Rock On! Rock Carving Class this Weekend

Where did the torches go? Don't worry, Lampworkers, the glass torches were just temporarily stored so the flex shafts could be mounted on the tables for the rock carvers to learn the time-honored technique of "Intaglio carving" or carving from the back of a stone. Ron Martinez, www.visionsbyron.com and his lovely wife, Carmen, were here all weekend, taught 7 students, designing, selection of burs, flex shaft use and carving techniques. One of the students brought his own saw to trim his own "material," to carve! Thank you all for a great and fun weekend here. I, as usual, ran out of time to final polish my carving, but hope to finish it to show off, (even my son was surprised my rock looked pretty good for a beginner!) Ron's next class, a "beginner's class" will be on June 4-6, 3 days, in San Jose. E-mail them for more info: CARam67@aol.com and everyone has to have a flex shaft, it is a powerful, multi-use tool that can carve for long hours, polish, and drill rock, metal, and glass! Ron & Carmen are distributors of Foredom equipment and can help you select carving, drilling and polish tools!

April's Get-Together & Chain Maille-ing

April has begun with a flurry of rumbles in our humble Studio! It must be the earthquate weather! We got together Friday and welcomed new guests as well as our faithful supporters (and Jaime drove 4 hours to get here)! Visitors joined us from the Carmel Gem & Mineral Society (we are members of the Santa Clara Valley chapter)! Our friend April brought her new necklace designs and silver rings, and Ed, our new instructor, demonstrated chain maille designs.

Our first chain maille class on Saturday covered 2 designs, (I am still trying to figure out the Snake) but everyone else picked it up quickly. We learned how to measure and cut our own silver jump rings on Ed's equipment, he had several cutters on hand, then we polished our silver bracelets on his vibrator that cleans silver with stainless steel shot. Thank you Ed for being so generous with your time and your knowledge of working with silver. Your handouts were very much appreciated also! Congratulations to Jim & Marily for winning the drawing, you won both gifts!