (Treasurer) 03 329 9887 diedericr@gmail.com
Crystal Mathieson 03 980 3992 quartzcrystal@hotmail.com
John Weeber 03 322 4242 johnweeber@windowslive.com
Jo Crompton (Newsletter) 03 9818061 joannacrompton@gmail.com
Anita Parris (Membership Secretary) 0277796857 anitagann@yahoo.com
OOO, and have you seen our video clip put together by the talented Tannery people, featuring our own talented Arthur Harrison? Click on the word Tannery and go take a look!
We look forward to hearing from you soon
Jo
* Next Committee Meeting
Monday 8th April, 7pm at our workshop. Everyone is welcome to come along if interested.
* Heads up
A wee reminder that our tools need to be treated as if they were your own. Both bracelet mandrels have received a bit of a battering and need to be re-faced as a result. If you strike the metal mandrels with a metal hammer they will be damaged, leaving hammer marks that will damage the surface of the next person's metal. Always use either a rawhide, or nylon hammer when using a metal mandrel to shape your piece.
Coming Up.....
* April Members' Workshop Saturday 13th, 10am-3pm
Learn how to combine different metals, ways of texturing your surfaces, and adding colour in a variety of ways. We have a rolling mill, and pitch pots for repousse' work which you may like to try out. Come and share your own ways of embellishing metal, and learn some new things from each other too.
Please email Anita with your details - postal address with postal code, contact phone number, and current email address anitagann@yahoo.com
•Mixed Metals, Colouring, and Texturing
Cost: $20
To Book: Ring Arthur 382 1332, don't miss out!
* Membership Subs Due
Our Subs are now due, $65 for the year. We will be sending out a separate email for your details etc, while Anita Parris takes over the role of Membership Secretary.
In the meantime payments can be made online, using your name and 'subsription' in the reference panel. The account is called The Silversmiths Guild of Canterbury. It is a BNZ account, 02 0865 0197906 00.
If you want to send a cheque, send it to: 'The Silversmiths Guild of Canterbury,
PO Box 19905, Christchurch,' with 'Membership' on the envelope.
Photos and report from Crystal
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| Busy, busy, all at work. |
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| Delft Clay casting all ready to go. |
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| Melting silver scrap, preparing to be poured. |
The second casting method to tackle was the ‘cuttlefish casting’, where 2 cuttlefish are sanded flat on their soft face to achieve a tight fit together, and the object to be cast pressed in. Airholes and funnel are then added and the cuttlefish sealed together, finally we pour the silver into it in the same manner as the Delf Casting method.
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| Cuttlefish Casting freshly broken out from the mold |
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| The ripply ones are Cuttlefish castings, and the smooth ones Delft Clay Both are capable of great detail. The original objects are dark, and the delft cast silvery. Well done Crystal! |
It was a wonderful day for all - for those who have done casting at previous workshops and those who were trying it for the first time. We were well pleased with a great variety of successful cast objects, from crosses to flowers, wolf heads to scotty dogs, pigs and trout!
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| Ian Shackley - Gem Seller |
Silversmiths’ Guild Committee Meeting Summary
March 4, 2013.
7:00 p.m.
Arthur
John Weeber
Anita
Diederic
Solvejg
Karen
Apologies: Jo, Noeline
Minutes from February meeting accepted.
Matters arising:
Creative New Zealand’s representative seemed to like her visit and raised no red flags about how the money was spent.
The Tannery video was made and is now online at the Tannery website and on our Facebook page.
Noeline has a brochure ready for the city council. Judy (the kite lady) will give us the Kids Fest information -- Solvejg will contact her. Karen will get publication dates from Council. We can talk about the idea of giving youth workshops at the next meeting.
Karen and Sol contacted Barbara Simch at Magma Gallery to talk about possible exhibition space. Promising first contact with more to be discussed.
Fran Dudding, Bursar at Steiner School, will oversee our books. She will get them the first two weeks in April and have them done in time to have the AGM in June.
Classes:
Asked John Weeber to consider teaching a class but he is currently too busy and declined. We agreed we need to train more tutors.
Solvejg and Karen suggested the Level 2 classes need some further structure beyond teaching cabochon stone setting. Should we perhaps have a Level 3 class? Discuss at a later meeting.
Arthur suggested that tutors are doing too much of the students’ work. We need to let them make their own mistakes and learn from them.
Tannery:
The door holder and rubber stopper still need to be installed. They also need to fix the hole in the wall near the door.
Workshops:
Arthur noted that there were only four people at the last chain workshop.
Susan Brown agreed to hold a metal clay workshop in August. We will limit it to ten people. Karen will find best deal (internationally) on metal clay and arrange buying 25 grams per person.
General:
Solvejg would like us to buy a chenier cutter, bigger disk cutter, plastic coated wire for ring sizing. The price for the Guild to buy a centrifuge from John Ogilvie is $300. Yes, we will buy it.
If there is dog poo outside our door we should call the café lady. She will happily come clean it up.
We bought a banner holder from the Kite lady. Need to get a banner to put outside when we are open.
Size 0.8 silver is needed to be taken out of storage and put in the box for sale.
Newsletter should include a piece about bracelet mandrels being damaged by hammering. Only soft hammers should be used with the polished bracelet mandrel. We will need to re-surface it.
Discussed how to store hammers. Suggestions include drilling holes in the handles for hanging on nails in some kind of order rather than dumping them in a tray. Maybe a peg board system with outlines of each hammer so we can see that they are replaced.
The rolling mill is hard to use because it shifts position when pressure is applied. We need to stabilise it with a block, or planks or clamp so that it stays in position when being used. Agreed that we will see what evolves.
Need to decide how to arrange furniture to best advantage. Suggested no wardrobe, better use of the platform over the loo. We will need a working bee to fix the space usage issues.
In response to a question by a student, Solvejg asked why we file a groove and fill with solder the brooch back hook rather than just bending it. Discussion about how the filed and soldered finding is stronger than a bent one.
Meeting adjourned at 9 pm
Next meeting is April 8th to accommodate Easter.
