Review. Silver Ring Making Day (led by Francesca Biggar), January 2010, WhiteHouse Arts, Cambridge
Thinking back to this particular Saturday over two years ago
is this very moment giving me a fluttery happy feeling inside! I vividly recall
calling J at the end of my day, arranging to meet at the
Green Dragon and
enthusing,
possibly somewhat dementedly, about what an exciting time I’d had, what I’d
learned and what I’d made. Warning: this is not going to be an objective
review!
Following my aforementioned printmaking misadventure I
stumbled across a local venue running a range of art courses. A large white
building, passed many a time with no notion of all of the fun that could be had
inside. Located opposite a towpath on the river Cam. I had been running past
it, literally, for years. All of that was about to change. Something shiny had
caught my eye – silver jewellery making.
With no room on the regular evening courses, I leapt at the
chance to try my hand at a one-day workshop in ring making. This one day
completely changed me. I was confronted with all sorts of very industrial tools
– saws, hammers, blowtorches! My father might happily inform anyone who cared
to listen how reluctant I had been to any of his approaches towards teaching me
some practical skills with similar implements. But… when the end result meant
getting to own and wear shiny silver hand made jewellery, it was a different
story altogether.
The studio was big, light, airy and well stocked with a multitude of those mysterious tools. The group were friendly, tea and
biscuits were at arms reach in the studio and the owner of the house, Caroline
had kindly cooked soup which we enjoyed together at lunch time. The lovely
tutor,
Francesca, organized the day really well. She gave great instructions
that even complete newcomers such as myself could take on board and managed to
get round to help out with queries or wobbles.
There was a great sense of completion for everyone as we all
managed to make at least one, if not two (!) rings. Mine were simple bands, one
using square wire with a leaf texture and one hammered d shaped wire. Sizing
was unpredictable to say the least. (I insisted on wearing the hammered one
thereafter despite its gapingly large size and managed to lose it for several
weeks in the interior of my parents car. Eventually my insistence about the
price of silver and its sentimental value encouraged my brother to fish it out
(thanks John!)). But - the main thing -
they were discernibly rings, they were wearable, they were shiny and polished.
They were the best thing since sliced bread as far as I was concerned.
There would be more silversmithing!
Hammer and Pickle ratings:
Value – 5/5 Hammers: The workshop was amazing value for the
level of tuition and amount of equipment provided. Rings are a good starting
point budget wise due to their size. The price of silver has rocketed up
significantly in the last couple of years though and overall it is an expensive
hobby (oops!).
Vibes - 5/5 Hammers: Lovely! Friendly, informal, focussed
enough to ignore the tea and biscuits. Most of the time.
Pickle rating – 2/5 Pickles: Despite my enthusiasm,
this wasn’t the easiest craft I’ve tried to master. That’s probably what I like
about it – the challenge. I don’t clearly remember my pickles, but do remember
needing Francesca’s help a good few times. And, on this day I did inflict my
worst jeweller’s injury to date – I cut my hand with the piercing saw.
Something to avoid. This really stung.
