Over the second week of June, Anne taught her first online class at Anneville Jewelry Lab to an enthusiastic group of 10 students ranging from San Diego to Georgia all the way to Edmonton, Canada. Blazing ahead through the vagaries of technology, Anne guided the students through the creation of a stunning mokume gane bracelet, and the resulting student works were fantastic! Along with the learning we also had a lot of fun seeing each other's home studios and tools. San Diego local Miranda created a gorgeous bracelet using her very basic but ingenious kitchen table set up of masking tape & ballpeen hammer stake proving that you don't need a ton of tools to make cool stuff. Speaking of tools though, check out Mary's uber-cool mandrel! We also got a kick out of guest appearances by Laurie's dog Rusty (great name for a metalsmith's dog-LOL!), Jasper the very fabulous cockatiel and various cats - who unequivocally let us know exactly what they thought of the whole thing. Read on for more photos and Anne's thoughts on the class.

Our first ever online class "Keum Boo Like You Never Knew" was taught by Bette Barnett on June 1st, 3rd and 5th and was very well received. We are really thrilled because Bette, Ame and Anne all put a lot of time and energy into creating the best possible experience for the students. Bette meticulously planned the class and filmed great demos (teaching herself all of the tech along the way!). Anne figured out click & ship for the mailing labels (no small endeavor as it turns out) and Ame set up an online store for Anneville and figured out all of the registration and Zoom details. So, we were extremely gratified for these words of praise from Cary (one of the students) posted to Facebook afterwards: "I just finished a class with Bette Barnett and feel like I have just swallowed the last bite of my chocolate bar. I don’t want it to be over. I want more! It was absolutely wonderful.”  From Bette’s great demos to the extensive student interaction, this class was super fun. I was blown away by the cool things people made. We even succeeded in carrying over our traditional last-day-of-class prize raffle! We have a second session of this class starting soon (also sold out) and Bette’s already busy planning a third so if you’re interested, visit our Classes and Workshops page to join the waiting list.

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

I've had a lot of time to notice the objects in my home bookcase lately. The other day this mirror caught my eye. I made it in 1991 - it was the first time I ever touched a sawframe. I loved metals instantly, and was so lucky to be taught by master metalsmith Helen Shirk.
Looking back on this project now, I see how clever she was to design a project that had huge artistic potential. Students were prompted to design a  mirror that reflected them - either current pursuits/personality, or future hopes/dreams goals. When I was 21, travel was always on my mind. I wanted to see those trees, you know like in the Serengeti. The copper was perfect to represent an old-timey leather suitcase. Still have never seen one of those trees in real life. It is a goal that feels farther away than ever these days, but that's no reason to stop dreaming.

I have to share a little secret - teachers love making kits. Well, at least this one does, and I don't think I'm alone! I don't know why, but it is so satisfying to portion everything out, figure out the cost and how to package things. I'm in the middle of doing that now for my first ever online class - my popular mokume gane stamped bracelet class is going online! It is an interesting challenge to adapt the project and adjust the kit for folks who will be working from home, not using my studio. For instance, usually students use my stamp tools that I've designed specifically for patterning mokume - they aren't chasing tools, and they aren't design stamps; they are sort of in between. So, guess what goes in the kit? Two mokume stamp tools handmade by me! I love making stamp tools, and I think students will find them useful to have for many types of projects. Plus there will be a mokume bracelet blank of course - I've chosen silver/brass/copper mokume because the patina for that material is actually easier to use than the one for copper/brass mokume. It does make the kit more expensive, but I've found that usually students want the silver mokume anyway. I was delighted to find tiny vials and jars on Amazon today, so each kit will also contain Baldwin's patina and Renaissance wax. That way you can patinate and finish your bracelet exactly as I do in my studio.