It took a lot of work on the part of our hand medal creators (and a few late nights for us making envelopes and sewing on ribbons) but we did it! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and shared extra pins and ribbons - we used every last bit and finished with 152! The medals will be presented soon and we’ll share any additional details as we get them. Of course Anne had to make a mokume gane one! The diversity of designs, details and ribbons made them all so fun and different! Congratulations to our Hand Medal Project winners too! Karen won the award for “Most Prolific” with 20 medals completed while Nancy won the prize for “Most Intricate” for her addition of a teeny tiny bracelet to all 11 hands she made. Since we started the project in the summer time, their prizes are tiki face masks - going out in the mail today. Thanks again to everyone who participated. Get involved with our next project: we’re making fold-formed copper leaves in November at our free online Sawing Circle. Click Read More to see photos.

Because we're horribly behind (LOL!) we've extended the deadline for the Hand Medal Project. Be sure to mail or drop off your medals at Anne's Liberty Station Studio by 6pm on to Friday 10/23/20. We'll make sure they get submitted to our San Diego Hand Medal Project coordinator.

We had so much fun at our Sawing Circle tonight! Everyone arrived right on time and got to work with lots of sawing and filing and discussions of where to stamp the ID numbers (front? back? Around the ribbon?) and how to address the fingernails (to stamp or not to stamp) and even finer points of textures and ribbon wrangling. Like any good gathering of metalsmiths we also got into several tool and patina discussions ... which naturally led to excellent bakeries in San Diego and Santa Cruz. LOL! Great fun. Thanks to those of you who tuned it and if you missed it, we hope to see you at the next one. Happy Sawing!

Click images for a larger view.

It was all hands on deck last night at Anneville Jewelry Club's Sawing Circle! Seriously, we had great fun sharing our tips, tricks, and travails as we sawed, filed, stamped and sanded silver, copper and brass hands for the worldwide Hand Medal Project. Seventeen eager sawers discussed important details like whether the index finger in the template was oddly long, whether to stamp our artist numbers on the front or back, the best way to attach the ribbon, etc. Thanks to Nancy for the tip of putting a piece of paper in between two glued layers of metal - great way to saw two hands at once. Kathe showed a great example medal; we're hoping our ribbons will look as classy. Everyone agreed that putting the sandpaper in the sawframe made sanding a lot easier. We agreed to share resources - number stamps and ribbons - basically we're happy to give each other a hand!

Anneville Jewelry Club is participating in the Hand Medal Project as part of Kerianne Quick's SDSU team. The Hand Medal Project is an international metal arts collaboration in which jewelers around the world are making small, wearable hands as a sign of gratitude for health care workers. As part of Keri’s team, our goal is to produce 180 medals - one for each health care professional at Scripps. We have a team of 17 makers creating the small metal hand medals, envelopes and ribbons. More about the Hand Medal Project.

Tuesday, Sept. 8th from 6-8pm PDT
You're invited to join from your own studio and work alongside us via Zoom. How will it work? We have no idea! But it sounds fun to try. Collaborate with your Hand Medal Teammates or work on anything you like from class projects to professional commissions. Anne will be at her bench working and chit chatting in between muting her audio to hammer. Ame will be hosting, offering Zoom help and making Hand Medal Project envelopes. Whether you're on our Hand Medal Team, a team in another location or just wanting the fun of working at your bench with a friend, you're invited. To join on September 8th just hop online between 6-8pm (link opens Zoom).

Brought to us by SDSU instructor and materialsmith Kerianne Quick, the Hand Medal Project is an international metal arts collaboration in which metalsmiths around the world are making small, wearable hands as a sign of gratitude for health care workers. The hands are reminiscent of milagros or ex votos - religious objects used to invoke miracles. At great risk to themselves and their families, our health care workers are saving lives every day - a miracle indeed. As a part of Keri’s team, our goal is to produce 180 medals - one for each health care professional at Scripps. The Anneville Jewelry Club is a free group that comes together for excursions, online gatherings, group projects. This will be our second event for 2020. Joining our Hand Medal Team is totally free and, if you know us, we'll have some fun with it for sure. Read on for details and sign up.

Chinanshu "Cheena" Sharma on Jaipur Jewelry. Cheena will take us on a virtual excursion to the world-famous Johari Bazaar in her home town of Jaipur, India. Along the way she'll share a bit about her jewelry business background and her observations on design, color and craft.

Our All Craft Tool Sale on January 17th was a spectacular success. Before we could even get everything out of the boxes we had excited shoppers arriving. The tables in the lab groaned under the weight of bezel blocks, exotic hammers in all shapes and sizes, professional ring sizing sets, shaping blocks, mandrels, precision compasses, wax carving tools, burr sets, shaping blocks and tons more. Meanwhile over in Anne's Studio, buyers chatted happily as they poured over whisper-thin micro files, chasing hammers and boxes upon boxes of pliers in every size and shape imaginable. In addition to the tools, Anne and Tevel circulated through each room consulting on tool uses and throwing out jewelry making tips and tricks. Did I mention that the hallways were also packed with goodies from giant bracelet mandrels to patinas, saw blade sets and jewelry books? At 2:30 the fabulous Bette Barnett arrived to amaze us all with a free Keum Boo demo where she showed us how to use the exquisite gold and silver foil Tevel had on sale. Even though I helped set up, every time I turned around I saw something new out on a table. From all of the frantic shopping and sheepish grins as people left clutching their finds, it was clear that everyone really enjoyed it. Including us, at the end of it all we couldn't idly sit by and watch Tevel take everything back so we kept a few boxes on consignment. Stayed tuned for a Store update! And if you missed the fun, never fear, we're already working on when Tevel can return.

Our first Jewelry metal arts outing of 2020 will be to Pala Valley on a quest for tourmailines and other gems with intrepid silversmith and lapidary artist Jules Monroe! We're heading out on Saturday February 29, 2020. There's no cost to join the Anneville Jewelry Club but you'll want to bring some lunch money and $75 per person to pay the mine folks. Get details and sign up!

At the San Diego County Fair this year, talented Anneville students and teachers took home multiple 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons in several categories … including acrylic painting! 
The work period up to the fair was full of focused energy, the pre-fair sunset cocktails event was wonderful (thanks Cindy!) and the Exhibitor Night Party was great fun. Every time we came around a corner … BOOM another ribbon! And we had a great time listening to fairgoers view the work too “Oh, this one is so creative.” and “Wow, look at the detail on that!”. Two of our students were even contacted to sell their entries. 

Join us for our monthly open studio event to liberate your toolbox, score some great deals and help our community! We'll be collecting donations with every sale for the Jewish Family Services Downtown Migrant Shelter. ​

We had a wonderful turnout for our first Anneville Jewelry Lab Student Sale on Friday, June 7th. We were blessed with good weather and (thanks to Anne's swift action) a great location on a patio right near the Jewelry Lab. Our student artists created appealing displays of their own items and then worked together to quickly create an inviting, u-shaped exhibit that well represented the Lab as an organization. We were a bit concerned by the late-breaking detail that we'd have no electricity (gah!) but we gathered up our camping lights and bravely continued. Meanwhile, up in the Lab, Anne did some mokume gane patterning demos and we had a great time seeing old friends and meeting new ones. ​We were thrilled by a visit from our new instructor, Alexandra Hart as well as our dear friend Helen Shirk (each accompanied by their handsome beaus). It was great to see students from the lab and different classes coming together to meet for the first time. I'm so impressed by how much work and thoughtfulness everyone put in to making this event a success. Be sure to view our fun photos.  

The Anneville Fair Team is an informal group of makers working together on wearable jewelry projects for the San Diego County Fair. 

Deadline April 26th • $10 per entry fair fee.

• Enjoy team camaraderie and support
• Free weekly coaching sessions with Anne and Julie
• Weekly Team Days in the Lab (optional)
• Online entry and labeling help by Ame
• Free delivery and return of your piece to and from the fair
• Team Fair Field Trip to view our entries and have lunch!
• Win Fair Awards: 1st Place $40 2nd Place $30 3rd Place $20 Best Single Item $50

Collaborative Lab Sessions
Tuesdays: 2-5 Open Lab Team Work Session - 15 min. Coaching session with Anne (optional).
Wednesdays:  2-5 Open Lab Team Work Session - 15 min. Coaching session with Julie (optional).
Thursdays: 2-5 Open Lab Team Work Session
Saturdays:  2-5 Team Work Session (on Open Lab days)

Anneville Jewelry Lab offers low cost hourly bench rentals in our Open Lab throughout the week. We’re located in sunny San Diego’s Liberty Station with abundant free parking, artisan coffee and a wide array of food options. In addition to the Anneville Jewelry Club we offer ongoing jewelry/metal arts classes from beginner basics to advanced techniques with new classes starting all the time.  
Join the Fair Team! Sign up in person at The Lab.
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Know someone who might be interested? Download a flyer. 
Want to know more about the free Anneville Jewelry Club? Visit our Club page.