Are you…gem curious? If you’ve ever wanted to explore the craft of jewellery making, Brunswick studio Northcity4 gathers together some of Melbourne’s best makers and offers short courses and workshops throughout the year.
Take a five week course, or enrol in one day workshops for special skills like advanced stone setting to working with bone & horn. You can even learn how to master your creative social media strategy.
Beginners Jewellery (5 weeks)
- Wed 28 Sept, 2pm – 5pm, class teacher Claire McArdle
- Tues 8 Nov, 10am – 1pm, class teacher Liz Kennedy
- Wed 9 Nov, 2pm – 5pm, class teacher Rhys Turner
- Sat 12 Nov, 2pm – 5pm, class teacher Kathryn Wardill
A basic introduction to jewellery making, this course will teach the essentials for any beginner. Learn how to solder; to saw pierce, drill, file, texture and form sheet metal. Refine your skill of working with wire to make neat jewellery findings. At the end of the course you will be able to take home a beautiful hand-made piece of jewellery.
Jewellery Casting (5 weeks)
- Thur 29 Sept, 10am – 1pm; Liz Kennedy
- Sat 1 Oct, 10am – 1pm; Kathryn Wardill
- Thurs 10 Nov, 2pm – 5pm; Katherine Bowman
Learn the basics of the lost wax casting process. Students will be introduced to a range of wax working techniques, basic mould making, and simple metal finishing processes in order to be able to create their own jewellery. This course also features cuttlefish casting, a technique students can take away with them for use in their home studio.
Workshops
BYPRODUCT, working with bone and horn with Olivia Boyle
Sunday 2 Oct, 10am – 4pm
Learn how to work with bone and horn and how to ethically source these materials. Choose from three simple designs and hand carve a pendant from ethically sourced Australian cattle bone or horn, finished with sterling silver and coloured cord. This workshop will cover basic carving techniques as well as simple jewellery construction.
Olivia Boyle is a New Zealand jeweller currently living in Melbourne and undertaking a mentorship with Susan Cohn in Workshop 3000. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture) at The University of Auckland in 2005 followed by an Advanced Diploma of Engineering Technology (Jewellery) at NMIT, Melbourne, 2013.
Social Media for Creatives with Sas Ericson
Thursday 3 Nov, 10am – 4pm
This workshop is essential for any artist who wishes to sell their products and create a thriving community around their practice.
Saskia Ericson is a graphic designer and illustrator who has run award-winning design studio Hatch Creative since 2001. Saskia is especially interested in the early growth period and challenges faced by small businesses. She is a lecturer in Social Media and PR for Small Business at Holmesglen Institute. Saskia also maintains a food blog and associated Facebook page, One Equals Two and shares creative and inspirational content to her 26,000+ followers on Pinterest.
Jewellery Findings with Kathryn Wardill
Sunday 6 Nov, 10am – 4pm
Enhance your jewellery making skills by perfecting the foundation art of creating jewellery findings. Learn to create earring hooks and hoops, a range of jump rings, clasps and toggles and stud posts.
This workshop will involve extensive wirework; shaping and manipulating wire with a range of tools including pliers and hammers.
Quality jewellery design and manufacture relies heavily on a jewellers’ ability to successfully make secure, strong, well-crafted findings. With professional guidance, detailed demonstrations and time to experiment you will leave this workshop with a broad range of design options for findings and confidence that your jewellery will be professional and everlasting.
Advanced Stone Setting with Kathryn Wardill
Sunday 13 & 20 Nov, 10am – 4pm
Learn how to create pieces of jewellery incorporating a simple bezel and a simple claw set to hold a cabochon cut gemstone or found object. You can choose to make a ring, pendant or earrings. This course will assist those students who wish to build on their jewellery making techniques.
Kathryn Wardill is a Melbourne based contemporary jeweller who received her Master of Arts, Fine Art by research from RMIT University in 1998. As a jeweller and glass artist she has actively participated in group and solo exhibitions internationally for the last 21 years. Wardill’s dedication to researching jewellery objects which combine metal and glass has resulted in a solo exhibition in the USA as a part of an artist in residency in 2010 and work presented at Studio Ingot and e.g.etal. Wardill recently developed a new body of work which was presented at the ISGB conference in New Orleans USA in July 2016 and Flame on Glass exhibition at Kirra Gallery Federation Square Melbourne in September 2016.
Jewellery from Sublimation printed metal with Anna Davern
Sunday 27 Nov, 10am – 4pm
Sublimation printing is a very exciting and simple technique of transferring images onto metal and plastic using heat.
In this class, electronic files of images and photos will be printed and then transferred to a variety of plastic coated sheets of metal. This class is suitable for experienced makers as well as non-makers and a variety of techniques will be taught to then create items of jewellery from the printed material focusing on cold joining techniques. No jewellery experience required.
Need to know:
- All short courses and workshops are held at Northcity4 Studio, 61 Weston St Brunswick.
Shop Shop:
- To make a booking, or for more information, click here
Get Social:
The Garb Wire 
So many fantastic courses!
LikeLike