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. 

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!

Hundreds of visitors attended the live concert, open artist studios, gallery viewings, food and wine at September's First Friday. This was an "Amplified" month, which brought another opportunity for our students to offer their pieces at the Local Bazaar outdoor sale. Beth Peckham, Thida Key and Yoko Rover really pulled out the stops to finish some great work and create beautiful table displays. Meanwhile up in the Lab, Jeff Fulkerson offered some of his beautiful jewelry along with colorful cabochons and Anne demo'd mokume gane raising. We had some great visitors too including past ring clients and current students Cecilia & Gina, Pat & Marie and Yvonne - who arrived with little Zinnia, Sophia and Christof too! Thank you SO MUCH to our dedicated students who staffed the table representing the Lab, to Jeff for being on hand to explain his upcoming class offerings and to everyone who stopped by the say hello. 

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.  

Pendant by Alyssa Ihle, pendant by Cindy McQuade, Mokume gane rings by Karen Rood and Karen working on a square wire bracelet in The Lab. Click any image for a larger view.

Spring was a fun semester, full of fold-forming , stone-setting and box-making. Lots of creativity here; especially Juan's fold-form fish and Yoko's hairpin!

What a fun semester at West City Center, Point Loma. The all-levels class focused on rings - bent, soldered, carved, with stones and without. I was particularly pleased with the creativity of some of the beginners - check out the wearable brass fish ring by Andrea, top center. In the advanced class we worked with bimetals, exotic Japanese alloys, shell-forming and marriage of metals. It was a lot to absorb, but many came up with some amazing projects, especially Julie with her celestial bracelet and Chanalin's bee! The spring advanced class will include some time to catch up and practice the techniques learned in the fall and last spring (vessel fabrication).