Graceful Customs Lampwork Glass & Jewelry Studio: rock carving

Showing posts with label rock carving. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

2011 Christmas Boutique

Visit us during our Christmas Boutique on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, 1:00 pm to 6:00 p.m., lampworking glass bead making demonstrations, open torch time (make a bead yourself), finished jewelry, soaps, quilts, lapidary stones, and other handmade crafts by various artists available for sale! Hourly raffle of gifts. Snacks and drinks served! 10730 Center Ave., Gilroy, CA 95020, grace@gracefulcustoms.com

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Great Day, Great Friends at Open House

It was a beautiful day to be outside, many thanks to Jim & Jennifer for demo-ing lapidary techniques and all their beautiful cabachons, oops didn't get a pic of them, sorry; Ron & Jim looked like their were enjoying the day, we had new drop-ins, new students, friends, all with many artistic interests! The food was sweet, and we gave several prizes, jewelry, tools, and new aluminum sheet cut outs which Jelveh kindly showed us how to apply to create bubbly effects, Sioux demo-ed her technique of implossion, and Barb took a turn at the torch, along with a couple of newbies! Barb also tried out our new V-Fantasy wheel to practice what she had learned in a class! Thank you all for participating! Stay tune for more!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

2009 Christmas Boutique, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Are you in the spirit yet? If you are looking for original and well-designed gift ideas, come to our Christmas Boutique to see the latest in lampwork beads & jewelry designs! Jelveh from Jelveh Designs will be on hand to demo new Lampwork designs! Ron Martinez, Master rock carver & his wife, will also be here to show us how beautiful a rough stone can become with a little knowledge of stone carving and polishing techniques; and Jennifer & her husband Jim will showcase polished cabachons wire-wrapped in silver wire. Maybe Jim will share some of his techniques for forming and polishing natural stones. We have other artists showcasing their jewelry and arts as well. Our studio may still be under a little bit of construction, so forgive us! We are getting prepared for the 2nd Wire-Wrapping Class with Jennifer on Jan.17 (I will post more info on this soon), monthly get-togethers with local artists, another Rock-carving class, another Lampwork Bead making class with Corina Tettinger, and other events. Keep in touch, sign up as a "Follower" on this blog to get an e-mail with new posts!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Rock-carving class pics

We finished a 3-day intensive concentration class on rock carving this past weekend! Ron & Carmen Martinez from Arizona taught a 3 day class in San Francisco then traveled to Graceful Customs Studio to teach again! Students came from Sacramento, San Jose and locally. April kept us laughing and proved to carve the most intricate stone herself! They carry all their rock carving equipment with them, so all we had to do was clear the lampwork torches from the tables temporarily! We will host them again in April when they will teach more advanced techniques, check out the details on some of his own creations!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Wire-Wrapping Class Here!

See Jennifer's wire-work designs below. We have a few openings left for her class, Sunday, Nov. 15.

OPEN TORCH DAYS IN STUDIO

Fridays, are open torch days, free use of our torches, fuel and kiln. If you have taken a beginners lampworking class, or have experience to work on your own, you are invited to join us to practice, network, and share techniques, hours are 9:00am to 1 pm, other hours with arrangement with Grace. Bring your own supplies and tools, our torches are Nortel Minors and Mega, with oxygen and propane. You must be able to work independently, only general safety instruction is provided, if you are planning to join us e-mail me at Grace@GracefulCustoms.com. There may be some Fridays we will be closed due to vacations or other commitments, and days available may be subject to change. E-mail us for address and directions

Jennifer Le to teach wire-wrapping here!

Who is Jennifer, you ask? Jennifer lives in Santa Clara, CA, the heart of the Silicon Valley. Her long, successful career in high tech was creative, but not very artistic. Although Jennifer is proficient in many skills, such as cooking & gardening, she never applied herself to art until about four years ago. At that time Jennifer & her husband Jim immersed themselves in rockhounding.

Gems, minerals, specimens and the lapidary arts soon became their passion. After some introduction to the lapidary arts with the help of friends and the local club, they were soon creating cabachons, free-forms, flats and even an attempt at faceting! Those pieces looked just great in a display box, but they needed to be seen more often. Jennifer quickly saw the potential for jewelry! Here was the opportunity to create and enjoy something wonderful. Wire wrap was the best way to bring those bright shiny stones out of the box.

Her favorite subjects are pendants, earrings, bracelets and rings of many varieties, sizes, & colors. One needs only to examine Jennifer's work, her showcase and the jewelry she is wearing to see that this is distinctive art. Jennifer learned the fine art & skill of wire-wrap from her mother only four years ago. Since then she has refined her skill into a signature style that is very clean, elegant & striking. She teaches her skill to others in a straightforward and clear manner. Her teaching style & her patience makes her class a valuable experience!

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