2024 dates

Just updating the diary for 2024 so if you are after last-minute present ideas, or looking to take up a new skill next year, do get in touch. Prices listed on website are for 1 to 1 but discounted prices are available when booking 2 or more people so please ask about this.

CG CRAFTS, Colchester (booking 07847 098849) or click here

Sat 30th March – Encaustic Art

Fri 19th April – Silver Clay Beginners

Sat 20th April – Enamelling Beginners

Fri 26th April – Enamelling Beginners

Sat 27th April – Silver Clay Beginners

Fri 10th May – Flamework (Making glass beads)

Sat 11th May – Encaustic Art

Fri 24th May – Feltmaking – needle and wet felting

The Seasons art classes

I teach a 14 week class covering Drawing, oil pastels, watercolour and acrylics. The class currently takes place at The Oaks Golf Course, Rivenhall Essex. Click here to find out more on our Facebook page or call 01621 818 593

19+ Adult Learning at ACL

I am now teaching weekly Metal (Fine Silver) clay classes at Basildon ACL

The Thursday classes are accredited which means they are funded if you meet the criteria, plus you get a shiny certificate at the end. The listings are a little confusing at present as the courses are quite new but if you are interested and can’t find the course let me know and I’ll do my best to help.

Watershed Studio, St Osyth – 01255 820466 or click here

Sat 16th March – Silver Clay Jewellery

Sat 29th June – Felt Making Landscapes using wet felt

Sat 7th Oct – Enamelling

A glass act

Enamelling landscapes

I’m often asked by my students which of the crafts that I teach do I like best?
That’s such a hard question. What I do like in constantly discovering new things to try (or add to the list) and that is especially so with Enamelling. The number of different techniques you can try is mind-blowing and then there are all the different design possibilities. Artists such as Sandra McEwen spend a lifetime marrying up their metalsmithing skills with their enamelling ones and specialising in one or two of these techniques in Sandra’s case Cloisonne and champleve. Like everything else the more you do the better you get – everything takes practice.
For those interested in Enamelling here is a brief guide to how to enamel using a kiln.
I would also like to add here that often artists and enamellers do things in slightly different ways, as with most things, you make it work for you and can only teach from your own experience, so I would never say you can only do things my way and I am always happy to learn – hence my passion for teaching.
What is Enamelling?
In this case we’re talking about vitreous enamel, which is the fusing of glass to metal using extreme temperatures ((750oC and higher).
What is it used for?
Pieces of jewellery, or decorative items such as pictures and bowls. You’ll also see signs on the underground and even car badges that have been enamelled – these require specialist equipment.
1 Choose your metal
Generally, silver or copper are used although other metals do work. You need to pay particular attention to the metal temperature of your metal to ensure it won’t melt before your glass (enamel) does.
2 Prepare your metal
Fine silver needs little preparation but sterling silver needs to be fired and cleaned several times to reduce the amount of copper on the surface layer. Copper reacts in the kiln causing copper oxide or firescale which is a black layer that needs scrubbing off. Copper needs to be cleaned thoroughly prior to firing – usually with a scouring pad and detergent.
3 Prepare your enamels
You can buy enamels from several suppliers – WG Ball supplies to Cookson Gold in the UK, Vitrium Signum are also very popular with British enamellers as are Corby Kilns but do an internet search and you’ll find suppliers where you are based. Some enamellers never clean their enamels and others always clean them. If you clean your enamels, it produces a clearer glass and is particularly useful when using transparents.
4 Prepare your surface
You’ll need to balance your blank between something (I use two piles of coins) in order to be able to pick it up once you’ve applied enamel powder. You’ll also want to work on a clean sheet for each colour used as this helps to prevent contamination of colours.
5 Counter enamel
Counter enamel, or enamelling the back is done for 3 main reasons. 1 To ensure equal tension on the front and back of the piece – or the glass may break off. 2 To reduce the amount of firescale that builds up. 3 To stop the piece that’s next to your skin tarnishing or causing your skin to go green.
5 Once enamel has been sifted on it can be fired on a stilt or a trivet.
6 Clean firescale off your blank
7 Add more layers to the back if necessary
8 The kiln

Although you can torch fire enamel I prefer to use the kiln for more successful results. Firing times vary depending on colour, size of your blank and what else may be applied, hence it is something you can only really pick up with experience. You’ll be amazed how quickly you just react to what has happened to your piece and troubleshoot timings. However, as a quick guide firings are around 30 seconds to a minute from 750oC.
8 Firing the front
A layer of enamelled colour can then be added to the front of your piece and fired.
9 Add further decoration or master further techniques by continuing to fire several times.

So those are the basics! There’s a lot to take in to start and I really see Enamelling as something that you keep returning to and experimenting with. One of the reasons that there aren’t lots of people teaching Enamelling (or not that I have come across) is that there are so many variables that can affect a piece. It is our job as Enamelling teachers to explain why things have happened and to try to enable students to resolve those issues, or reduce risks of things happening to help them achieve as close to their design aims as possible, for that reason people can get frustrated by it and for others (I consider myself highly in this camp) that is what makes it so interesting.
Making mistakes + troubleshooting = learning
Molten glass + Metal + kiln + experiments = Exciting results


If I’ve interested you and you are thinking about taking a class, here are a few that I have coming up:

Click here for classes in my workshop in Colchester (one to one or one to two) I can also organise dates to suit. These represent great value as you have lots of tutor interaction and I can easily tailor lesson to what you want to learn.

Watershed Studio – 19th July Enamelling for Beginners and Improvers (St Osyth, Tendring)

EJart – Sat 21st May Enamelling on Silver Clay (Woodbridge, Suffolk)

FSC Flatford Mill 3 day jewellery making course – 15th – 17th July inclusive, this a jewellery making weekend including silver clay and Enamelling (residential and non-residential students welcome). (Suffolk)

Any questions do ask. Best wishes, Toni


Classes to March 2022

Eek! Busy behind the scenes trying to get dates sorted and generally confusing myself left, right and centre. Don’t forget a booked class or voucher makes a great gift, it’s a day out and something made is something treasured (hopefully).
Once I am less confused I will post more about what I have been up to.

January
Saturday 22nd January – Beginner’s Silver Clay @ EJart
February
Thurs 10th Feb – @ EJart TBA
Tuesday 22nd Feb – Encaustic art @ CG Crafts
Thursday 24th Feb – Silver Clay Jewellery at the Sunshine Room – Pin Mill
March
PMC Silver Clay Camp 101 class – 4 weeks, 5 projects – Thursday 3rd March, 10th March, 17th March, 14th March
Fri 4th March – Flamework @ CG Crafts
Sat 5th March – Private Class
Tues 8th March – Flamework @ CG Crafts
Fri 11th March – Silver Clay Jewellery @ CG Crafts
Sat 12th March Enamelling @ CG Crafts – SOLD OUT
Tuesday 15th March – Enamelling @ Watershed Studio, St Osyth
Friday 18th March – Enamelling @ CG Crafts
Sat 19th March – @ Ejart TBA
Sunday 20th March – Flamework @ CG Crafts
Friday 25th March – Silver Clay @ CG Crafts
Sat 26th March – Encaustic Art @ CG Crafts

I also teach feltmaking.

Get in touch for more info about any of the classes.

Well that wasn’t what I was expecting!

I thought once the girls went back to school I’d be able to get on with everything again. Ha! Covid hit home with 2 positive test results, conveniently 2 weeks apart so it left us with a month of isolation. Fortunately, no one was too ill but it has meant another batch of postponed classes, lost income and admin hassles! Oh dear, get out the violins.
On a positive note, it has meant I have been able to work on my Camp PMC 103 – Soldering and fusing class (pictures below). So I am now much happier with my soldering skills and look forward to incorporating those into classes in the future.
Once half term is over I’ll update you on course dates and things planned for the next few months. Can’t believe we are at this end of the year already! Don’t forget craft class gift vouchers make great presents so do get in touch if you are interested in buying one for this class or any others that I offer: Enamelling, Felt making, Flamework, Silver clay and Encaustic art. Do get in touch to find out more.

Creations

You can sign up to my mailing list to get up to date class info and subscriber discounts as well as hearing more about my experiments and discoveries.

I know I won’t be the only one who has spent a great deal of the last year building on existing skills or learning new ones. Creativity is something that can really keep you going at the best of times and most especially now. It has also given me time to have a think about offering themed classes or classes focusing on a specific technique, which I do to a certain extent but I think I need to be clearer about it! Haha she says as she waffles along.
I’m going to post some photos of work I have been doing with @pmcstudio as part of my silver clay certification, some of which I already offer but have learn some extra tips for you. Do let me know which techniques particularly intrigue you, or what others you might like to learn. Some of the classes may be taught online (I am offering a few via @ejartcreative at the moment). Later in the year I hope to be able to tell you more about Camp PMC 101 which I hope to be able to teach soon.

I am also learning papercutting (pictured is a great kit by @KatySuedesigns but I am working on some basic ideas for a class for those who need to be guided a little more and this will be @watershedstudio later in the year (hopefully).

I know some techniques get people really excited, whereas others they can take or leave, so it would be really great to get some feedback.

I’ll tell you a little more about dates etc in my newsletter. If you’d like to sign up do get in touch.

Keep safe and creative.

Toni