More riveting….

I teach wireworking in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Lately, I have become a little restless from only teaching wireworking and decided to add some metalworking classes, such as riveting (I think my students are restless too and are ready to learn something new). I feel it’s a natural progression for many wireworkers to move towards metalwork after awhile and blend these two techniques that look so good together!

My jewelry path began 5 years ago with a class at Michaels. It was a stringing class and it was my first jewelry class.  I didn’t know anything about jewelry making. Thinking back, I remember the instructor telling us to get out some crimps and I had no idea what a crimp was. There were two kind ladies sitting next to me who told me what crimps were used for and gave me a few. At the end of class I can tell you with full confidence my bracelet was the ugliest, most poorly made bracelet in the bunch. Though, for whatever reason, I was not discouraged. If this had happened to me when I was in my teens or twenties etc, I would have just panned the entire idea and think I wasn’t artistic enough. Though, this particular evening at Michaels, as the ladies next to me told me how beautiful my bracelet was, I knew it was goofy looking, but I didn’t mind. I was hooked. I wish I still had the bracelet today.

I eventually got the hang of stringing ( and mastered crimping)! and loved using lampwork beads in many of my pieces. To this day, I still have a huge stash of beautiful lampwork beads. One afternoon, about two years later, I was surfing the internet and stumbled across Connie Fox’s website and her incredible wire jewelry.   I was smitten and wanted to learn wireworking and make beautiful wire jewelry too. Finding Connie’s website that afternoon was fate and working with wire will always remain the constant and primary medium I work with. I am committed to wire for life:)

A few months later, it so happened that Connie Fox was to teach at Bead Fest and thus began my wireworking path. Again, wireworking did not come naturally for me. I just wasn’t getting the hang of it. I never completed the class project and the section of the bracelet that was completed was in desperate need of help. Even though I had the right tools and pretty lampwork beads, it just wasn’t happening. My friend, Roseanne, who also was taking her first wireworking class with Connie that day sold the bracelet right off her wrist a few weeks later. She was a natural!

I was so determine to learn wireworking that I spent countless of hours and many, many months working with copper and practicing making loops, spirals etc read jewelry making publications and learn everything that I could.  I can say with confidence I have finally mastered  wireworking. I  still find the designing aspect of jewelry making very challenging. I think my wireworking strengths are more with the mechanics of wireworking. I tend to keep my designs simple, and prefer my jewelry pieces to be made mostly of metal and wire. I love the look of metal..it looks beautiful on it’s own.

Now, to fast forward to the present, I am enjoying working with metal!  I have been interested in riveting for some time now and was lucky enough to take an all-day riveting class with Connie at Bead Fest Wire last year. Besides the class being a great introduction to riveting, I actually got to use a flex shaft for the first time and no longer fear I am going to drill a hole through my finger when I use one!

So, this is where I am at today. Doing more metalwork, but wire remains the constant in my life. I will never abandon it. I have noticed when visiting blogs of my jewelry artist colleagues, they too are going through a progression and wanting to learn new techniques….are you?

Jeanette