Chasing & Repousse with Valentin Yotkov

In October, Valentin Yotkov came to Spruill Arts Center for a one-week chasing and repousse workshop.  Just about all of us in the class had taken one of his classes previously, so were able to work on the second project, which is considered a more intermediate level.  

For anyone just beginning to do chasing/repousse, or anyone interested in the process, I'll give a brief synopsis of our week below.

We began by transferring the design via tracing paper onto our piece of copper and then beginning the lining process, working from the outside and moving inwards.  

 Now we move to the inside and line the entire piece, making sure we are pounding hard enough that the design will appear on the opposite side of the piece when turned over.

Once the piece was completely lined, we flipped it over and began to repousse...

...until we had completely finished with the entire design.  One goal was to vary the depths of the design in the proper places.  Another was to use the correct tool for the part of the design we were working on, which can be a little confusing at times.

Then we flipped it back over and did all of the finishing touches (the outside braid, the flattening of the rectangles of the cross, re-lining where needed, adding texture to the background, etc).

At this point it's important to not anneal the piece because you want it to be hard and strong, so it's best to remove it from the pitch with a heat gun and then clean off any excess pitch with the heat gun and/or acetone.

Everyone's pieces came out great!  I'm pretty sure we were all quite pleased with ourselves.  Valentin is an excellent teacher and was as gracious as always, helping us along every step of the way.  A GREAT week!  

Hammering out the Details

Glad to be back with Gia for a few weeks!  I've been getting rusty in the chasing and repousse department!   We're all working on a design Gia has drawn up for us.  This is what mine looked like after the first go-round of puffing it up, i.e., repousse.   (Definition of repousse:  Raised in relief by hammering on the reverse side.)  

Gia gave the class a demonstration on how to chase the scalloped edges using my piece.  (Definition of chasing:  To groove, indent.)  Chasing is always done on the front of the piece.

On the left is his demonstration, on the right is what I have to do next.  I find it extremely helpful to have his work right there in front of me as I work and try to replicate what he has done.  

I've discovered a technique for getting the copper off the pitch with very little pitch stuck to the back side.  We already know to cover the side of the copper that will be on the pitch with chapstick.  When you begin heating the copper with your heat gun to remove it from the pitch, almost immediately insert your tweezers under the copper from one edge and start to lift a little.  Moving your heat gun around the copper, off it will pop as soon as the pitch is warm enough to loosen the copper.  The leftover pitch is so minimal, you just need to heat it a little with your heat gun and wipe it off with paper towel.  So easy!

Janice, hammering away...

This is what it looked like after I worked on the right side.  Getting there, slowly but surely...

 And this is where I am at right now.  Just a few more adjustments and I'll be done (I think).  Then I have to come up with own design, which is what I should be doing right now.  But that old "homework" mentality never goes away...just when you need to sit down and do what you are supposed to be doing, you end up doing everything else, like blogging!  

Until next time!

The Making of a Cuff Bracelet (Repousse/Chasing)

Before I began my cuff bracelet in silver, I did a demo in copper.  Even though it took hours making the demo cuff, I learned so much and it was well worth the time and effort in order to save me from making the same mistakes in silver.  Gia is a wonderful teacher and was able to walk me through every step of this process.  

After chasing the design on the front of the piece, this is how the design appeared after the first attempt at repousse (the pushing out of the metal from the back side.)

Here we have more definition.  I've done the necessary chasing on the front and more repousse from the back, and it's just about done!

I decided to use a half round wire that will form the outside edge of the cuff.  I then textured the background before cutting off the extra silver around the edge, and filing for a smooth edge.

It's now time to form the cuff on a mandrel, very, very carefully.  I was nervous that I would cause a crease in the metal, so first used a wooden mandrel and then finished with a steel mandrel.

It's finished!  I'm really happy with the results!  Thank you, Gia!

Hammering In My Head

Another week at Wildacres up in Little Switzerland. North Carolina has come and gone again. This was my third visit and it is now right up there as one of my most favorite weeks of the year. Betty Helen Longhi was my instructor and we not only hammered ourselves silly, we bought every conceivable hammer and stake we will ever need for the rest of our lives (ya, right).

Here are some of the forms we made while learning how to hammer metal into different forms and shapes using anticlastic raising, synclastic forming, sinusodial stakes and mandrels. It'll take plenty of practice to become proficient at this particular skill. Betty made it all look easy, of course.

There were classes in chainmaking (Jean Stark), making miniature teapots (John Cogswell), blacksmithing (Zach Noble), Bi Metal (Juan Carlos Caballero-Perez), and finding one's individual style (Charles Pinckney). Below are Maggie, Jean & Julia, three women who inspire me with their wisdom, joy of life and vibrant, positive attitudes.

Here we are working in Betty Helen's class. We would work from 9:00 am until 6:30 pm. Some nights we would come back after dinner and work some more.


And talk about fun! Oh my gosh, we had had so much fun. Can you read Donnie's T-shirt? It says, "Midnight Plumber: Will work for M&M's." There is a long story behind this involving Maggie, a broken shower at midnight and Donnie to the rescue.


Part of the "Spruill Gang" below. We've all been taking classes at Spruill for a few years, and Tom is an instructor. One of the best parts of metalsmithing/jewelry making are the friends one makes along the way.

She's making a list, checking it twice...

With the holidays upon us here, I'm spending more time decorating the house, cooking holiday meals and doing online shopping than working on my jewelry projects. But I wanted to post the results of the recent design challenge I'd mentioned in an earlier post.

Doing a design challenge is a great way to force yourself to just play with different textures and sizes until you create something you like. You'll be surprised how this exercise gets your creative juices flowing! All you need to do is make 3 different textures in your metal and then cut out a number of pieces, same shape but different sizes. Then you play! What I had originally planned changed and changed again the more I messed around with my pieces. Here is a photo of the necklace before I put a patina on the metal:


The bracelet changed dramatically from my original intentions. Here it's easy to see I've taken the same shape and cut it out in different sizes and textures. I soldered and formed a cuff bracelet and then added a little gold for highlights, finishing with a patina and final buffing:

Now it's back to making holiday lists and checking them twice!

: )