Student of the Week-Jacqueline McLoughin

22k gold and grossular garnet

Congratulations to our latest Student of the Week- Jacqueline McLoughin. She did a wonderful job on her necklace. The majority of the techniques she used were fusing and granulation. Her bezels and links were fused, her bezels fused down to their backsheets and granules fused down around her grossular garnet. Let me introduce you to your most powerful weapon in using these techniques: your tweezers. As we all know , the process of making jewelry is a dirty job. However, techniques like fusing and granulation really depend on cleanliness to work. Often students do not realize that they are touching their backsheets, bezels and wire with their fingers. This transfers finger oils to your work which very well may interfere with the fusing process. This is where your tweezers come in. I won’t even look at work without tweezers in my hand. Otherwise, the temptation to touch something without the tweezers may strike and often it doesn’t register with students that now the piece has been dirtied. When they go to fuse it may not work even if all the other steps were followed correctly. I encourage students to have their tweezers at their right hand (or left for lefties) at all times. The cleaner your work, the more satisfactory the results. It is paying attention to details like this that lifts the mystery from the success or failure of your work. Job well done, Jacqueline!