Methods For Designing From Nature

Nature can be captivating, but representing it in your work can be tricky. In this intermediate to advanced level course, students will learn multiple techniques for designing and fabricating jewelry inspired by nature. Class participants will bring in multiple organic materials and as a group, we will discuss the pitfalls and potentials for working with these objects.

First we will analyze what it is about these materials that we most want to capture, and work on developing our visual vocabularies. Then students will learn how to capture and preserve materials in resin, make molds of and cast replicas in various materials, set or use the objects directly in pieces, and think creatively about fabricating our interpretations of the objects from metal. Finishing techniques to create textures, patinas and other coloration methods will be touched on as well. In this course, students should expect to do a lot of experimentation and leave with many samples, some failures, and one or two finished pieces of their own design.