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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.

The Lab is Dead, Long Live the Lab! Anneville Jewelry Lab is evolving from a tiny brick & mortar space to an international, online community.
As COVID arrived in San Diego we bleach-wiped our tools and started evaluating contingencies, but with the March 19th closure of all non-essential businesses, everything came to a halt. Initially we thought our only option was to re-open. We priced plywood and looked at other ideas but the most people we would ever be able to safely accommodate in terms of social distancing would be three - a tech and two students. That was not going to pay our costs. We researched small business loans but we didn't qualify for the ones we found - or by the time we did, their funds were gone. While we researched and pondered, the Lab sat quiet. Clearly we would need to innovate to survive.

We are very excited to announce a new, free weekly online gathering starting Thursday, May 28th. Join us online via Zoom from 6-7pm (PDT - Pacific Daylight Time) for Metal Arts Adventures with Anne (MAAA), a metal arts presentation hosted by Anne Wolf followed by an open discussion Q&A. In this fun, online, interactive gathering our goal is to offer demos, share tips & tricks, feature work by artists and students from around the world, go on virtual studio tours, discuss historical metal arts traditions, and cover good tips/bad tips. Think of it as a hassle-free metal arts happy hour. Join us by simply visiting our home page starting at 5:45pm on Thursday 5/28. We'll have the link and password ready for you - just byob! ~ Ame