Monthly meetings will return May 5th 11am-noon. Read more below.
Annual Meeting and Tool Sale, May15th. Read on.
Artist/Instructor Cynthia Topp to teach Argentium® the Magic Silver, April 24. Learn more.
New posting of our favorite, Beginning Jewelry Metalsmithing 1, starts May 10th.
READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE!
Everyone is invited to attend BMAG’s new monthly meeting “Coffee Talk with Metalsmiths”.
Held in the BMAG studio on the first Saturday of each month, we will have a lively discussion in a variety of formats; show and tell, Q & A, spontaneous presentations, general Metalsmithing discussion and more…all over a nice Hot cup of Coffee with snacks. (Provided)The first meeting is Saturday May 7, BMAG’s studio, from 11am to noon. Bring something you’ve been working on or questions about something you are having difficulty with. We may be able to answer them! Looking forward to seeing you!
Everyone is also invited to our Annual Meeting. We will be discussing the state of our guild and what you can do to get more involved. We will also have a tool sale. Location: Cornwall Park sheltered area, May 15th, 1-4pm. Look for more information to come!
Beginning Jewelry Metalsmithing 1 is being offered again, it is our favorite class and fills up quickly. Starts May 10th and runs 5 Tuesdays 6-9pm. https://bmag-wa.org/courses/
A note from Cynthia:
Hey BMAG friends!
My name is Cynthia Topp, and I’m going to be teaching a new class! You might have heard of a silver alloy called Argentium®. I think of it as the “magic silver.” The alloy was created in the 1990’s, and contains a small amount of germanium, along with 93.5% silver and a bit of copper. If you’ve worked with sterling silver, you’ll discover that Argentium® has some pretty amazing properties. At the top of my list of favorites, it fuses to itself (like gold) so it’s great for granulation and filigree work. It also doesn’t firescale and it doesn’t tarnish! And it’s much less conductive of heat than sterling, so it’s great for working with large pieces because you don’t have to heat the whole piece in order to fuse.
Just to whet your appetite for Argentium®, here are a few of my recent pieces.
For this upcoming class, I will be showing you how to make granules (little balls) and lots of interesting shapes like heart, teardrops, paisleys, stars, etc., out of Argentium® wire, then fuse them onto a backplate to make a pendant or earrings. I’ll also demonstrate some of the pitfalls of Argentium®, so that you know what NOT to do.
Here are some samples of the kind of project you can create in the workshop.
I’ve been a teacher my whole life – everything from English as a second language to cross-cultural communications to belly dance – and I’d love to introduce you to the wonders and weirdness of Argentium®!
Come join me on Sunday, April 24th from 10am – 5pm. Register here: https://bmag-wa.org/product/argentium-the-magic-silver/
Looking forward to meeting you!
Cynthia