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!

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

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!

Silversmithing Class this weekend!

Here are some of the projects completed! Thanks to Carmen, she managed to teach a basic silver-soldering class in one day with finished projets, silver rings and pendants with natural stones. The participants practiced on copper circles, then moved on to silver, making the bezel and soldering it to the flat silver sheet. It helped that Frank precut the metals circles, but Carmen also demonstrated how to use the saw and other cutting tools, and most everyone had a chance to use the propane/oxygen torches!

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!

NEW! LAPIDARY CLASS, Sat., Aug. 27, 2011

Check out the natural gems shown below! Jim Ziegler will be here to show us the basics of lapidary techniques that you can use to make a rough rock into a polished gem! You can set the stone in silver or wire-wrapped it as a pendant. More info to follow, e-mail me if you are interested!

JULY 23, 2011 OPEN HOUSE!

Come join us for our July 23, Saturday open house! We will have our usual lampworking demos and open torch time. Jelveh from Jelveh Designs will be showing off her latest designs. Jim Ziegler and his lovely wife Jennifer will be showing the latest techniques of Lapidary work! See what you can make from a rough stone! We will be hosting a Lapidary class with Jim, on Saturday, August 27, 2011, all materials and equipment provided. Cost of class is only $75.00
And on Sat. & Sun., August 13 & 14, Carmen Martinez will have a basic silver-smithing class, take one or two classes. We will be learning how to work with the different metals, torches, solder materials, and will set a cabachon, stone or glass, in a silver setting that can be finished as a pendant or ring. More info available, e-mail me! Cost of class is $125 for one day, material kit extra.
Open house is 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. on Saturday July 23!

Look what we learned from John Rizzi!

This picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Floral Murrini Class Pics-June 18, 2011

Here are John's beads he has been working on in preparation for June 18th's class, only a few openings left. Let me know if you are interested!

CHAIN MAILLE CLASS Sat., July 16, 2011!

Ed & Eileen Ferner will spend the day with us making chain maille jewelry. This workshop is open to all skill levels as there will be over thirty different projects to select from to match your skill level. Bracelets are a good one day project, but more advanced chain maillers may want to create a beautiful necklace. Various metal wire will be available to purchase for your project (gold filled, sterling silver, silver filled, colored copper and some aluminum) but if you have your own wire you may use that.

If you have an optivisor or something like it please bring it along as it will make jump ring assembly much easier to accomplish. All other required tools will be provided.
Cost of class is $10.00, bring your own lunch! e-mail grace@gracefulcustoms.com for sign-up!

Pics of our April's Get-Together!

A free slideshow by Smilebox

Flower Power!

These are some of the beads we learned to make this past weekend with Jelveh! We had lots of laughs and learned many techniques, many thanks to all the participants who made this weekend fun! Of course I am still struggling to remember the techniques, it is a good thing Jelveh gave us a handout, now it is time to practice! And congratulations to Norma, for having successfully completed her studio set-up, except for the kinks in the kiln!