Heather from Chaos Glassworks

We are excited to host Heather from Chaos Glassworks for a class!  She will be here at Graceful Customs Studio in Gilroy, CA, on Saturday and Sunday, August 26 & 27, 2017, to teach separate projects on each of the two days.  Heather is very busy participating in art and gem shows throughout the bay area, and would now like to share some of her techniques and art forms.  Her husband, Dave, is an accomplished Artist Glassmaker who makes larger sculptured items such as lights, vases, paper weights, bowls. Their beautiful art can be seen on their website at www.Chaosglassworks.com  Their art gallery and workshop is in Sutter Creek, California.

Heather Hopman works in a variety of mediums including lampworked soft glass beads, ceramics, gourds, metalworking, blown glass and watercolors. She was born and raised in Amador County.
She has studied under Loren Stump, Robert Mickelson and Vittorio Constantini.
Heather will be teaching soft glass sculptures, a cat and a horse on the first day, and a seal on the second day.  She will teach us how to manipulate shapes, colors, and animal details such as faces. 

 Cost is $175.00 for one class, and $300.00 for both classes.  e-mail
Grace@Gracefulcustoms.com to sign up and class supplies details.

Michael Dickinson here on Sat., April 8, 2017

Michael Dickinson will be here at Graceful Customs Studio in Gilroy, Ca for a one day seminar April 8!  See his work on Facebook and website www.Dickinsonglass.com  Michael will be teaching glass blowing and other boro glass techniques.  No experience needed!  New students will be started on a basic project while students with previous experience can further their practical experience with Michael's help.  Class is 9:00 am to 4:30 pm.  Fee is $100.  Please bring your own lunch, some boro glass provided, otherwise bring your own for your own project.  Bring your favorite tools, e-mail me at Grace@GracefulCustoms.com for further details. 

Meet the Artist Evening with Rashan Jones

Come meet and greet Rashan Jones, Boro Artist, from Albuquerque's, New Mexico, on Saturday, November 5, 2016, at GracefulCustoms Studio, in Gilroy, Ca, e-mail us for more info:  grace@gracefulcustoms.com  See his work at http://jonesartglass.com/jones-art-glass/
He is here that weekend to teach a boro class!  Let us know if you are interested in the class.  See class description on this blog. www.Gracefulstudios.blogspot.com

Making Murrini with CCGlass Art - Chistina Catherine

Christina Catherine of CCGlass Art will be here to teach a 2 day lampworking glass art class on July 23 and 24, 2016.  Christina has been making lampwork glass beads since 2008 and discovered her "passion" was making murrini.  She has 2 tutorials "Making Beautiful Murrini" and "Making Beautiful Encased Murrini Beads" and has had her tutorials  featured is e-magazines, Soda Lime Times  and ISGB publication. 
Description of class:
Day 1:
Making ocean-theme murrini, latticino, and other embeds for encasing
- complex concentric circle murrini
- watercolor murrini
- shell murrini
- encased stringers
- black coral strands
- seaweed latticino
Learn multiple techniques on Day 1 while making all the sea-themed elements that will go into the bead design we will construct and encase on day 2.
Day 2:
Putting it all together: Designing and assembling the pattern, applying all the elements, and successfully encasing multi-murrini beads
- learn my reliable, step-by-step method of placing murrini, and other embeds, that creates a color coordinated, harmonious, and visually full design every time
- finish the bead with encasing techniques that suspends the design while maintaining a dimensional look
Day 2 is all about mapping out the bead design, building and properly placing all the elements in the bead then encasing the murrini beneath a layer of clear glass while maintaining the dimensional look of all the embeds.  Christina's work can be seen on her website:  www.CCGlassArt.com and www.CCGlassArt.Etsy.com and Facebook
 Cost of class is $350, e-mail grace@gracefulcustoms.com to sign up for this new class

Open House, "Meet the Artist" Rashan Jones

Come meet Rashan Jones, who will be teaching a 2 day Borosilicate skills for soft glass flame workers on Sat. Feb 20 and Sun. Feb. 21.  e-mail Grace@Gracefulcustoms for directions.

Rashan Jones to teach at Gracefulcustoms on Feb 20 & 21, 2016.

Rashan Jones will be here for a 2 day class, Sat & Sun, Feb 20 and 21.  He describes it as, "Crossover: Borosilicate skills for Soft glass flame workers. It is designed for soft glass workers looking to expand into a new COE. Boro is a very different, it moves slower, takes more heat, and the color palette works differently as well. This is crash course on how to take you existing skills and apply them to hard glass.-We’ll also spend some time learning some off mandrel boro techniques including blown hollow beads, inside out dot and line patterning, honeycombing and the use of lenses and horns to enhance your piece.
-Boro color is unique and so beautiful. We will cover WYSIWYG, striking, cadmiums, and metallic colors in depth. Each color family has a unique flame environment it prefers so we will also discuss flame chemistry and how to set neutral flames, when to reduce, and which colors prefer an oxidizing flame.
-And Boro also has few different tools, we will cover when to use them efficiently to achieve your desired results."  See his work at: http://jonesartglass.com/
Fee for 2 day class is $475, all materials included, e-mail Grace@Gracefulcustoms.com to enroll in this class, lunch also included.

Reticulation in Silver - Earring class Sept 19, 2015

Join us for a one day workshop working with silver and make a pair of earrings that involves:  reticulation, silver soldering, metal sawing, drilling, rivoting, sanding and polishing.  Carmen Martinez will share with us techniques that are applicable to other projects and metals.  Basic soldering skills needed, however, the majority of the time will be spent on the other techniques.  email me at Grace@GracefulCustoms.com;
Fee is $135 plus $25.00 material fee.  Overnight accommodations available. 

Kim Fields at Graceful Customs, Sept 13, 14, 2014

Kim Fields - Sculptural Bird Bead Workshop

Description: This two day workshop focuses on creating beautiful, sculptural bird beads.

Demonstrations include forming simple birds and moving to more complex realistic forms.

Techniques will include assembling canes, color mixing and overlays, temperature control, precision stringer and dot placement. This class is intermediate to advanced level.

 $475.00 email Grace  OPEN HOUSE ON FRIDAY, SEPT 12, MEET KIM!

Wire-wrapping Class Dec. 21, 2013, at Graceful Customs Studio, Gilroy, CA

Learn basic techniques of wire-wrapping with Jennifer Le on Dec. 21!  You will learn to wrap a natural stone and learn about the necessary wire materials used in wire-wrapping.  $85.00 all material supplied;

e-mail Grace@Gracefulcustoms.com

Lapidary class on Dec. 14, 2013, at Graceful Customs Studio

If you ever admired a polished natural stone and appreciated the beauty of its colors brought out by its shine, come learn the very simple techniques of lapidary!  We will provide you with a pre-shape stone and show you how to bring out its beauty!  $85.00, all materials supplied, grace@gracefulcustoms.com, Gilroy, Ca

Wesley Fleming, Glass Sculptor, Oct. 12&13, 2013 at Graceful Customs Studio

Class is full, wait list available; Open house, Meet the Artist, will be on Oct. 11, more details to follow!

"Meet the Artist" openhouse Friday, June 21,2013, Mary Lockwood

You are invited to our open house at our studio to meet Mary Lockwood, a very talented Lampworking artist.  She will be here to teach a 2 day class, Sat. & Sun..  This is an opportunity to meet her if you are not taking the class, she will be demonstrating some of her techniques and have her beads on display!  Refreshments served.  Questions:  Grace@GracefulCustoms.com

Holly Cooper, Lampworker Glass Bead Artist, Class Sept.7 & 8, 2013

Holly Cooper will once again be here for a new 2 -day class on Surfaces & textures.  Here is her description of what she will be teaching:
"we will open ourselves to the exploration of a variety of special materials and techniques which I have developed in my own work over the last decade. We'll explore the use of enamels, metal leaf, texture and patina, flame chemistry, special properties of certain colors and other unique techniques. All of this is done to stimulate the imagination and generate new ideas by experimenting with technique and inspiration.
There will be plenty of personal attention with much time to practice and explore. Questions and discussions are encouraged." Class is $475 for Sat.&Sunday, Sept. 7 & 8, 2013.  E-mail grace@gracefulcustoms.com for a registration form Here is her studio for you to see her beautiful work!  www.hollycooper.com

Whew! Stringer control!

Well, Holly Cooper was here last weekend; we all thoroughly enjoyed her visit and learned new techniques!  We all found her a great instructor, clear, concise, patient, and extremely talented in her work.  Her handouts had detailed drawings (she is a graphic artist by day) and easy to understand!    We were happy to also welcome 2 new students to our Studio.  Great work Ladies!  Holly agreed to return next year, we are looking at her calendar!  Thanks Holly, hope you enjoyed our home and Studio!

Happy Birthday Jelveh!

Well Jelveh had another birthday last weekend at our Open House.  We met new friends, Jewelry makers Jennifer and Marisa, thanks Pat for bringing them to our Studio.  Jelveh demo'ed Frank's new SUPER Round-About, it took her about 30 min. to make that bead!  Ron Martinez was here showing off all his latest carved gems while he worked all day.  Carmen was set up so show us her soldering techniques and was heard hammering away, texturing something!  We had 3 Leche Cake with Jelveh and she opened up her gifts from Grace, a new apron and bags embroidered with her  name!

Chain Maille Class March 3, 2012

The March 3rd chain maille is now full, please let me know if you would like to be notified of the next class when scheduled: grace@gracefulcustoms.com

Holiday Boutique & Happy Holidays!

It was another great holiday boutique this year, we had new artists and new friends stop by to see our wares and snack on goodies! Jelveh was busy making jewelry on the spot, Ron was carving away, and I was busy raffling off (free) hourly gifts. Thank you all for participating, we will see you soon! Grace

Look at what we did! Chain Maille Class!

It was a perfect day, except that the acorns are still falling and hitting us on the head in the patio! We had a full class, Ed & Eileen were great as usual, such patience and so many projects to choose from! But all the ladies looked like they had fun and learned new techniques and all completed more than one project, now to practice before you forget! Next chain class March 3, 2012, e-mail me to be put on the wait list, limited to 8 students!

Lapidary Weekend Class -Slicing, shaping, sanding & polishing!

Well, another first for us! Our first Lapidary class was held here at Graceful Customs Studio with Instructors Jim & Jennifer! They were excited to share their experience and knowledge of lapidary this past weekend. Frank & Jim & Jennifer had been busy for months building and remodeling enough lapidary equipment to accommodate a class. We had 5 students and everyone had one finished cabachon, except for Bill, he finished 3! Thank you very much Jim & Jennifer for all your talents and knowledge that comes only from actual experience and the love of shaping and polishing the Earth's most natural material. It is gratifying to work with our hands and see beauty come from a natural resource, nothing artificial about this hobby! Of course, we jewelry makers all want to make everything wearable, but sometimes you open up a rock, like the geode above, and don't want to disturb the beauty inside! We are planning "Lapidary Workshops" on a regular basis next year, as well as making this introductory class available again! We will also have Silver-smithing, gem carving, wire-wrapping, and chain maille classes, in addition to our lampworking classes. E-mail me of your interests so we can add you to our wait lists!