PB Cohen Creations

Casting went reasonably well on Thursday. Be sure to click on this one to embiggen, because then you'll see all the things that went wrong. But first, you'll probably notice that this collection of cast items looks pretty awful.

The white stuff is the bits of investment (a jeweler's version of Plaster of Paris) that I haven't cleaned off yet. The black stuff — believe it or not — is sterling silver. A nice soak in a warm acid bath should take care of most of both of those issues, and a good scrub will take care of the rest.

Additional problems: 1) the button (base of the casting) is bigger than it needs to be, which is a waste of silver (don't worry, I'll recycle that). 2) I lost parts of — and in one case all of — the seed pods that were sticking out of the now mostly empty sprues. 3) There are tiny little air bubbles (um, investment bubbles?) everywhere, which of course turned into bubbles of silver. Including one on the bird's beak, of all places! I'm sure my instructor will have a few other ideas about things that I could do better next time, as well.

But overall, considering the enormous lump of investment I was pretty sure had fallen into the flask, crushing everything on its way to the bottom, I think it went pretty well. I have a discernible bird, and a distinguishable ring. Countless hours went into those waxes, so the fact that they're both intact is pretty darned good. Talk to me after I've filed away all those bubbles and I may have a different opinion, but until then, I'm pleased.

Only two more opportunities to cast during this class, so I expect I'll be busy carving for the next two weeks. But later, I'll have pics of these things finished, plus all the other things I've managed to cast.

I'm in the Ann Arbor Art Center's new marketing video. It's up on YouTube, look for me at 46 seconds.

I had just added the first sprue to my carved wax ring when the camera guys came around — one of seven sprues, plus a vent. On the other hand, the bird (from the previous entry) only took one sprue, and no vents. Easy peasy.

I like to encourage students to make more than one of anything. That way, if the first one, or two, or more, get melted or ruined beyond repair, the next one or two or three are bound to work out. For example, I'm convinced the best way to learn to solder small things is to make a chain — you WILL melt some jump rings, but by the end of the chain you'll be pretty good at it.

I have to keep reminding myself of this philosophy when I think about that bird. It took countless hours to carve. No, literally: countless hours (but at least I managed to salvage it from the mistakes I was making at the beginning of the carving process). Will it cast well? Will I like it when it's in silver? Will I want to change everything about it? Although it seemed simple enough to sprue, will it take me just as long to carve another one?

I should have those first three questions answered after I cast the waxes tomorrow (Thursday) night. The last one I can answer right now, since I'm already making more: almost as long. But theoretically, I'll get faster at it. Eventually. Once I get better at carving sculptural pieces, in three dimensions. The ring took awhile to carve, too, but it didn't seem to take as long as the bird. I'm sure I'll do more of those.

I have some more "before" pictures, plus a few on my iPhone with everything sprued (taken in a dark-ish studio, so we'll see if they're worth anything), so I'll post them all when I get the "after" pictures.

I don't usually "do" New Years' resolutions, but I've decided on two this year. The first is to start some exercises targeted at getting my arms stronger, because lately I've really gotten into using chasing and repoussé techniques.

Of course, I also need to stop the whole Death Grip On The Punches thing, and find a better height for the table I'm working on. But I also figure I'd better get some hand strength, and upper body strength if I'm going to continue whacking metal for a few hours at a time.

My second resolution is to eat more artisanal cheeses. Just because.

The Ann Arbor Art Center's jewelry studio is now up and running at the Liberty Street building. It was a little dicey for awhile there. The room was used for a summer kid's camp, and then some of the other upstairs rooms were used for a wedding, so the jewelry studio was, well, pretty much a mess. Here's the room, before (on the left) and after the big push to get everything ready that last week. Click on the photos for bigger versions.

We brought the soldering table from the old facility, and realized that the floor in the old building had been on a slight slope, and the legs had been trimmed accordingly. Rather than simply add an inch to the left legs and half an inch to the center to make it all level, we decided to raise the whole surface by a few inches. And so the jewelers-who-stand-to-solder won!

Overall, the space is smaller, but the move has forced us to be more efficient. Theoretically. We still need better lights for night classes, a second sink, and replacements for a few things that got lost in the move, but apart from having to pay for parking now, I think it'll work out pretty well.

There's a lot that goes on in the Art Center building that we didn't know about before, being on the other side of town and all. For example, there's a lot of wine hanging around for all the parties — like the 18th Annual Sommelier Dinner. There are a lot more people wandering around the building, like parents looking for pots their kids made at camp. And there are art classes going on all the time.

This picture is looking out the door of the jewelry studio. You can see into one of the classrooms. See the guy in the orange (click on the picture for a big version)? He's drawing a nude model.

Interesting.

The annual Ann Arbor Art Walk gives people the opportunity to visit galleries, special installations, and artists' private spaces. People, galleries, studios and exhibit spaces in and around Ann Arbor open their doors Friday and Saturday for an intimate look at what's going on in the arts community.

I have a few pieces on show at the Annual Student Pottery Sale at the Ann Arbor Art Center.

There's still time to go on the tour! The 10th Annual Ann Arbor Art Walk is Friday, October 9, 5:00-10:00 p.m., and Saturday, October 10, 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

I also have one of my "Relic" rings on display at the Ann Arbor Art Center's 2009 Instructor & Student Show. This show lasts through November 22.

As always, click on the pictures for bigger versions.

I got started making jewelry fifteen or twenty years ago at the Ann Arbor Art Association. I took a few classes, became one of the studio monitors, hung out for awhile, then took a break for about ten years. The Association became the Ann Arbor Art Center, the pottery and jewelry classes moved from the headquarters at Liberty to the Felch Street location, I took a few classes, became one of the studio monitors, and then came last weekend: the end of an era. Here's the Felch Street location:

Although the Art Center has grand plans for its future, various issues, including the current economy, has the organization consolidating space. The pottery and jewelry classes are moving back to the main building on Liberty Street. And unfortunately, the jewelry studio will be closed for the summer.

This is bad timing for me and all my shows, but has at least a few positive things going for it: First, we won't be in the basement like we were the last time the jewelry studio was at Liberty. Second, we'll have a bit of air conditioning in the summer, and heat in the winter! So although there will be changes, like everyone just a bit addicted to playing with blow torches, I'm sure I'll adapt.

In the meantime, I'll be visiting my show partner's studio next week. And I might just get a plumber's torch for my garage.