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An instruction class is given by the club at least once a month.
The class is usually held at the workshop. The training typically will be on
an area of the lapidary arts. Past classes have addressed making
cabochons, wire wrapping, beading, metalsmithing, mineral slab sawing,
jewelry enameling and the like.
If you have a particular interest, let us know and perhaps a training class
will be made available.
The Viking knit weave training class
will be rescheduled. Please see Yvonne Foster at the next meeting if you
are interested in this or one of the other classes she teaches.
See some other jewelry making skills you can
learn
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Yvonne Foster says
...
Viking knit weave is an old technique. I have found information on it
in Viking burial goods dating mostly from 8th and
9th century AD, and a couple from around 600 AD. This would cover
different areas that the Vikings went to such as
Ireland, England, The Norse areas you would think of, and the
Mediterranean even as far as Egypt. That would be the
style we call Viking knit today. There are several similar but
significantly different techniques that predate this going back
to several hundred years BC.
The creation of Viking knit as we know it
today seems to have started at roughly the time
that drawplates came into use. Drawplates are used to create lengths
of wire more efficiently and in the case of Viking knit
weave to compress and lengthen the final product. That would have
pretty much caused the creation of a tool and the
technique that relies on that tool to show up in roughly the same time
period.
This weaving technique is very simple and uses simple, inexpensive
tools. I will teach a class on it Saturday, June 3rd.
The teaching won't take more than an hour or so, and the rest of the
time will be working on a piece to finish it. We will
use copper 26 ga. If we have time, I may show another chain making
technique, but Viking knit takes a good bit of time
per inch. Because of this we will start with a bracelet. I will also
show how to make your own tools. The workshop has
student tool kits which can be used, for pliers and flush cutters.
Charges for the class are $10 class fee to the club and $5
supply fee to me for the copper, and I will provide enough copper to
finish your bracelet if you can't finish it in class. The
lesson will use copper but sterling (dead soft) works much the same
and you can later use the same info to do silver
pieces. Class will be limited to six people, so please verify with
either me or Levan so we don't overbook the class. If
enough people want to learn this, I will hold a second class.
What to bring: a magnifying visor that is hands-free, fine jawed
jewelry pliers and cutters, any beads or findings you
might want to incorporate, an assortment pack of wooden dowels you can
get at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, etc., a
footlong piece of 1x2 inch hardwood to make a drawplate. I will show
you how to make your own drawplate, etc. All the
hand tools are optional as we have them at the shop. You might prefer
using your own, but I would suggest marking them
somehow to prevent confusion. A dab of colored nail polish works well.
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