what an exciting time i've had the last several days. i drove up to Campbell, CA, a suburb of San Jose to meet in person an online metalsmith 'teamie' so that i could purchase her casting equipment and take 2.5 days of instruction on how to use it.
first off, let me just say how HUGE the state of California is. i drove up the central valley on I-5, the drive seems endless. SADLY there are huge blocks of land that are no longer producing veggies and fruit due to water supply issues. BIG signs saying congress created a dust bowl, SHOCKING tan versus green and lush.
Julie and i jumped right into a 3d working relationship: she teacher, me student, and she set to work to show me how to take seashells i'd collected at Sanibel Island, FL (a premier shell beach world renown) in 1992, and attach wax to them so they could be used to make a mold for wax...
i'll cover the process more when i upload my cell phone pictures but right now let me wet your whistle by mentioning that we did 6 castings: 3 in sterling silver, sea shells, various sizes of sea horses, sand dollar and starfish. and 3 castings in bronze, some shells, and a toggle clasp i fashioned from wax..
i will need alot more practice but Julie has gotten me off on the right start!
it was alot of fun, i enjoyed the time spent with her and am sad she will be moving to Slovenia in a month...
i am still working out in my mind where the casting, wax injection equipment will be set up so i probably won't be casting until mid-Sept but i hope to do some wax work before then.
I'm researching what type of wax i need for my creation style, i think i need modeling wax vs carving wax.
learning this will give me the opportunity to create pieces with an ocean life theme, or organic floral, veggie, or tree plus i will be able to create a heart themed collection of items...
julie had a great idea to do a hinged shell box, i thought i could 'hide' a pearl or semiprecious gem inside.. must increase my fabrication skills to do the project justice..
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