Anne Wolf is our guide this month for a fascinating photo journey into the gorgeous niello work of southeastern Turkey. This time she'll discuss several striking pieces from  her collection, all purchased during her trip to the region in 2005. After that, we take a deep dive into a topic many of you have burning questions about... working with torches in your home studio - specifically working with gas. Which type is best? Where do you buy tanks? How do you safely store them? What about insurance? What about oxygen concentrators?!? Read more for resource links and photos!

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.

Thursday, November 12th 5-7pm Pacific Time : Meet & Greet starts at 4:45pm
Mark your calendar for our next Sawing Circle on November 12th from 5-7pm Pacific Time. This month's shared project is fold-formed copper leaves! If you're new to leaf making, watch our free video demo by Anne Wolf and then join us from your studio to work in the good conversation and company of like-minded friends. Totally free, no need to RSVP, simply join by clicking the link that will be posted here on our home page. Tell a friend or make one there, either way we hope you'll join us right here on November 12th.

About 30 students and friends attended our 2nd Annual Shop & Swap at Liberty Station on Saturday, October 10th. Anne set up tables in a shady spot off the main colonnade and we all had fun dropping off goodies, perusing what others had brought and visiting in between. Wearing masks and social distancing was easy and didn't detract at all from the delight of sharing stories and catching up. Aside from that, we managed to re-home all of the lab leftovers we brought, thereby freeing up room in Anne's home studio for new projects. Likewise, everyone who came seemed to find something useful or fun to take home. We were particularly delighted to re-stock a student who lost her home studio building in the Valley Fire. Read on for photos!

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.

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

Tonight we're broadcasting live from Anneville Studio in Exile! We'll share an update on the Jewelry Lab, Anne will take us on a studio tour and update us on her current works in progress and we'll do a fun metal arts show & tell with Anne sharing some pieces from her collection. Most importantly, we're hoping to hear from YOU! Please join us live on Facebook to say hello and weigh in on these three questions:

1. Are you busier than ever or do you have time on your hands?
2. Can you name at least one good thing that has come from quarantining humans?
3. Things will be back to normal before we know it. Can you name one thing you've gained that you want to keep?

We also heartily invite you to upload photos of what you're working on and let us know how it's going. Join us LIVE on Facebook tonight at 6:30pm PST. If you can't make it, check out the recording afterwards. Extra credit: Since we're not at Liberty Station, we get WINE! No matter what you like to drink, please pour yourself a glass and have a cookie on hand to join us in virtual snackage. #EmbraceYourVises tonight @AnnevilleJewelryLab in exile.Go to Anne's Facebook Page.

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.

Click any image for a larger view.

Friday, March 6, 5-9pm 2020
Stop by on Friday to watch a master metalsmith at work performing hollow forming and anticlastic hammering in the style of master metalsmiths Georg Jensen and Hekki Seppa. In this exciting night of demos you can see how Alexandra controls the movement of the metal using just a few hammers and stakes. Demos at the top of the hour - 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. First Friday is a fun, family-friendly event that happens every month. Come explore the fabulous new Liberty Public Market, stroll through shops and visit working artist studios to see what's new - all for FREE. Anneville is just one of over 80 artist studios, galleries, museums and other art destinations open for this monthly event. With a dozen fabulous restaurants within walking distance, it makes a great evening out. And, we've got free parking! Get directions.

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.

We had so much fun at our First Friday Valentine's Party on February 7th! 💝At one point we had a full house of people excitedly looking at jewelry and classes! It was wonderful to see some dear friends and students and everyone enjoyed the free gift (sparkle-etch valentines) and the chocolate cookies. Even though we had a double-blind raffle with about 30 entries, all of the winners were students! Go fig! Special thanks goes out to Yvonne Dao of @yvonnedaojewels and Yoko Rover of Yoko Rover Jewelry @yokorover for volunteering and bringing the bling - your displays are now officially fantastic. Save the date - March 6th - for our next First Friday Open Studio when we’ll be hosting metalsmith extraordinaire Alexandra Hart showing us how anticlastic raising works. Join us - our First Friday open studio events are always free, no rsvp required. 

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to help with our January Blood Drive. Here's the report from our coordinator Leslie at the San Diego Blood Bank: "WOW what an awesome drive on Saturday! With your advertising efforts, new Blood Mobile location and our volunteers we registered 30 donors and collected 28 pints, saving 84 lives in our community. There were 15 first time donors which is amazing. Thank you so much for all your support!" Our pint total last year was 41 and I had modestly hoped to double it this year but we're well on our way so I'm going to go ahead and make our goal an ambitious 100 pints. Help us spread the word, our next blood drive is March 14th, 2020!

Join us for a festive evening celebrating love of all stripes with music, snacks, a jewelry sale and a raffle featuring fun Valentine’s goodies. Free gift wrapping on all purchases and the first 15 visitors get a special Valentine surprise! Peace, Love and Mokume Gane ~ Ame & Anne

We're kicking off 2020 with our first blood drive on January 18th. The San Diego Blood Bank Blood Mobile will be parked outside the Lab on Historic Decatur Road near the Liberty Public Market from 11am-5pm. Did you know that you get points every time you donate? Yep, and you can redeem them for gift cards and other goodies. PLUS, this month we're offering a special free snacks and a $20 coupon good for classes and Open Lab time to all donors - just stop by the Lab after you donate and show us your cool arm band. That day at the Lab we're learning torch-fired enamels so you might see some glowing torches in action too! For your blood donation, be sure to bring a photo ID and make sure you're well hydrated. Walk-ins are welcome but it's best to make an appointment. I'll be the first donor at 11am so I hope to see you there! Make your appointment.

For December's First Friday we hosted three artists in the Lab, Anne did mokume gane chisel demos in her studio AND we had two tables outside! Upstairs in the Lab, Yvonne of Yvonne Dao Jewels created a great display of her space-inspired work while Yoko of Yoko R Creations showed off her pieces (including her great whale shark bracelet) and artist & instructor Jessica Andersen offered her one-of-a-kind art jewelry and beautiful ornaments. Meanwhile, downstairs ...

... our hearty instructor Jules Monroe (along with her trusty studio dog Jazz) braved the cold alongside Seaglass Queen Valerie Safford to merrily greet people at our table in the outdoor bazaar. Jules showed off her fume patina earrings and new water-cast seaglass pendants while Val offered her glimmering designs featuring San Diego seaglass. Throughout the evening we had fun guests, making for a busy night with quite a few sales. We also had a bunch of VIP visitors including the fabulous Irene Wetsman of IJD Designs, our own Alix Hart, Val's mom (who was a hoot!) and Irene's fabulous husband and dog...along with many other friends, both old and new. By the time we toddled out, a big cauldron of hot spiced cider had been dispensed to happy minglers and we'd all heard enough holiday music to launch us merrily into the season. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it a success and to all of our wonderful visitors ... happy holidays!