April 26th was "Take your child to work" day here. My 11-year-old daughter Kara didn't have far to go. She spent the day with me in my home studio and we had a blast. At first she was going to make a boat, but halfway through Kara decided it would make a perfect sushi plate. This is a photo with the heat patina still on it-- so rustic and pretty at this stage. We did remove the patina and shine up the copper so that it could be used for food. The original copper was a flat 4x10 factory cut sheet, so the only cutting necessary was to round the four corners. I did the cutting and annealing (torch work) but Kara did 99% of all the hammering (shaping, texturing) and finishing (filing, sanding, burnishing.) Not bad, I think!! Last year was Kara's first "take your child to work day" in my studio and that was equally fun. She made this copper and gemstone necklace. For the necklace, the jump rings were already cut but the connectors holding the beads were not. Kara cut the wires, loaded the beads, and learned to loop the wires / connect the chain. By the end of the day Kara was a pro and all I needed to do was go through and tighten up some of the pieces. Kara also cut the circle, dapped it (made it concave) and stamped it.
It's funny, she is really into metal work on these school scheduled days -- really had fun -- but during the year it's not on her A-list. So it's doubtful she'll be following in my footsteps, but I know we'll both look back on these days as some of our best times together.
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Sue Lacy WiredThis began as a hobbyist's blog. Over time it became a quest to support & connect metalsmiths around the globe who use foldforming techniques in their work. See how it all turned out: www.foldforming.org Archives
July 2016
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