Silver-smithing, soldering Class, Sun., April 25, 2015, Sat.

This is a beginning soldering class, no experience needed, a material fee will be determined, (usually about $20-$25 )  Class fee is $125.00.  You will learn from Carmen Martinez, the basics of soldering different types of metals.  You will make and take home a silver bezeled stone of your choice from our collection or your own.  You will learn to use an oxygen and propane torch and hand-held torches.  grace@gracefulcutoms.com for more info! See our blog for pics! www.Gracefulstudios.blogspot.com, e-mail Carmen for more details: cram67@yahoo.com, www.visionsbyron.com is the website (her husband Ron is a gem carver and will also be here working on his stones, he loves to share his work!

silver-solder and metal workshop Sunday, May 25, 2014

Open house, 3 to 6:00 pm, come see demos in silver-soldering and metal working. Gem carving also happening today!  grace@gracefulcustoms.com

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

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!

Jennifer Le Returns to Wire-Wrap Rings and Other Things!!

Jennifer Le returns to Graceful Customs Studio on January 17, 2010 to teach her delightful wire wrap style. She will teach two classes as follows:

9:00AM - 1:00PM Basic Wire-Wrap Class and the project is a pendant. She will have materials available, some free, some (such as precious metal) at cost. She will have cabochons(polished natural stones), but you are welcomed to bring your own.

1:30pm-4:30pm Advanced Wire-Wrap Class, and the project is a ring. Same as before, she will have materials available, free or at cost.

After a mere four years of experience in wire wrapping, Jennifer’s designs have drawn the attention of many people in the area. Her designs are elegant and attractive. Come and see her work, take her class and learn for yourself the pleasure and satisfaction of fine wire wrapped jewelry.

The cost of the class is $75.00 for the 4 hr. class, $55.00 for the 2nd class, 3 hrs., or both class for 10% off, or $117.00, instead of $130.00 total.

Jennifer is a patient and thorough teacher who can make sure that you get the most out of the learning experience. Her designs are stunning. You will learn the fundamentals, then how to extend and expand on your own designs. e-mail me or call me at 408 848-5598 if you are interested, classes are limited to 10 students. All needed tools available and a light lunch provided for those staying for both classes.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year from the Santos Ranch

It's difficult to believe that it has only been 3 months that we officially opened our home & studio! We have met so many nice people, artists who are lampworkers, rock carvers, wire-wrappers, stone shapers & polishers,silver-smithers, soap-makers, and gourd carvers also! Frank & I would just like to say "Thank You" for visiting our home and we hope all of you who have visited have enjoyed our company as much as we have enjoyed yours! We look forward to a New Year, and wish all of you a year full of love, good health & creativity!

We had a really nice Christmas Party at our Boutique, planned a little at the last minute, and of course we forgot the pictures until almost the end! Someone definitely has to take responsibility for remembering to take pics! Thank you to Jennifer & Jim, Ron & Carmen, Sioux, April, Natalie, and of course, my friend and creative partner, Jelveh (and Martin) and her beautiful mother (who I really think is her sister), Shahla, and of course, my husband, Frank, for helping out at our Boutique. We had a steady stream of visitors who were treated to homemade cookies, nuts, and chocolate nut clusters, made by Carmen & myself, as they shopped through my house and then the studio! Here are some pics of our Boutique.

Construction was finished in the studio, it looks twice as big! We still have to do the final painting, or at least someone has to do it... Frank will be running the gas lines and extending the exhaust and lighting to the 4 new stations soon in preparation for our next Lampwork class with Corina in Feb., and wait till you see our glass storage system he just put together today.

In the meantime, no time to kick-back and do nothing, it is time to do some wire-wrapping! Jennifer & Jim will be back on Sunday, Jan.17, 2010, to show us how to make a ring, details to follow......We want to work in a basic and more advanced class on the same day. Let me know of your interest! Also, I was reminded to include a telephone number to contact me, 408 848-5598!

Pics from our Wire Wrapping Class this weekend!

Thank you Jennifer for coming to Graceful Customs Studio to teach our first wire-wrapping class! You (& Jim) were fantastic and generous with your polished stones and detailed instruction on wrapping any shape stone! Yes, it was difficult to talk over our excitable noise, (next time we won't let Garnet sit between Lu & Jelveh) we couldn't hardly wait for that "next step" instruction! Peg was the quiet one! We did have a great time and were so appreciate to take home a finished pendant. You were so patient and detailed! Now we need to practice, practice, practice!

The next class Jennifer will be teaching will be "Rings!"