Great start of the year with a 5 days masterclass with Italian goldsmith Stefano Marchetti from Padova. The class was organissed by the Jewellers & Metalsmith Association of Western Australia and held at the Fremantle Arts Centre who generously provided their studio space. The focus was on learning the technique of making precious metal mosaic that Stefano is famous for. He generously shared his fantastic knowledge and experience, in a very relaxed atmosphere thanks to his great sense of humour.
I used copper and silver for my first sample of mosaic, working it into a curved shape, because I like a bit of a challenge:
The technique opens up to great possibilities and variations of design. Later in the week we learned to use gold in the mosaic to develop our own piece of jewellery. I worked on a design for a ring, mixing gold and silver.
I feel I learned so much in a week on working with gold, alloys, soldering and other bench tips. Here’s Stefano giving a soldering demonstration:
To read more about Stefano Marchetti and see some of his images, follow this link http://www.klimt02.net/forum/index.php?item_id=938
blandine hallé 