The prospectus is available online for a course on crafting Celtic
jewelry that I will be teaching this summer August 7 - 11 at the
Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey.
http://www.petersvalley.org/2009workshops
listed under fine metals. Enrollment is limited to 12 students.
This course will include some general lessons in Celtic design and
some of the more commonly used modern methods of creating jewelry in
this tradition using contemporary handcraft methods such as chasing
and piercing, but it will also include an introduction to the
medieval style chip carving method, also called kerbschnitt. This
technique was how many of the most splendid masterpieces of medieval
Celtic, Scandinavian and late Roman provincial metalwork was cast.
The technique was abandoned for unknown reasons at the beginning of
the second millennium, although the design tradition continued using
other techniques. I have researched and experimented with this method
since I gained a clue as to how it may have been done in 2004. It is
a very useful method of executing Celtic designs that I have used
extensively in my own work now for the past 4 years. This course will
be the first time that I have taught it as a hands on lesson to
anyone other than my own apprentices. A paper that documents my
discovery of the technique and describes the basics of the method in
a historical context can be read at
http://celtarts.com/StNinianBrooches.htm
This course is designed and offered for the practing craftsman, but
it is hoped that it may also be useful to the academic or
archaeologist with an interest in the techniques of medieval
metalworking manufacture. Anyone who would like to know more is
invited to contact me directly at s_walker14806 at yahoo dot com or
phone me at (01) 607-478-8567.
Stephen Walker
Walker Metalsmiths
Andover, NY