Ok…My two pennyweights. I have an eleven year old son,(named
Wolf), and he easily learned to solder at age six. Since then, I
have introduced most of his friends to silvermithing in some way.
Forging, soldering, bezel making etc…The kids range in age from
nine to thirteen. I have also taught adult classes. I’ll take the
kids over the adults most of the time. In general, they learn more
quickly and easily than the adults, listen more closely,(they have
more fear of screwing up, and are not as sure of themselves), and
ask more questions. I supervise them more closely because I am a
worrywart, and some common-sense notions don’t sink in as
quickly,(like not taking moving machinery for granted). The kids
are perfectly competent and amazingly adept once they get the idea,
in general, they are more creative, and less stubborn about trying
something new. Far less set in their ways than their adult
counterparts. For a school fundraiser when Wolf was nine, I showed
his entire class of 32, how to use green wax, and they all made a
small star of some sort, and signed their name on the back. I took
the whole lot to the caster, had him cast each star and make a mold
of each , he did it at his cost. We sold each parent as many star
pendants of their child’s as they wanted,(at retail), and then took
one of each star, and attached all of the stars to one necklace
and then auctioned the necklace off at the fundraiser to the
highest bidder. Stars and necklace brought in almost $1000. The
kids had a great time, I had a great time, and several of them
still make jewelry of some sort for fun. Do it. Lisa
This is a great idea, Lisa! Thanks. I have but 1 hour, and the
delay from making to getting a silver result could be a slight
drag, but the results would be great! I’ll see what the art teacher
says.
Brian
B r i a n � A d a m J e w e l l e r y E y e w e a r �
@Brian_Adam1 ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
http://www.adam.co.nz/workshop/ NEXT ONE - Queenstown Mar11 to Mar18 '98
http://www.adam.co.nz/ruthbaird/ across the bench from me