It was a rainy weekend. We spent the weekend in the booth where Ron demonstrated chasing by creating one of a kind silver ginkgo bracelets. These were well received and will probably lead to others in the future.
Ron will next teach two workshops at the Roycroft Campus Corporation's Copper Shop. These are currently sold out, but there is a wait list and he has added dates in April, July, and August of 2009 (these will fill up so you may want to plan ahead).
I will again be participating in the Roycroft Summer Festival on the Historic Roycroft Campus at the corner of Main and South Grove Streets in East Aurora NY. The show is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday June 28th & 29th.
I should have an assortment of new and works from the regular line.
Just completed the reproductions of the model 911 lamp. These will be available for $2000 including the hand blown glass Lundberg Studios shade. Available for Christmas is the first lamp, with the Van Gogh inspired shade, as the others are already sold. Some purists may think the shade too flashy for a reproduction 911 lamp and better suited for a more Art Nouveau Lamp. My thoughts on this are that Van Gogh's work was gaining in popularity at the same time the 911 lamp was produced, and the colors of the shade are similar to the natural rainbow hues that occur naturally in copper.
I have been working on these Model 911 Lamps. I have a couple of other lamps getting ready fro GPI. I will post pictures of those as they become available. Until then here is a picture of the 911 before patination.
VanOstrand Metal Studio has started a forum for discussions of topics relating to metal chasing and repousse'. The forum is located and metalchasing.com and is free to those interested in producing or just interested in chasaed metal. Create an account today and help start up the discussions!
I have been considering starting a small class that would meet in my studio on a once a month basis. My thought is that I would limit it to 3 students. We would meet, go over a few techniques and then students would apply these techniques in the time in between sessions at home. We would then look at the fruits of our labors at the beginning of the next session followed by the next technique and project. To make it financially worth my time (I will be giving up a full day in the studio) I would have to charge $150 a student + materials (unless students get their own metal). And I think we could get started with a small block of meeting commitment (3 classes?) as this is meant to be a process not a one day workshop.
Possible Topics for study would be:
Tool making (we would actually make tools in the studio)
Chasing
Repousse'
Soldering (several techniques and solutions to tricky soldering situations)
Rivets as connections and decoration
Raising
Die Forming
Stone Setting
Engraving
Scoring and Bending
Box Forming
Hinges and Clasps
Design
The group would decide topics for the lessons - with my input of course. I would provide the "problem" or project.
What I am looking for at this point is interest. If you are interested email me from the link at the upper left of my blog page or from my website.
During a recent workshop I promised to post a couple of pictures of some of my chasing tools, so here they are. The first two are of a curved liner made from 3/16" stock - it will make anything from a soft curve to one as tight as that of a dime easily. The 3rd and 4th pics show a curved liner from 1/8" stock that will comfortably do a curve as small as that needed for a 1/4" circle. The 5th picture is that of some matting tools made by striking the tool being made repeatidly with a center punch - one is random and the other in rows. The last two pics are that of the straight liner that I made from a joiner blade (be sure to dull the knife edge). All of the tools except the one made from a joiner blade are made from W1 tools steel in square stock and were tempered using water. The Joiner blade straight liner was ground like you would a chisel, then polished, always making sure that the blade did not heat up and loose it's temper from when it served in a joiner.
The Grove Park Inn was the place to be February 15-18th 2007. Many North East travelers encountered travel glitches due to the snow. We managed to leav early on Tuesday encountering some nasty weather until West Virginia.
Ron taught two pre-conference workshops, which again was a real treat. Some lively characters, and enthusiastic students make it very fulfilling. Ron will next be offering instruction July 13-15 2007 at the RCC Copper Shop (Click Here for Details)
We enjoyed seeing familiar faces, and meeting new people as well.
As an added treat, Bruce Johnson commisioned us to make the 20year attendee gift that he presented to those attending every GPI Arts & Crafts Conference.
Click on the image for a closer look.
Comming Soon?
Ron is working on some custom lighting that is sure to create a little talk.
The 20th Annual Arts and Crafts conference at the Grove Park Inn and Spa. February 15-18 2007.
I will be selling my Copperware, Jewelry, and more. I will also reprise my role as instructor at two pre-conference workshops. I will not be demonstrating this year as I have in the past so look for me in my booth (I may actually be there!).
As always I try to bring with me a few little new surprises, so you may just have to come down and check it out.
With a new year comes a new look for the website. We had run this side parallel with the old and have begun the shift over to the new look. For a time you will be forwarded from the old site ronvano.com to the new vmstu.com
If you had our old site bookmarked you may want to change it. Eventually the domain ronvano.com will be parked to the new site so either will work, but you can avoid the red and blue announcement letters.
Any suggestions and comments are always appreciated.
Ron
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