Directed Open Studio
This unstructured class allows metalsmiths at intermediate level and above to work independently with directed assistance. Participants in this studio are not required to register for any other Metalwerx classes or workshops, but we do require you to have completed Jewelry II or the equivalent.
Meet the instructor
Chris started creating early in life. While growing up in Massachusetts, he used to visit a local living history museum. While there, Chris spent hours watching the blacksmith and tinsmith work their craft. It was amazing to watch simple tools, hands, and hearts make complex items of beauty. He would then go home, and using whatever was at hand, re-enact what he had seen.
"Thirteen years ago, the desire to recreate some of what I had watched being hammered out was overwhelming - my head was full of ideas - and with the help of a 55 gallon drum, some fire bricks, and a hairdryer, my career in metalsmithing was launched. I felt something was missing, however. "
Chris found the missing link when he started taking jewelry making classes. He felt very at home with jewelry scale items. After becoming a full-time student, he began an apprenticeship under a master goldsmith and stone setter which continues today. Chris learns and teaches in this relationship.
"I love exploring new techniques and materials, and I especially love to push the envelope of current and accepted techniques. Challenges always seem to lead down long roads even after they have been met, and spawn many future ideas and designs for me. Impossible is only a temporary condition. My favorite materials are gold, mokume, and meteorite."
Chris maintains a studio in Worcester, Massachusetts. Here, he designs and hand crafts several lines of exclusive production jewelry, as well as many custom pieces.
Examples of his work may be viewed on his website.