Create!

As in the Create Retreat held in  New Jersey last week.  My daughter, Carrie, and I went and had a wonderful time.  Several people we know were there and some of us took the same classes.  And, the classes!  They were great!  Carrie especially wanted to go so that she could take classes with Michelle Ward.  Michelle is a wonderful person and a great teacher. We both follow fantatic blog. Carrie had the best time and learned a lot in the classes she took.   I originally was going to also take Michelle's classes but then I discovered two metal jewelry classes that I just had to take.  I'm soooo glad I did!  They were both great and I learned so much. 

The Friday class was with Eva Sherman.  We made copper bangles and scrapbox rings.  Everyone made 3 bangles and 2 rings.  Having just made my first copper bangle a few weeks ago, which you can see a post or two ago, I was really excited to be making 3 more!  Here is a picture of what I made.

We used a corrugating machine which I had never done and I love the effect.  I also used a disk cutter for the first time and I did some heat patina on the smaller cuff on the right.  It's become a favorite way to patina.  The large black cuff on top was what Eva called our "thesis project".  It was the last bangle and we were on our own as to design.  When I annealed the metal it turned black with those lovely red splashes on one side and it stayed that way, even after I had quenched it.  So, I decided to leave it because it's really cool!  I riveted different size disks to it.  I haven't decided if I'm going to leave the "bull's eye" markings on the smaller disks.  They were put there to mark the center of the disk but Eva and some of the others in the class liked them. I'm still debating.  I did polish them off a bit.  We'll see.

Well, that took care of the morning and in the afternoon we started our scrapbox rings.  Eva named them that because she made the original one from scraps on her work table.  We made 2, and I made one for Carrie and one for me.  I really love them because they use coiled wire which is one of my favorite wire techniques. 

Here is mine, I didn't get a picture of Carrie's.  Her's is the same but with a green bead.

They are very easy to make and each one looks a little different.  Well, that was Friday and there was more fun on Saturday.  I'll share that with you tomorrow. 

I hope you have a good day.  Thanks for stopping by.