Get ready to think about a whole new way of enameling on die-cut metal…because after Jayne’s workshop you will be able to design and make your own precise multiple shapes and form them into 3-D pieces of silver or copper, large or small, simple or complex. It’s up to you and your imagination.
Left, silver is in the blanking die ready to be cut. Center, pieces are ready for keum boo. Lower right, pieces have been formed. Upper right, pieces are assembled into a pendant.
This workshop will deal directly with how to make the blanking dies that you will saw from tool steel. Your die will cut metal that is thinner than the thickness of your die. You can use either a heavy duty bench vise or a hydraulic press to cut shapes with your die. The shapes will be precision cut and of your own design.
The pattern sawed out needs to be beveled at a specific angle to create a shearing action. You will use a special bench pin and protractor which help keep your tool steel at the correct angle while you saw out your design.
Using the rotational bench pin and magnetic protractor.
You will learn how to design and engineer the die. Jayne will teach you the proper placement and proportion of hinge to pattern so your die will work well. You will also learn how to make multiple dies which have two or three shapes spaced apart so that you can cut several at once. Re-insert the metal, offset by one, to efficiently cut several more.
A multiple die that has made the first cut in the copper. By offsetting the die, 3 more pieces can be cut to the left.
You will learn pattern development. Jayne will teach her design process for working out shapes and planning for forming and connecting the pieces. She will bring examples of her work and show step-by-step samples of how pieces can be put together. One of her techniques is “faux tubing” shown in the picture below. She will show you some interesting design possibilities, and you will be encouraged to think beyond the obvious.
The connector between the two halves of the shape is formed around a rod to make “faux tubing.”
We will not be doing any enameling in this workshop. But you must see the next pictures of the work done by Barbara Bowling after she made her blanking die in Jayne’s class…then enameled the metal in her own studio. Stunning! Hope you are feeling inspired…
Mistletoe by Barbara Bowling, side view
Mistletoe by Barbara Bowling, looking up
Drawing of Mistletoe Die
Workshop Details
The workshop will be held at WashingtonArtWorks, 12276 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville MD 20852 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 7, 8 and 9. Hours will be 10:00 to 5:00. The cost will be $345 for guild members and $385 for nonmembers. There will be a $150 kit fee (an aluminum rotational bench pin $115, tool steel $25, magnetic protractor $10).
How to Sign Up
NEG and the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths are cohosting this workshop. NEG and WGG members have received applications by email and should send them in ASAP since the workshop will be filled by the first to sign up. There is a twelve student maximum. If you are not a guild member and would like an application, go to washingtonguildofgoldsmiths.com/workshops and click on Workshop Application.
Jayne Redman, a Maine native, earned her B.F.A. in Jewelry and Silversmithing from the Maine College of Art in 1977. She began her jewelry career in New York as a design and production assistant in the fashion jewelry industry. She started her own company, Jayne Redman Jewelry, in 1982. Jayne is the recipient of numerous awards including the Niche Award for Silver Jewelry and Lapidary Journal’s Jewelry Arts Award and has been a finalist in the Saul Bell Awards.
Jayne has been featured in articles for Crafts Report, AJM/MJSA Journal, Lapidary Journal, Professional Jeweler, Niche, and Ornament magazines. Examples of her work illustrate the books Art Jewelry Today by Donna Z. Meilach, Making Metal Beads by Pauline Warg, 500 Earrings by Lark Books and 20th Century Jewelry – The Best of the 500 Series by Lark Books. She was a contributor to the book Profiting by Design by Marlene Richey.
Jayne is a former faculty member of the Maine College of Art Department of Jewelry and Metals. She teaches workshops nationally and at Riverview Workshops at Jayne Redman Studio in southern Maine. She is represented by fine jewelry and craft stores across the country.
Visit her website at jayneredmanjewelry.com.
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Below are some examples of student work from past workshops.
National Enamelist Guild 