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    Flora.cat brooch
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    Flora.loon
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    Flora.blue cats brooch
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    Flora.powder samples
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    Flora.tomato

It’s Not Enamel! Illustrative Powder Coating and Settings

Ready to add color to your jewelry work? Powder coating is a great option if you aren’t ready to invest in an enamel kiln OR if you love enamel but want to learn a new color-application skill!

In this demo-focused virtual class we will not be powder coating with the standard spray method but rather will be sifting on the powder, similar to how you would sift on enamel. Using a toaster oven we will then learn how to cure the powder coat and will additionally investigate how to add multiple layers of powder without over baking. Following the baking process, Brie will demonstrate how to effectively add color, patterns, and illustrations to the powder coated surface using Prismacolor’s, graphite, paint markers, and micron pens – teaching students how to add their own artistic aesthetic to their work.

Students will then look at two options for setting their illustrated metal pieces, with the goal of creating a pair of earrings or a brooch using tab setting and/or riveting. Basic jewelry skills such as sawing and soldering are recommended. Introductory powder coating skill required. Check out Brie's "Intro to Powder Coating" class to learn the fundamentals!

Scholarships are available for this class through the Metalwerx Course Scholarship Program! Learn more and apply here.

Meet the instructor

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Brie Flora is a contemporary jeweler and educator currently living in east Tennessee. Brie is a graduate from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a dual degree in Metalsmithing & Jewelry and Art Education May 2015.  Her wearable jewelry plays with symmetry and consists heavily of line work, negative space, patterns, and color. She pulls elements from nature, fantasy, & fiction to create unique works of wearable art with a minimalist aesthetic balanced with pops of intricate marks and illustrations.

 

 

Brie has been featured in over 10 group exhibitions, recently including Touchy Feely at the Baltimore Jewelry Center in Baltimore MD, and HOTDOG! Show Chicago at the Ornament and Object gallery, Chicago IL. She also created and curated the first vol. of “Guidelines – A contemporary jewelry project” that featured works by 15 jewelers and makers including herself. “Guidelines” was on view during Adorned Spaces at the 2019 SNAG Conference in Chicago, and then up for a month-long exhibition at the Appalachian Center for Craft in Smithville, TN (for more information go to @guidelines_jewelry on Instagram).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials & Tools

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 to be redirected to a page where you can view 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 not required - observers are welcome.

 

Metal/raw materials: 

  • 6"x6" x copper sheet - 24g (Rio Grande)

  • 6"x6" x brass sheet - 24g (Rio Grande)

  • 12" x sterling round wire - 18g (Rio Grande)

  • 8oz x Hotcoat powder coat - white (instructor uses Eastwood)

  • Prisma color pencils - your preferred colors (Prisma)

  • graphite pencils - 1 min. (Staples)

  • Pitt artist pen brush - #101 White (Faber Castell)

  • Pitt artist pen brush - your preferred colors (Faber Castell)

 

Hand tools:

 

Torch setup:

 

Other/miscellaneous items:

  • 1 x convection oven - must go to 400° (Walmart)
  • particulate dust mask

  • eye protection

  • fan / open window, ventilation, or outside

  • pencil, pen, paper - for notes

 

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