8/6/2020 - We are thrilled to introduce Meredith, an emerging jewelry artist/metalsmith and E.R. Nurse. We first met her at an early episode of Metal Arts Adventures when she tuned in to ask for feedback on her home studio set up. Since then she's been an active member of our online community so we were thrilled when she responded to our Health Care Hero free class offer. When Meredith is not making cool things at her bench she works on the front line of COVID care at a busy San Diego emergency department. We are so thankful for the work that our many, many economic and medical first responders are doing on behalf of the rest of us to keep our communities safe and moving forward. Thank you Meredith, from the bottom of our hearts, for all you do. Read on to see some of her beautiful jewelry designs. Click images to view larger.

8/6/2020 - Experience an explosion of color as jewelry designer and metalsmith Chinanshu "Cheena" Sharma takes us on a virtual excursion through the Johari Bazaar in her home town, Jaipur, India. As we gaze on examples of the stunning jewelry and other crafts of this region, we'll also learn about Cheena's jewelry business background and hear her observations on design, color and craft. After that, we'll checkout some clever tools and share one of Anne's new tool purchases - direct from it's previous celebrity owner. And then we are excited to announce - and meet! - the winner of our Health Care Hero free class pass. As always we'll finish by talking about current projects, sharing ideas & resources and having an open Q&A. MAAA is a FREE weekly online metal arts presentation followed by an open discussion Q&A. In this fun, interactive gathering we 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, test out tips and tricks and share resources. For photos, links and more read more. Click to view larger.

7/30/2020 - Grab a Laugenbrezel and settle in to hear the harrowing tale of how materialsmith Kerianne Quick made her way home from the international jewelry show Schmuck amidst the worldwide COVID travel shutdown. After that, Anne will test an Instagram tip for DIY satin buffs and Earl will share the book “Metalwork & Enamelling” by Herbert Maryon, OBE, FSA, FIIC - sometimes referred to as the "bible of metalworking". We'll also share some keum boo work that wowed us! As always we'll finish by talking about current projects, sharing ideas & resources and having an open Q&A.

7/30/2020 - We have an exciting announcement from Bette Barnet! Tevel at Allcraft has decided to offer a discounted Keum Boo package of tools and supplies. Everything in this package has been hand-selected by Bette for its effectiveness in working with Keum Boo on steel.

7/26/2020 - A Free Class for a Health Care Hero
COVID has taken a lot from us in the past 6 months. We went from a thriving school to moving online and closing our storefront. We lost Anne's aunt Bernice (most likely of undiagnosed COVID) and Ame's aunt Jewel died when COVID swept through her assisted living facility. Sometimes it feels like a monster is invisibly stalking us, we never know who it will brush past and who it will grab. It takes courage just to get groceries. But while we are wearing our masks and staying home, many courageous people are walking directly into harm's way every day to help the rest of us. From essential workers making deliveries and staffing stores to emergency first responders keeping us safe to all of the people behind the scenes we say, with deep gratitude and humility, Thank You. We see you, we are sincerely grateful for your efforts. Of all of these, there is one group for which we feel an especially deep sense of gratitude and respect. These people suit up and face the monster directly every day. They are our Health Care Heroes. No matter what your job is, if your work involves COVID patient care we would like to humbly offer a free pass (including materials kit) to our upcoming Riveted Photo Pendant online class.

7/21/2020 - Hop a shinkansen with Anne & Ame to Tsubame-Sanjo, Japan for a visit to the 200 year old Gyokusendo metal arts factory! We'll take a tour, meet the artists and see their amazing work. After that we’ll learn to make ingenious DIY rolling mill patterns with Karla in Santa Fe and Anne will Show & Tool her latest score direct from its celebrity previous owner! As always we'll finish by talking about current projects, sharing ideas & resources and having an open Q&A. For resource links and downloads, click Read more.

7/16/2020 - Settle in with a hot espresso, uncork a super Tuscan or dip one of those wee spoons into a cool cup of gelato because we're off to Florence, Italy! In this week's Metal Arts Adventure the intrepid Monica Cardone will take us on an immersive tour of this fascinating metal arts destination. After that, Anne will test an Instagram tip to fight fly-offs (help us decide if it's a Hero or Zero) and we'll enjoy some great student work submitted during the past week. As always we'll finish by talking about current projects, sharing ideas & resources and an open Q&A. Read on for resource links.

7/9/2020 - Thursday, July 9th 6-7pm PDT. Optional Meet & Greet starts at 5:45pm. Come with us on a tour of Delam Ltd, the Monterey home studio of accomplished metalsmith and woodworker Earl Bushey. We're also continuing our Home Studio Setup Series with an in-depth discussion of hammers (including Anne's top 3) along with an inspiring gallery of hammered metal work. We even have exciting new announcements about upcoming classes. MAAA is a FREE weekly online metal arts presentation followed by an open discussion Q&A. In this fun, interactive gathering we 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, test out tips and tricks and share resources. Read on for links and resources.

7/2/2020 - Copper Work of Lake Patzcuaro - Connections Call for Art - Home Studio Set Up: Getting Hammered
Order in some authentic Mexican food and make yourself a margarita...we're traveling to exotic Lake Patzcuaro to explore the famous copper work of the Santa Clara del Cobre region of central Mexico. We're also continuing our Home Studio Series with hammer set ups - including best things to hammer on and clever noise cancelling tips. Along the way we took a look at the incredible winner of Danica Design's Battle of the Rings and shared an intriguing new call for art. Read on for resources.

6/15/2020 - 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.

5/29/2020 - Our first MAAAA was great fun with about 30 participants sharing an hour of jewelry metal arts tips, samples, updates, resources and community. In this episode: Tip Test: a clever technique for cutting tubing using a flexshaft. Handy for making spikes too! Work that Wowed Us: two ingenious pendants with chisel texturing, precision filed edges and flush-set stones made under home quarantine (without a torch!) by Janet Ross (Houston, Tx). What's on Anne's Bench: Anne shows off the gorgeous Monterey Cypress wood box custom made by Earl Bushey to house her newest mokume gane vessel. What's on Your Bench?: Student Joanne Hein shows off some of her home quarantine mokume gane pendants and earrings while Kathe Dunn shares her 2020 MASSC Challenge entry, a large copper pendant with set stones. Ask Anne: Anne Wolf and Deb Jemmott weigh in on a great question from Monica Cardone about using the "Sharpie Technique" for determining if a piece is annealed. Extra Segment: We also gratefully acknowledge the mask sewing work of several of our participants. If you missed it live you can still catch up by watching it below or by heading over to our YouTube channel where you can give us a Like and subscribe to catch future episodes!

5/26/2020 - While spacesuits might not be too practical to implement, please know that we are brainstorming like mad to come up with ways to move forward. There is a lot of talk about acceptable levels of risk out there. Well, the "acceptable" number of students getting COVID in our space is zero, so we will not be opening the Lab if there is a risk to the people involved. Seeing Jean's and Karen's smiling faces makes me realize even more how much I miss all of you. That is one reason why we are starting MAAA (Metal Arts Adventures with Anne) on Thursday nights. We want to get back to the great community of the Lab - right now that needs to happen online, because we care about you. We also have more online classes in the works, and I look forward to talking with all of you on Thursday nights about what you might like to see added to the schedule.  - Anne

4/30/2020 - 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.

4/28/2020 - With so much uncertainty in the world right now, we want to let our beloved community of makers, students and teachers know that we're working hard to stay in business. We have been investigating business relief loans and doing some creative planning for what's next. Since we self-funded the Lab from our savings, we are very lucky to have no debt and since we hadn't gotten our act together to hire anyone we have no employees. Win-win! Most of the emergency loans on offer are designed to alleviate debt and payroll obligations. Considering the massive need to save jobs, we are trying to avoid accessing those programs unless we absolutely have to to make rent. Instead, to stay afloat we accepted a temporary rent deferral and we both immediately pivoted to our other businesses working on rings and websites. Now, as our COVID adventure enters a new month, we're itching to get back to the Lab! So here are the ideas we're rolling out and the ones we're thinking about ... and we could use your feedback on both so read on for our tiny questionnaire.

12/29/2019 - Anneville Studio & Jewelry Lab 1:30-6:30pm Monday, February 17, 2020.
We are super excited to announce that Tevel of All Craft is bringing his annual tool sale to Anneville! Attendees will tell you its an opportunity to get score rare tools at fantastic prices, but it's also great fun to meet and mingle with Anne will be on hand to help with recommendations. Here's a sneak peek from his last visit!

11/23/2019 - Metal Arts Society of Southern California ​At Anneville Jewelry Lab February 8 & 9th, 2020 - 2 day intensive.
Learn the traditional Japanese method of patterning mokume-gane; using a chisel to carve into the surface of blank mokume-gane to create rivers of pattern. After hammering the sheet back to flat, the unique patterns are locked into the metal forever. Participants will create patterned sheets the first day, then have the option of creating a finished pendant the second day, and/or creating their own mokume gane chisel.

5/17/2019 - Last month I took a deep breath and ordered the precious metal to create this tiny billet. It is made from 18k yellow gold and palladium 500. This was my first time fusing a gold billet that did not contain silver layers. Not having the silver layers was notable for two reasons - first the cost. This billet, although it was tinier than usual ring billets (12.5mm x 25mm x 17m), the materials were almost twice the price. Second, fusing is tricky - each metal type requires a different temperature. If it isn't just exactly right for the types of metals being joined, the layers can delaminate. When the materials are expensive, this becomes even more something you really want to avoid! But, I'd really been wanting to try this combination, and I had a customer ready to buy if it was successful. I did all the steps as carefully as I could, from the cleaning to the stacking to the pressing. Everything worked out great, no issues at all, and I love the colors! Rings shown are the first two created with this billet - I've got enough material for two more ...Click images to view larger.

4/25/2019 - The second week of Ford Hallam's visit to Anneville got off to a great start. We had a Meet & Greet at Stone Brewery on the Sunday evening, and learned we had an eager and impressive crew - more jewelry/metals teachers, classically trained jewelers, folks with tons of experience in chasing & repoussé, even a bladesmith and Forged in Fire champion! From then until the last hour on Friday, the participants were a joy to be around - ambitious, focused, hard-working, talented, and funny too.  We've already got plans for a few of them to return as visiting artists themselves.

4/19/2019 - We had one of our biggest open studio nights ever with over 80 attendees on Friday, April 5th. Ford Hallam and Anne were both on hand demonstrating uchidashi, visiting with guests and even doing some ingot melting with Lincoln Hatfield and Douglas Pryor - two of our uchidashi students. Meanwhile videographer and goldsmith Bella Day wowed us all with "Sakura Silver" and the remaining students and visitors had a great time relaxing after our busy week. We even saw old friends and made some new ones.  View photos. 

4/15/2019 - I'm taking my mokume gane patterning class on the road this summer - on June 29 and 30 I'll be teaching at Idyllwild Arts, as part of their summer jewelry classes. Big thanks to Deb Jemmott (my colleague at West City and the organizer of Metals Week in Idyllwild) for making this possible. I'm taking my mokume gane patterning class on the road this summer - on June 29 and 30 I'll be teaching at Idyllwild Arts, as part of their summer jewelry classes.