When I was invited to teach at Touchstone, my first thought was yay! of course. My second thought was .. how close is Touchstone to the Center for Metal Arts? I first heard of CMA on Instagram a few years back, after seeing some mind-bogglingly large power hammers and some equally heavy-hitters on their teaching roster.
So, what is it?  A non-profit forging school in Johnstown, PA, housed in the historical Cambria Iron Company's Blacksmith shop and associated buildings, built in the 1850's. They are restoring the facilities there one power hammer at a time, led by the amazing Patrick Quinn. There is already a full blacksmith shop, and courses that range from 1-week workshops to 6-week 'forging focus' programs. Some programs are FREE if accepted, due to generous grants.
It is about 1.5 hours from Touchstone. So, I flew to Pittsburgh a day early, rented a car and drove out there with my friends Francesca Urciuoli (assistant for my Touchstone class on mokume gane) and Annette Campbell (who was also taking my Touchstone class). Patrick was so generous with his time, giving us a whole tour of the building and answering all our questions. He ven found some 'tiny' hammers for us to buy!
What he is doing is so important for the history of America during the Industrial Revolution, but also to preserve and pass on the traditional skills of the blacksmith, and to encourage those skills to be used for personal expression and in an atmosphere of inclusion. It is an impressive place in so many ways.
Confession: blacksmithing is a secret hobby of mine; I know just enough to get myself in trouble, and I wish I had the time to devote to learn more, especially in terms of making my own tools and perhaps forging out my billets. I know that if I do get the time, this is the place where I want to learn. Find out more about them on their website.

I've recently returned from five fabulous days teaching at Touchstone Center for Crafts in Western Pennsylvania. They have an extensive campus; besides my mokume gane box making class, there was a blacksmithing class, ceramics, and textiles. There is even a glass-blowing studio! Students and teachers alike stayed in either dorm rooms or cabins, and we all ate at a central dining hall. It felt like a proper retreat, well for the students anyway! It was a lot of fun for me too, but I left wanting to go back as a student. There is nothing like that feeling of being able to just work in the studio all day, no driving, no cooking, no cleaning, no TV, no emails. Many of my students went back to the studio after dinner, working till the wee hours. I really enjoyed one evening hanging out the with the blacksmiths (thank you Addison de Lisle!), and getting to know the ceramics and textiles teachers too.
Over the five days, students learned two different ways of patterning mokume gane, and each made about four finished patterns. Those patterned pieces then became the lids of small boxes - along the way they learned about texturing, forming, soldering, clean-up and of course patinas. I was impressed with their creativity - no two boxes alike.
My assistant Francesca Urciuoli was a huge help with everything from teaching to taking photos - thank you Francesca!
Look for this class to be taught online later this year, and in other 'away' locations next year (at a school near you?).
Last three pics show a field trip to Ohiopyle State park, just a 20 minute drive from Touchstone. Yes, it was quite a large snake! I also really enjoyed the fireflies, not something we see on the West coast.

What I've been up to lately - Fun with 3" deep draw and hydraulic press
Recently, after a great lunch with friends and fellow metalsmiths from our Sawing Circle, they came over to my studio to check out my new deep draw set up from Bonny Doon. We pieced together a fun video that shows how the process works - you can check it out on my instagram page!
The piece I'm working on here turned into a sake cup. My main learning curve with the deep draw is planning ahead, and understanding how much regular metal forming there is to do after pressing. It is a great short-cut, but you still have to know how to raise and planish if you want to customize your form (i.e. you don't want it to look like you got it in the plumbing section at Home Depot!).
Looking back at this video, the 3" seems cute and tiny. Right now I'm playing with the 6" set; making lots of copper sample shapes and giggling at how crazy it all is - the dies and punches weigh 20-30 lbs each and have to be stacked, then maneuvered carefully into the press. Everything is all greased up to let the metal move - it's a wonder I haven't dropped one on my toe. Yes I'm wearing close-toed shoes, but Ame points out that perhaps it is time for steel-toed. I've got the sake cups down, and am looking forward to helping students make them in August at Metalwerx.

So many chisels! My recent 3-day workshop at Metal Arts Guild, Georgia was a blast. The hybrid format was a challenge at first, but rewarding to figure out ways to get all the students learning and interacting. I loved seeing the in person students walk by my computer and laugh and chat with the Zoom folks. I was pleased to see so many students sporting their Mondobop gear.

Our first day I showed the simplest way of patterning mokume with a stamp from behind, then filing back. Next we learned chisel patterning, then a few advanced variations. On the last day I demonstrated chisel-making, and was delighted to see successful chisels made, both in the studio and by the folks attending remotely.

We had 13 students in all, 6 in the studio and 7 on Zoom. Val and her sidekicks Pat and Stephanie did a great job both in the workshop and finding fabulous restaurants too. Scott got two pitch bowls up and running, as well as some great samples. Shout out to Emily, her first mokume class and she did a fantastic job with both patterning and chisel-making. Cindy, another mokume first-timer, did a great job with her chiseled sample.

Big thanks to Andy the incredibly patient camera guy, and Leah the artist assistant for all her hard work, from keeping the Zoom folks connected to making sure I had ample coffee! And she gets bonus points for understanding and laughing at Mondobop's "I Sink and I know Things" tank top, not many people get that!

Everyone I met at MAGG was a delight to talk to - Janet, Alan, Lisa, Dallas, Larissa; it was a joy to be part of your amazing studio for a while. Till next time!

I recently returned from a great adventure - I cycled  the length of Wales from south to north, around 325 miles including side trips, with a total elevation gain (someone asked, so I added it up) of 21,899 ft. It took me two weeks with only 8 of those being full cycling days, so I had plenty of time for sightseeing, eating good food, hiking, and resting. I had an absolute blast - loved the forests, the hills, climbing Cader Idris, seeing the tiny adorable train on top of Snowdonia / Yr Wyddfa, listening to high schoolers walk by chattering in Welsh, and all the friendly conversations with Welsh folks and travelers alike. I also learned a lot of about taking my bike on the train (not as hard as I once thought), so I think I maybe next time I'll stay longer in a few places and do day trips out - then maybe Ame will come too! I also cycled right by (or near) a bunch of cool metalsmiths I admire and would have loved to visit, so I'm going to work on that next year too. See the photos for captions, and also my instagram has a lot more photos, I did a post for each day.

I recently returned from presenting at the Colorado Metalsmithing Association's 2023 Conference "Beneath the Surface." Many many thanks to Ryan Gardner, Kim Harrell and the rest of the CoMA team. It was such a great experience, I wanted to share it here. I highly recommend going to their conference - it is the perfect size to relax, learn, make new friends. You don't have to be from Colorado, you don't even have to become a member!

Barbara Minor was the first presenter on Saturday afternoon - she wowed the audience with her breadth of knowledge of enameling as well as showing some amazing samples and a demo of enamel tips and tricks that were worth the price of admission.
Saturday evening was full of laughs as Andy Cooperman and Dana Cassara led rounds of  Jewelry/Metals Trivia - we all learned important things like what B&S stands for, and what metal the Washington Monument is capped with and why.

Sunday morning started off with David Huang's heartfelt presentation on his vessel-making - interesting details of his work history (amazing deep relief figural chasing, also his first production work was handmade books!), and a very satisfying raising demo.
In the afternoon we heard from Paulette Werger, an east-coast silver and pewtersmith who does both jewelry and flatware. Gorgeous work, entertaining and inspiring speaker who told us about a recent HUGE spoon commission she had finished just before the conference. She also did a fascinating keumboo demo, explaining the process in more technical detail than I'd ever heard.

In between all the presentations, folks were shopping at the nearby vendor booths and silent auction, full of donated goodies like tools, books, finished work and even some mondobop gear!

The next day was Bette Barnett in the morning, then my presentation in the afternoon. Bette did a fabulous job explaining her path and how her work has evolved, and her demo had everyone's rapt attention as she fused powdered silver to steel.
Right before my presentation, there was a sobering member spotlight presentation by Rocky Riviera, a local CoMA member. His house and studio had been destroyed by the Marshall Fire just a few years back - a terrible tragedy. He documented his losses and the items that survived; powerful and difficult to see. But the good side was his story of how the Colorado metals community rallied to his side, raising money and donating tools. I doubt there was a dry eye in the room.

 Not an easy act to follow! I showed images of my early work, starting with ceramics then photo-etched and fabricated silver vessels in school. I told the story of how I met Earl Bushey while teaching at Monterey Peninsula College, and how he and his friends generously let me join their mokume gane club. I demonstrated chisel patterning, and was delighted by the fun, intelligent questions from the audience.
CoMA was such a great experience, I went home and signed up to be a member immediately! I don't know if I'll make it to their next conference, but such a great organization deserves to be supported. It could really serve as a model for any regional metals organization - such a supportive, friendly group! I left feeling like I had a huge new group of friends.

What a joy to finally teach at Danaca Design in Seattle. It's an amazing space; a warren full of all the tools you'd need, separate spaces for a supply shop/library, machine room/patinas/polishing, spread out benches for plenty of room to work; an all-around great vibe. And a quite serviceable coffee shop two doors down, that was a bonus. Dana has built a studio/school/community to be proud of.
The studio was abuzz with positive energy, serious work, laughter, and the sound of hammering for a joyful five days. What a great group of students - one from the UK, the rest from California and Washington. Read on for lots of process and finished sample pics.

I am pleased and honored to announce that my cherry blossom tsuba has won a bronze award (1st seat) at the 13th NBSK Craftsmen's Competition in Japan! It will be part of a traveling exhibition, on display now until the end of August at the Tetsu (Iron) Museum in Sakaki, Nagano Prefecture, then moving to the Sano Art museum in Mishima, Sizuoka Prefecture October to mid-December. (Both locations are about 2 hours from Tokyo, for those who might be visiting.)
There will be a catalog produced, with photos of all the award winners' pieces - all in Japanese, but of interest for the photos. I'll update when I know when/how to get a copy. I wish I could have gone to the opening, and I'm so curious to see the other works! As far as I know I am the only one participating from outside Japan. There is one other Westerner, Jeff Broderick, but it looks like he lives in Tokyo. Here also is a link to the NBSK official results page in English, and the home page of NBSK (paste the link into google translate for English).
I am indebted to my teacher Ford Hallam, for encouraging me to enter, and his teacher Koshiro Izumi, who was so kind to receive my tsuba and carry it to the museum for judging. Thank you!
Read more about the making of the cherry blossom tsuba here.

I'm thrilled to announce I'll be speaking at this year's CoMA conference - all about mokume gane of course! CoMA (Colorado Metalsmiths Association) puts on a fabulous multi-day gathering of metalsmiths every summer. There will be a vendor room, silent auction, pin swap, exhibitions, demonstrations, panel talks, etc. Five presenters are highlighted with each giving 90-minute presentations about their background, current work, techniques and even a demonstration. I'm honored to be part of a pretty amazing group; the other presenters are Barbara Minor, David Huang, Paulette Werger and Bette Barnett! The conference ends with a panel discussion including all five of us. I'm pretty sure this conference 100% live, no virtual option.
Where: Fort Collins, Colorado (an hour north of Denver International Airport)
When: July 15-17, 2023
What: conference for metalsmiths, jewelers, bladesmiths, etc.
Who: For metals folks everywhere, not just Coloradans
Cost: Early bird rate of $275 until May 15
Registration and more information

I'm so pleased to be able to share here the youtube channel of one of my mentors - Earl Bushey. Earl is the fellow who introduced me to mokume gane back in 2007. It changed the whole direction of my metals career - if I hadn't run into him I'd probably still be doing photo-etching.  He only has three videos up right now, but they are all on mokume gane. In one he shares a very detailed step-by-step on creating his favorite mokume gane chisel pattern. Enjoy!

February 15-17, 2023, Fuse Forge Roll
Couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of students for this fusing class, the first in my re-designed studio. I love students who have come to learn, and understand that learning and producing finished work are different things - sometimes both happen, but actually the learning is the most important. These guys were ready with so many questions, from phase diagrams to shibuichi alloys, studiously taking notes and filling out their billet worksheets. And of course there was plenty of scrubbing, fusing, squishing, forging and rolling. We all enjoyed the first night meet & greet at the Market, then a fun dinner at Mitch's Seafood - secret local hangout! Click 'read more' for all the pics and Go Big recap too!

This tsuba is inspired by of one of the most well-known mokume gane tsubas in history - the Yoshino River Tsuba made by Takahashi Okitsugu in the mid-late Edo period in Japan.  I used different metals (copper, brass and nickel silver), and a silhouette of my own design; five-lobed rather than 8-lobed. It took me about two years to create, and is just a first draft. Next one will be made with silver, shakudo and shibuichi.
From my very first billets, I always wanted to create crisp, unique mokume patterns with great control. This was different from a lot of the fairly random, all-over stuff I was seeing. It was in Masaki Takahashi's "Textbook of Mokume Gane" book that I was first introduced to the historical work of Takahashi Okitsugu - I saw it was possible to create such patterns, so I had a goal. I did a lot of experimentation, and came up with two ways to do the cherry blossom pattern, one easier than the other. I teach the easier way in my in-person mokume gane workshops, but here I'm using the more difficult chisel method (see the photo captions for copious technical notes). Creating the pattern once on a test piece was one thing, but to do it on the scale of a tsuba was another thing entirely. It took a lot of math to figure out how many layers, what thickness/size, what thickness to start patterning so the pattern would be flat and finished at 3mm on a piece of metal large enough for a tsuba.
Making the actual tsuba was a change of pace, with patient sawing, filing and finishing taking the place of all the chiseling. It is only my second tsuba, and I owe many thanks to Ford Hallam for his expert training and advice, both in person and on his invaluable patreon channel. I'm not sure where I'm going next; but I know it is not making swords! People keep suggesting that, and I think it is hilarious. It took me so long to get good at what I do; bladesmithing is a completely different field. I know many bladesmiths out there who have worked hard to be top of their craft - I'll let them do that, and I'll continue to refine my skills in my own little corner of the craft world. 
Check out the photo captions if you're interested in the process, and please feel free to comment/ask questions.

I know I've been a bit quiet lately on the teaching front - that's because I've finally set aside some time to make progress on an artistic goal. I've been wanting to raise mokume vessels for a long time. I learned raising wayy back in school (er like the 90s), and of course I've been doing mokume since 2007. But it takes time and effort to put those two processes together. First, you have to fuse and pattern a fairly large piece of mokume, and it needs to be minimum 18 gauge (1mm) in thickness. And second, you have to have the stakes/hammers and a place to make a lot of noise for raising. Back in May, I signed up for David Huang's October 3-day raising class - this gave me a deadline to get mokume discs ready. And of course David posted enticing pics of the stakes he made for the class that would be for sale afterwards - that was a strong motivation too. I also wanted to get faster at raising, and more precise. I knew David could help with that.
So, now I'm back from the class! I had a fabulous time, and made great progress on two mokume vessels. I also discovered I needed (really!) to buy the fancy Saign/David raising hammer - not pictured here, it's in the mail. David very kindly let me borrow his for a lot of the workshop - it improved my raising speed by 30% at least. Worth it! See the photo captions for lots of process information. And stay tuned - I hope to finish both these vessels by the end of the year.

When I first began making custom mokume gane wedding rings back in 2008, my clients were all based here in San Diego. They would visit the studio first to see ring samples, find out their size, try on different styles and widths etc. After a good design session, I'd give them a price, take their 50% deposit and get started on their rings. When the rings were finished, the clients would come back to pick up their rings and pay.
But of course, this was also the first time they would see the rings that had been custom made for them. I came to realize what a special moment this was. I enjoyed stepping back and watching it unfold as the customer cautiously approached the box, lifting the lid, peeking inside. What a joy it always is, to hear the gasp or squeal as they extract it and slip it on their finger, admiring and smiling excitedly, showing it to their partner, eyes shining.
I don't always get to see that part now - my business is much larger, and the majority of my clients are out of town or even overseas. But I know what an important moment it is, and that's why I'm hesitant to replace it, well really to ruin it, by sending photos of finished rings to clients before they see the actual ring. Rings are a symbol of love and commitment, meant to be worn with any luck for decades. I know how casual I am about opening emails - I could be at a stoplight, in line for coffee, blearily first thing in the morning. It's the opposite of an occasion. I want folks to have that 'reveal' moment together, maybe over a toast (fireplace? snacks?), or at least deliberate, and noted in some way.
There's another reason too, and it has to do with the fact that I'm a better jeweler than I am a photographer! I do the best I can with my photos, but there are often artifacts in them that have no relation to the ring. Seeing a photo of the ring first is such a pale comparison to the real thing. I recall some clients that wanted the photo first, before final payment and shipping. I took the best photo I could with the time I had available, and emailed it off. I got it back with an area circled in red. "What's that scratch?" they said. Hmm. It turned out to be a fragment from the polishing cloth. Another client was concerned that the rose gold in their photo wasn't the same shade as in the sample photo. (The lighting was a bit different, so the white balance was off.) Neither of these things were a concern once the clients saw the rings in real life, but it caused us all needless angst, delay, and worry.
I don't get to be part of that 'reveal' moment as often as I used to, but still my hope is that clients will want to see their rings in real life for the first time, and make it an occasion to remember.

I recently returned from 6 days of teaching at Mendocino Arts Center - what a joy to be in a real classroom again, with live 3D students! It was a huge amount of work getting ready, from tailoring the fusing process to the specific school equipment, to packing up everything from Simple Green to a bandsaw into my car and driving 650 miles each way. But it was all worth it. Couldn't have asked for nicer students, and we had great weather too.
In the Fuse, Forge, Roll workshop we had 8 students, coming from all over the US (Boston, Texas, Arizona, etc.). I loved the mix of backgrounds - about half were blacksmiths, half were jewelers/silversmiths. Some were both!
I was pleased to see the set up we used worked perfectly (manual press, hand-forging the billets). So, an electric press is really not necessary for solid-state diffusion bonding, yay.

This was my fourth live Mokume Q & A - I had a great time chatting with fellow mokume artists, including some new faces! I did about a 35 minute recorded presentation on the history of mokume and what it is, and showed the work of many different mokume gane makers and their contributions to the field. Work shown by Norio Tamagawa, Hiroko Sato-Pijanowski, Eugene Pijanowski, James Binnion, Phillip Baldwin, Steve Midgett, Francesca Urciuoli, Kevin Klein, David Huang and David Barnhill, Wayne Meeten, Susa Makoto, Ryuhei Sako, Earl Bushey, James Viste, and more! I finished with an overview of my own work, mostly vessels but a few rings too. The Q&A part was unrecorded this time, but some great questions were asked and answered; billet design, the expense of palladium, details of refining, etc.
This video will appeal to both seasoned mokume artists, and those that know nothing about the technical aspects but love looking at beautiful mokume gane work.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed doing this series, I'm going to take a break for a while. Catch the ones you missed on my youtube channel!

Had a really great time here, chatting with about 20 participants about mokume gane and patinas in my third live mokume Q&A, held May 14, 2022 via Zoom.
I go over the most common and useful patinas for mokume gane (liver of sulfur, Baldwin's patina, and of course rokusho / niage), with recipes and video of how to apply them. I also share some new patina experiments I've been doing, all with lots of visuals and recommendations of which patinas work best for which metal combinations. A lot of time is devoted to how to get the perfect copper red, the best sealants to use, and resources to learn more. Near the end I share my secret for getting clear, clean, consistent color with any patina. Although you mostly don't see the other mokume gane artists, they chime in intermittently with some really useful tips and tricks and insights too.
Next time (mid-June 2022, watch my website or Instagram for exact day/time) I'll be doing a 'who's who' in mokume - sharing images and discussing the work of mokume gane artists from around the world.
Thanks for watching!

The focus was on patterning here at my second live mokume gane Q and A session, held on April 2, 11am pacific time via Zoom. If you missed it, check out the video. Topics discussed include a general overview of the types of mokume gane patterning, annealing times and temps, chisel shapes, when to forge versus when to roll, etc. Includes a free direct hammer patterning lesson too. I'll be doing this monthly; next month the focus will be on finishing and patinas. My live viewers really enjoyed the bonus content - next one should be May 7th, same time, so keep an eye on my website and/or social media for it. Enjoy the recording,  and please comment below for any questions you'd like answered next month. :-)

Well the video recording and uploading was definitely a learning curve on my part, but the value of the mokume gane info makes up for it for sure. I had a great time answering everyone's mokume questions. I covered everything from seamless vs. seamed rings, to patinas, fusing temps and troubleshooting, and lots more. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with questions. Really the most fun part was after we turned off the recording - then we got a lot of live questions and comments, even some sharing of studios and mokume gane work. It was so much fun I'll definitely be doing it again, probably every month. Keep an eye on my instagram or the facebook group 'mokume gane for all' for the announcement for the next one. Join us live for the full experience. ;-)

Sometimes things start simply, then just keep growing .... this piece actually started life as a patterning sample. I liked it so much I started messing with it - cut a circle, domed it, did some chasing detail in the center. Soon I had ... a lid!  Hmm, what next. Tried a few different simple bases, trying to finish it without it taking over my life, but you know it told me it needed a substantial base, not just a simple quick thing. Three billets, many hours, and quite a few ounces of silver later, this tea container with a secret was born.
Creating matching mokume patterns isn't easy - I used three different billets to create all of the silver/copper mokume you see here. It's all chisel and drill patterned. Patterning was done first, then the sheet cut and curved, soldered and fabricated just as if it were one metal - except great care must be taken not to overheat the mokume. The silver sections are 1mm thick sterling silver, some of it with a heavy cross-hatch texture to complement the mokume pattern. I do a lot of modeling in paper first, to test out different proportions, understand how much mokume I'll need and how the patterns will match up, etc. It is patinated with rokusho, the most traditional Japanese patina for mokume. It is easy to use, really quite functional. Pictured with a lovely gunpowder green tea (not included). There is also a secret (shh!) compartment accessed from underneath, great for hiding special things. Does include the matching tea scoop.  I am considering making additional tea scoops for sale, let me know if you're interested.

See below for many photos of the piece in progress - enjoy! And please feel free to comment with any questions about the process, I'm happy to share.

I know I've been pretty quiet online lately - no classes since October, not many social media posts. Well, that is because I've been deeply involved in a new project  -- buying a house! It pretty much ate up 6 months and was quite an odyssey. After selling the old house in September, Ame and I lived in Airbnbs while researching cities and towns all over the west coast. We weren't sure if we wanted or would be able to buy in San Diego. Well, long story short - after much soul-searching and almost moving to inland Oregon (where it snows! omg what were we thinking), we found the perfect house here in San Diego. It is just 2 miles east of our old house, but in a more affordable neighborhood - which we are already starting to love. (Azalea Park, for those familiar with San Diego.) Photo shows the house being tented for termites (common practice when buying/selling here in Southern California) - tent came off December 20, so technically we unwrapped that present just a bit early!
It is a small house at 792 sq feet, but an upgrade for us with a fancier kitchen than we've ever had, a spare room for Ame's atelier, and a converted garage for my home studio! I'll still have my Liberty Station studio for making rings, meeting clients and possibly holding small workshops, but my home studio will be my place to do the larger vessel work. Art will be made here! Our first night in the new house was December 21, Winter Solstice. We already love the place, especially Mochi. She was getting pretty tired of the monthly, weekly, or even daily packing up and moving.
I know a lot of you have been asking when/where my next classes/workshops will be. If you're one of those, thanks so much for reading all this. And now I hope you understand why the silence on that front. I'm still getting unpacked and settled, but I plan to get my act in gear very soon about teaching. I know I'll be doing some online classes, and organizing some workshops around the US too. Farthest away still is any return of classes at Liberty Station - first I'll need to clean and re-organize, figure out what is feasible. Honestly I don't think I'll ever do ongoing classes or classes not related to mokume. Most likely it'll be small mokume workshops every few months. I love teaching, and remain committed to spending some of my time and energy passing along my love of mokume. More soon on that front - right now I've got some boxes to unpack...

Looking back at my photos and remembering what a great workshop we all had in October in Long Beach at Diane Weimer's studio. October 22-24, 2021. This was a 3-day general mokume gane patterning class ("The Art of Mokume Gane"), the first in-person class I'd taught since Covid. What great students! Serious learners with talent, and fun to hang out with, too. Many were complete mokume beginners, and I was thrilled with the quality of patterns and finished pieces they were able to produce. On day one I shared a patterning technique I've been developing but hadn't ever taught before - it went great; students were able to follow and reproduce the steps, but everyone's patterns were unique. On day two I showed the classic twist patterning method, the exact one I use to make my rings, but we made bracelets out of copper and brass. On the third day students were free to finish up in-progress samples, create finished work, or start new projects with the available (for purchase) silver-bearing mokume. It was a blast to be back in the thick of teaching - 12 students, each working on something different, my job to respond and help as needed. Teachers know what a fun atmosphere that is - such energy, intensity, and creativity. The day went so quickly, soon it was time for the raffle. Many of the folks asked for a return visit, so I'll see what I can do to make it up there in 2022.
Thanks so much to Diane for hosting!

I'm so pleased to announce I'll be speaking about mokume gane and doing patterning demonstrations at SNAG's fall virtual symposium "Tides & Waves: 2021, Eastern Asia" on October 22, 2021.
When I found out about the opportunity to present, I could not believe it happened to fall on the first day of a mokume gane workshop I'm teaching in Long Beach! Why do all the good things happen at once?! Thankfully we figured out a way - I'll be joining SNAG from Diane Weimer's studio. After presenting I'll go straight into my workshop there.
I'll start with some historical background (lots of juicy mokume gane images), then show both simple and complex patterning techniques. The demos will be short and to the point; chock-full of real info on how to try the techniques yourself. There will be a short Q&A time after the demo too.
The rest of the symposium looks great - the keynote speaker is Bifei Cao, who I met 10 years ago at a workshop with Helen Shirk at Haystack. He impressed me then with his encyclopedic knowledge of the metals world, from trends and galleries to teachers and schools. Since then, he's been doing amazing things - I can't wait to hear his talk!
If you'd like to attend my talk/demo and of course the rest of the 2-day symposium too, the cost is very reasonable ($55-75) and includes access to recordings. I know I'll be checking out the recordings after my workshop is over. Hope to see you there! Register.