This studio course will continue to advance students' metalsmithing techniques. Chasing and repousse, along with lost wax casting, will be introduced and developed throughout the semester. Skills and material knowledge learned in the sophomore year will also be used to fulfill assignments. Overlap between all skills is encouraged in most assignments. Inquiry into the finer points of fabricating and inventing innovative findings for jewelry will be an ongoing consideration. Research, drawing, and sample making are expected to precede each class assignment to facilitate students design process.

Students are pre-registered for this course by the department; registration is not available in Workday. Enrollment is limited to Junior Jewelry + Metalsmithing Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of design and metal fabrication techniques for both jewelry and small objects. Working with precious and non-precious metals, students learn traditional jewelry construction including sawing, filing, forming, soldering, and polishing. A series of structured assignments guide students as they transform their ideas into finished pieces. Solutions for projects are open to enable the student to explore his/her own aesthetic, but taught in a way to insure that students master the basic processes. Lectures on historical and contemporary jewelry supplement, inform, and inspire students' work.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

This course will delve into ways color can be added to metal surfaces, focusing on jewelry and small-scale objects. Students will explore the addition of color through stone setting, enameling, and powder coating. Focusing on historical and contemporary colored surface treatments students will develop samples through in-class demonstrations and exercises. Samples made during the course will be used as inspiration to create two completed pieces.   
 
Course Objective: Develop fundamental skills for adding durable color treatments to metal surfaces using a variety of techniques. Research historical uses for the addition of color on metal from around the world. Students will gain technical skills to properly prepare metal substrates for the addition of glass enamel and powder coating, understand the proper techniques for achieving color and learn to create settings for stones and small scale objects. 
Estimated Materials Cost: $100.00

Elective

Platinumsmithing has been a distinct process developed to work with unique characteristics and quality of the precious metal platinum. The usefulness of platinum as a jewelry material was not realized in the West until relatively recently due to the high temperatures required to melt and alloy the precious metal. Those same properties of high melting temperature, corrosion resistance, ductility, and malleability that made it difficult to work with make it a unique and exciting metal to work with. You will work hands on developing skills through casting and fabrication learning about technical and practical design constraints. Researching the historical Pre-Columbian, Edwardian, Art Deco, and present-day jewelry designs-you will create a design that utilizes the unique properties of platinum. Through demonstrations and assignments, you will learn fundamental fabrication techniques of soldering and welding. These skills will lead into more complex techniques like filigree, and stone setting. The culmination of the course will be the creation of a piece of adornment either fabricated or cast primarily out of platinum. *Materials for this class have been generously supported by the Platinum Guild International. Open to Juniors, Seniors, Graduates, all majors. Prerequisite for Non-majors: Take 3 credits from Jewelry Introduction (JM-4441, JM-W431), Stones & Gold (JM-3217), J+M ISO, or previous jewelry experience evidenced by portfolio Permission of Instructor/Department Head required.