Kim's New Etsy!

Our member Kim Beller has been taking private lessons with me and has just opened her new Etsy shop! bigstronggirldesigns

Night Metals Class CFCC

FYI: Nick Mowers will be teaching a Metals 1- ART 245 Tues/Thurs nights at Cape Fear Community College in A Building. There is a parking lot close and a guard on the gate of that lot (so very safe). This should be a great class, I highly recommend Nick!

CFM Group Charm Bracelet

Here's our creation for the auction on Saturday at Poplar Grove.









Participating artists:
Kim Beller
(auction organizer)
Samantha Barnett
reborndesignsbysb.com
Deborah Beasley
reddogdesigns.etsy.com
Ellemesse Designs-Libby Cartier (not seen in the above image)
Airlie Moon in Lumina Station
Mitzy Jonkheer
Mitzy Metal
Melissa Manley
melissamanleystudios.com
Rita McCall
bluemoongiftshops/sunraye.htm
Debra Pyeatt
debrapyeatt.com/index.htm
Kee Wilde-Ramsing
jaded1jewelry.etsy.com
Hans Westermark
hanswestermark.etsy.com

A Charming Evening

Join us Oct 21st from 7-10pm at Independent Art Company's Wabi Sabi Warehouse, 19 North 9th Street for an evening of making cold connected charms for our charm bracelet to be donated to "Colors of the Rainbow" ASAPCares.org auction November 7th at Poplar Grove Plantation. I will bring some tools and scrap metal= copper, brass. If you want to use other metals bring them. Also bring any of your own hand tools. Contact me if you think you might be able to bring any refreshments. If you want to make your charm and merely drop it off that night we'd gladly accept it and connect it to the sterling bracelet. Every donating artist will be credited on our signage at the auction. See you soon! Melissa

Benefit for Autism

This is the benefit we'll be making a charm bracelet for:
Saturday Nov 7th from 12-4 four "handmade" music bands, auction, beer tent, food, pony ridess all free admission! Sounds good to me!

Charm Bracelet Challenge Remix

"For those of you at the last meeting, or that have been following our blog, we were planning on donating a charm bracelet to Dreams for silent auction. We were inviting those who wished to create a charm, which would be gathered together and put into a charm bracelet. We were gonna donate the charm bracelet to Dreams.

However, I found out that Dreams has decided not to have their silent auction this year. So, if you have created your charm and were waiting for us to collect it and put the charm bracelet, this explains why we haven't collected the charms. I talked to Melissa and we thought that we could still do the charm bracelet, but that we would look for a different cause to donate it for.

So what does this mean to you? Well, we can look for a cause where the due date is a better fit for everyone. I'm sure that there are lots of good causes in this area, and surely we will be able to find one that we can make our donation to. Also, with this change, more artists will hopefully be able to participate.

I don't know how many of you had prepared charms for the Dreams event, but hopefully we will be able to find a good fit for CFM and the community. More information will becoming up soon. If you have any questions or comments, join in this discussion. Who knows, your answer may be just the one we have been looking for."

Debra Pyeatt

Charm Bracelet Challenge!

Ladies and Gents, CFM will be making a group charm bracelet to donate for a "Dreams" non profit auction this fall. Everyone is asked to make a charm that has a hole big enough to attach to the bracelet with two jump rings. More info coming on when the Dreams auction will be. Everyone has until September 1st to make their charm. I will collect them at the meeting nearest that time. We'll make a sign that will credit our club and in small print will have each individual's information. More info to come!

Summer Reconnect

Its tonight! We'll get together from 6:30 -8:30 to chit chat, see what everyone's up to and plan some fall stuff, AND to sweeten the pot I thought I'd show and tell about my beads I've had fun doing and demo torch firing.

Sarah Tector

Check out Sarah Tector's new improved website!

Summer Reconnect

Wednesday the 22nd at 6:30pm at Wabi Sabi Warehouse.
Join us for light snacks and beverages at IAC. We'll talk about our move to our new Yahoo group, our future as a club, and maybe meet some new members. I will show and tell about my new enamel beads and answer questions. I have some examples in various stages and I will demo torch firing a bead.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Check out this GREAT Esty featured seller interview with Wilmington metalsmith Sara Westermark.
Way to go Sara!!!!

Wounded Warriors -Metalsmithing?

Hey Folks, If anyone is reading this let me know what you think... I have this seed of an idea. What if we teach Wounded Warriors how to make jewelry and basic metalsmithing?
It will probably require going to Camp Lejeune and taking tools up there. I've made some inquiries anyone interested?

Open Studio Day!

In my personal studio
at Independent Art Company
Thursday May 21st from 2-5pm

$15.00 per person

This is a time that I offer, as a favor, for people who don't have their own studios, and want social time with other metalsmiths, to use my personal studio while I work on my own projects.

YOU MUST HAVE METALS EXPERIENCE!
This is NOT a class!
I will not be instructing, therefore you must know the proper use and handling of the tools. They are my own personal tools, be mindful!

Also, You MUST email
or call 910-538-1246 to sign up
we are limited to the first 5 people due to space.
Bring your own metal and any small hand tools you have like saw, pliers.
I do have 5 benchpins.

Riveting Jewelry Workshop

This will be a RIVETING workshop with me Melissa Manley!




On Saturday March 14th from 2-5pm at Independent Art Comapny's Wabi Sabi Warehouse, 19 North 9th street, I will teach you how to connect metal with cold connections and hand made rivets like the tube rivets pictured here. Fun!!! this is a great thing to learn if you don't have a torch at home. You can make all sorts of jewelry just with a saw and rivets.

Bring
Metal -if you have it. I will have lots of recycled copper and brass pieces. You can buy small sheets of copper and brass at Craft American Hardware near Wrightsville Beach (Across Wrightsville Ave. from the new Harris Teeter). I go in there all the time and buy tiny copper tubing for tube rivets. They know I teach, and send students there. They've been very helpful to people I've sent there in the past. Ace Hardwares often have the same display case with metal sheets strip and tubes in it.

A drink if you need it. We do have a little kitchen with water, fridge and a stove for tea, coffee machine....

Your close up glasses if you're use to using them.

Moolah! I don't take credit cards, so if you want you may pay through paypal on our meetup site here or at paypal bring a check or cash.
Wabi Sabi is located on the corner of 9th and Princess Streets. One block from the Cape Fear Museum. Its the bright blue building with the yellow garage door, can't miss it. We have our own parking across the street.

NC ABANA

Hey folks! I went to the local ABANA meeting!!
The Artist Blacksmith Association of North America was so cool! They had a demo by Peter Ross an extremely accomplished blacksmith, along with another demo by Jimmy Alexander the NC ABANA president. The event was at Intracoastal Iron's shop off Old Wrightsboro Road out near Castle Hayne. SOOOO cool! And I'd made a keychain and put in the "Iron in the Hat" raffle. Raffle tickets were $1. The money is used by NC ABANA for a scholarship program for members to go to blacksmithing workshops. They grilled food and had a big spread for lunch and took lunch donations. There had to have been 30 people there it was so exciting. I met Dumay Gorham and Paul Hill both local sculptors, and saw my pal Cindi Buell. I'd love to get her involved in our group. I think we should have a raffle!

Anne Dinan

Its not often I find TRULY unique metalsmithing on etsy. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE etsy, and adore gazing at metal on there. but it really gets a little hum drum all the hammered stacking rings and PMC. This woman really has a unique take on using copper and enamel check it out:
annedinan.etsy.com
It really has her personality in it. I plan on showing my Metals 2 class tomorrow. They're enamelling right now. Just love to share.
Have you seen really far out designs on etsy or elsewhere? Please share!

New Ideas

Hey y'all! Lots of new ideas percolating here with our little group. If you haven't yet, check out our Meetup.com site. We have polls and discussions. We will have a new Yahoo egroup starting up soon. Also Deborah Beasley has suggested a CFM Etsy store and/or a CFM sale to raise general funds. We all would love a co-op metals studio here in Wilmington for workshops and open studio time. To make that happen will take tremendous work and time and money. But I think it would be enormously popular. I also have numerous out of town metals friends who'd love to pay for a trip here by teaching you guys their stuff. So I am interested in any input about what you'd like to learn.
LOVIN' the snow! Robert and I have gone out to walk in the woods, and also walked to the nearby store tonight just to get out in it!

Was that FUN or WHAT!?

Ladies and Gents,
If you were unable to make it to the gemstone showing at Wabi Sabi today with Anne Kennedy, YOU MISSED IT! Man, she is just so flippin' cool for one thing, and her selection of cabochons is wonderful. She has stones for as little as $6! Most of what I picked up was $22- $32. There were gorgeous boulder opals, chyrsoprase, druzy, fabulous rich, colored Lapis, petrified tree fern or "peanut wood", yummy Sonoran Sunrise Agate(?), Ocean Jasper some with druzy crystals (my personal fav). She had a tray of Picasso Jasper and really beautiful fossilized Dinosaur bone, and so much more. One thing Anne always has a lot of are beautifully cut "bookend" matched pairs of stones that are great for earrings. She is so knowledgeable and loves to talk about rocks! I think we had 15 or so people attend and everyone who showed up found some really luscious stones and had a great time. Debra Pyeatt really came through with some delectable snacks, thank you Debra! Those that missed it, take heart! Anne said she'd be more than happy to return late summer and have another showing. She says she'll be getting lots of new items before then, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for the encore! And if you'd like to be notified, let me know!
Thank you to all those who came!