Saturday, January 15, 2022
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM with a 90-minute lunch break, class resumes at 1:30 PM -4:30 PM
$200
Kit Fee: $20 and includes salvage squares of a vintage handmade quilt, embroidery thread, vintage and new designer buttons, handmade by Jen clay charms and beads, colorful beads and crystals, 20 gauge steel wire, recycled silk sari ribbon, fun sayings charms and everything needed to make multiple pendants.
A dear friend of mine had a couple of tattered old quilts from her grandmother that she simply couldn’t part with for sentimental reasons. Their beauty fading and taking up too much space in her already filled-to-the-brim sewing room, she asked me what she could do with them. When I looked at them and came up with a half dozen ideas off the top of my head for repurposing them into new art, she shoved them at me. “Take them!” she said with a sob. “I love everything you’re saying but I can’t cut them up myself.” I took them home to my studio and there they sat until my first year teaching at Craft Napa. when I had an idea after getting inspired by all the incredible fiber arts workshops. Not a seamstress myself, I decided to try a little hand stitching. Now I admit my stitches are a little wonky, but then that’s my style; loose, whimsical and free. I happen to love how these tattered beauties came out and I hope you do too!
In this workshop I’ll be teaching some of my classic collage and jewelry making techniques but using deconstructed quilts as our substrate. Learn how to make wire worked bails and clasps, making bead links and dangles. You’ll learn cold connection techniques for attaching these beads and charms to the substrate that will stand the test of time. I’ll be providing a wire working handout for student’s reference. I’ll demonstrate proper metal stamping in case you wish to learn how to personalize your own metal jewelry designs, but we will not be making stamped charms during class because of time constraints.
This is a great workshop for anyone looking to have fun and to break out of the box a little into a world where wonky stitching and artful assemblage coalesce into wonderful wearable jewelry. Like a crazy quilt of wearable art, if you can see it in your mind’s eye I’ll help you make it!
