June has been a busy month and it looks like July will be equally hectic! As well as adding new products to the shop, blogging and keeping up with the orders I’ll be spending a week in Birmingham. I signed up for a course on Anitclastic and Synclastic hammering and raising so I’ll be jetting off to Birmingham on the 17th July for a week.
This five day masterclass is run by the Birmingham Institue of Art and Design and is taught by Cynthia Eid. It is part of the college’s summer course programme. Click here to view to full catalogue of courses.
The course that I’m going on looks specifically at anticlastic and synclastic hammering and raising. These sound like very fancy terms but synclastic just describes a form where the dominant curves both move in the same direction like a bowl. Anticlastic forms are when the two dominant axes curve in opposite directions like a saddle. These techniques can be used to amazing affect in sculptural silver pieces. If you look at a detail of the work of Cara Murphy below you can see the hand raised anticlastic curves. Another artist that uses this type of forming is Benjamin Storch, I wrote a post about his work last year. Click here to read it.
These raising and forming techniques can be used in both silversmithing and jewellery. The course will also look at refining hammering skills and will teach how to hammer comfortably for several hours at a time. A very useful skill considering I’ll be hammering for five days!
I’m going to bring my netbook with me so I can keep the website updated with lots of photos and stories from the week.
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