Jewelry I students started plain and twisted ring stocks this week. We had a 'safety lecture', in class review and a safety quiz. Once certified, students can use the torches and power equipment independently! Students worked on getting rings to pass the 'light' and 'feel' test, and with the twist, getting the pattern and rhythm of the twist equal through the joint. We soldered the joints, filed off the excess to create an 'invisible joint', and then started on buffing. Some students extended their learning by trying different knot ring variations or using variations on the twist.
Ceramics I students worked on their Udu drum project, using coils to create 'bellys' that will be thin and large enough to have good resonance. Students listened to recordings of various forms of clay drums, and experimented by playing several drums in the classroom and other vessels with similar forms. Students created brainstorm sketches and settled on an idea, then started construction. The next component will be learning how to measure proportional relationships so that the clay form will exactly match their final sketch.
Jewelry II students explored techniques 'breaking the plane' in jewelry making. The learned how a metal punch to create metal disks and how to use doming tools to create portions of spheres, flowers and other objects. They also conducted independent research into a topic of interest to them re: 2D>3D, and composed a Weebly post on their blog profiling the techqniue.