Metal Arts Society of Southern California

The Metal Arts Society of Southern California is having their Annual Demonstration Day.


It is from 10 am to 3 pm and the cost is $15 per person.
They have a great line-up of demonstrators.
Melinda Alexander - Riveted Stone Setting-Capture a stone with the simple technique of Rivets

Marne Ryan - Organic Metals-The opportunity to play with fire constructively while creating rich textures in sterling silver
Connie Fox - Define Design-This demo will cover several strategies for clarifying, deepening, and expanding your awareness of your personal jewelry design sensibility
Sandra VanderMey - Coloring Titanium- Enhance your expressions by adding the language of color
Ruth Shapiro - Put Your Best foot Forward- Learn how to make displays that will enhance your work

This event was so informative. There was about 120 people there so we were split up in groups.

We viewed Melinda Alexanders demonstration first. She showed us techniques she had used to make rings and bracelets using rivets. The picture at the right shows an example of that. The 2 stars have been separated by rivets to give it a 3D effect. There are many uses for rivets - you can solder rivets together to get more of a graphic design.

Then we went Sandra VanderMey for her demonstration on Coloring Titanium it was amazing to find out that the amount of electricity applied to a piece of Titanium directly affects the color it will change. Also how applying a torch to the same metal gives you more of a rainbow effect. The picture at the right is torched Titanium twisted and turned into earrings.

We were then sent to Ruth Shapiro's demonstration of jewelry show displays the most amazing part of her demonstration was that almost everything she showed us was something that we could find for free.  The picture at the right is an example of a bracelet tree made from paper towel rolls. If you painted it with a little textured spray paint and everyone will think that you paid tons for it.

We had a delicious lunch catered by Togo's with salad, water, cookies, chips, and a variety of sandwiches. Then they served cake which we were to full to eat.

After lunch it was on to Marne Ryans demonstration of Organic Metals - we were the most impressed with her techniques.  She takes sheets of silver and fuses them together by layering and torching. This gives her pieces a unique 3 dimensional feel and look while still being one solid piece. It gave us great ideas of different things we could do. I just wish that sheets of silver weren't so expensive.


We went to our last demonstration with Connie Fox who gave us more great ideas about defining our own personal design. The sociology of it all. Make what you like. I think that's great advice.

I would suggest that if anybody has a chance to go next year that you definitely do it.