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All That Glitters: Adding Sparkle with Tiny Diamonds
It doesn’t have to be big to be BLING! Small diamonds are an affordable way to add sparkle – and value – to your designs, and in this live, virtual workshop students will join master jeweler Kristin Mitsu Shiga to learn flush setting (aka “gypsy setting”) and easy tube setting for production.
We’ll begin by creating our own custom tools specifically for these unique setting styles. Demonstrations and practice will utilize CZs, but the techniques covered can be used with any hard, round, faceted stones, including natural or synthetic diamonds, sapphires, and rubies. Beginning and advanced students can expect to pick up additional tips in this fun, fast-paced workshop, including alternative methods for holding your pieces and the proper preparation and use of rubberized abrasives in the jewelry studio.
Meet the instructor
Kristin Mitsu Shiga is a hapa metalsmith, educator and arts administrator who has played a variety of roles in the arts since 1992. You may recognize her as the ringmaster of Metalwerx’s annual Virtual Spring Symposium!
From a long line of educators, Kristin is passionate about teaching and has had the opportunity to share with students at venues all over North America including Penland, Arrowmont and Haystack Mountain schools of craft. Her proudest achievements have been establishing nonprofit metalsmiting studios and programs that continue today in New York (OCM BOCES), Oregon (Multnomah Arts Center), and Hawai'i (Donkey Mill Arts Center).
As a maker, Kristin pursues projects that tell a story and actively engage her audience. Her solo work centers around one-of-a-kind wearable art and holloware with an aesthetic that has been described as a "marriage between her Japanese heritage and influences from her early explorations in architecture and the Modernist design movement." Her ongoing series, "Unfinished, Damaged & Broken" explores the significance of age and wear on common objects while protecting, bolstering or celebrating their hard-won imperfections.
Kristin has shown her work internationally, and is included in several notable collections, including the Kamm Artful Teapot Collection and the Permanent Collection of the White House. You will find her work published in numerous books and magazines, including Art Jewelry Today, The Art of Enameling, Metalsmith’s 2017 Exhibition in Print, and several of Lark’s 500 Series books. Learn more about Kristin’s past work on Oregon Artbeat (segment originally aired in 2010).
Materials & Tools
The following supplies will be used for course demonstrations and objectives. Students are not required to have these supplies during the course - observers are welcome.
- 5 x 7/8" Damascus Separating Discs
- 1 x 7/8" Dedeco Blue Polyurethane Square Edge wheel
- 1 x 7/8" Dedeco Miracle Gold Square Edge wheel
- 1 x 7/8" Dedeco White Flexie Square Edge wheel
- 1 x 7/8" mounted hard felt square edge buff
- 1 x 3/16" Heatless Aluminum Oxide Wheel
- 3 x 3/32" reinforced screw mandrel
- 1 x 3/32" reinforced wide top screw mandrel
- 1 x 3/32" reinforced long screw mandrel
- 1 x 1.5mm Uniform Shank Drill
- 1 x 2.5mm Ball Bur
- 1 x 2.5mm Setting Bur
- 12 x 2.5mm Round Clear CZs
- 3" x 3mm OD Heavy Wall Sterling Round Tubing
- 3" x 5mm x 2mm Sterling Flat Sizing Wire
- 6" x Sticky Wax
- 1/2 bar x Dialux Gray Rouge
- 1 x Prong Pusher
- 1 x French Tool Holder with Bulb Handle & 3/32" collet
- 1 x Dressing Stone
The following supplies will be used for course demonstrations and objectives. A suggested item and/or vendor has been provided below for reference. Click the vendor name (in red) to be redirected to a page where you can find the item. The quantities needed for each item are listed first. If ordering, please be aware that some items may come in larger quantities than needed for this class. We recommend not opening an item's packaging until the day of the workshop. Student participation during or in-between class sessions is strongly encouraged but not required - observers are welcome.
Hand tools:
- 1 x jewelers saw (Rio Grande)
- 1 x pack #4/0 saw blades (Rio Grande)
- 1 x hammer (Rio Grande)
- 1 x steel block (Rio Grande)
- 1 x center punch (Rio Grande)
- 1 x rotary tool - must fit 3/32" shanks (Rio Grande)
- 1 x ring clamp/peg vise/JettSett/double stick tape/etc. (Rio Grande)
- 1 x 6" to 8" hand file - cut #4 or #2 (Rio Grande)
- 1 x tweezers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x scribe (Rio Grande)
- 1 x calipers - digital or Vernier (Rio Grande)
- 1 x particulate dust mask
- 1 x eye protection
- 1 x extra fine point Sharpie
- 1 x small tray or lid - to hold stones
The following items are optional:
- 1 x rawhide (Rio Grande)
- 1 x bench pin (Rio Grande)
- 1 x ring mandrel (Rio Grande)
- 1 x half round ring file - cut #2 (Rio Grande)
- slotted mandrels (Rio Grande)
- sand paper strips - 220 and 600 grits (Amazon)
- inside ring buff (Rio Grande)
- visual aid - optivisers/readers/microscope/loupe (Rio Grande)
- sterling silver buffing wheel and compound of choice (Rio Grande)
- 1/16" screw mandrel 303 - 3/32" shank (Rio Grande)
- 1 x tube cutting jig or miter vise (Rio Grande)
- 1 x torch setup - for soldering and annealing (Rio Grande)
Optional torch setup may utilize similar items as below - suggestions linked in red:
- 1 x fireproof torch area - steel baking sheet will work (Amazon)
- 1 x Solderite™ pad or fire bricks (Rio Grande)
- 1 x compressed charcoal block (Rio Grande)
- 1 x #0 or #1 torch tip or similar may be useful (Rio Grande)
- 1 x titanium soldering tweezers (Rio Grande)
- 1 x tungsten soldering pick (Rio Grande)
- 1 x silver solder (Rio Grande)
- 1 x paste flux (Rio Grande)
- 1 x copper tongs - for pickle (Rio Grande)
- pickle - for non-ferrous metals (Rio Grande)
- crock pot or tempered glass container with lid - for pickle (Amazon)
- tempered glass container or sink - for quenching and rinsing
- small brush - for flux