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[Welcome] New Members for August 29, 2008

#1

Please welcome our newest members!

…

Kenneth Val Jensen
Springville, UT. USA

I have a B.S. degree in engineering technology and aminor in art
from Brigham Young University. While I switched majors from art to
engineering I have not been able to get art our of my system, not
that I tried. Reciently I have taken up jewelry making again as well
as oil paints. It is so satisfying to creat unique jewelry. I cut my
own stones and do the silver smithing. Ganoskins is a unique website
and you are to be commended for bringing so many creative artist to
light. Thanks for what you are doing.

…

Kenneth Scott
Kendesign
Florence, Toscana. Italy

Jeweler/sculptor and teacher loving and working in Florence Italy

…

John S Brana
John S. Brana - Distinctive Jewelry
San Francisco, CA. USA

I design one-of-a-kind custom handcrafted fine jewelry, wire
sculpted jewelry, and fused silver and gold jewelry for both men and
women.

…

Andria Brice Goodliffe
TPT & BDC
Tauranga, New Zealand,

Artist, tutor & aiming to improve!

…

Gryony Villiers-Stuart
Hexham, UK,

just starting to get intrested in jewelry, working with copper and
silver. looking for on tools materials and techniques.

#2

Andria Brice Goodliffe
TPT & BDC
Tauranga, New Zealand,

Artist, tutor & aiming to improve!

Hi Andria.

Welcome from way up here in Auckland, New Zealand.

Might I explain to the others a little more about your position.
Andria ia part of a team which runs a small but perfectly formed
jewellery area as part of a vocational-training arts workshop called
the Turning Point Trust.

She had the foresight :wink: to hire me to go in and organise their
jewellery equipment and tools and arrange a workable studio workshop
area for her and the other tutors to teach from. It’s a start-again
type of situation for adult students with a very wide range of skills
and aptitude.

I tried to keep the workshop free of bench-mounted motors and other
large and dangerous spinning things, emphasising hand-technology. My
belief is that the more motorised equipment you have the more
students would need to be very well-supervised. So using low-tech
hand tools, beauty-board buffers, burnishers, and UPcycling cheap
car-parts into decorative and personal hand-tools might encourage a
holistic approach to the tools plus a gentle intro into the
therapeutic side jewellery-making.

Andria was very receptive to these ideas and as a tutor was patient
and showed great adaptability… I suppose that is called
multi-tasking? Very essential in this workshop.

One problem that stumped me was re-hardening the steel tools we
fashioned from car engine valves. I annealed the valves, filed them
into decorative punches, then went to harden the working end.

But neither quenching in water nor in oil would harden the steel.

Maybe I’ll start another thread called ‘Hardening steel - recycled
car-parts’…

Cheers
Brian
Brian Adam
Auckland NEW ZEALAND
www.adam.co.nz