After 2 classes missed from being out of town (Mexico and Pierre, SD for Easter) and one class canceled ("due to body pain"), I was glad to be back at my Navajo Silversmithing class last night.
(no, that's not me at class...)1. Don't go to class with a headache.
The video is intentionally blank, I really just wanted to give you a sound bite from class. Also, turn your volume all the way up and then multiply by 10 and it might be close to what it's like in the classroom.
2. How to make brass bracelets with a not-so-great selection of stamping tools.
I know, it's called silversmithing, but brass is much cheaper for them to provide. I'm going to see about buying some of my own silver for the next bracelet we're working on: an overlay bracelet! And we can buy our own stamps but the closest place is 80 miles away in Gallup, so we're making do with the ones our teacher provides that haven't walked off over the course of years he's been teaching.3. How to hold your piece when buffing and polishing.
These hand-drawn gems were on our teacher's desk. I'm not sure the illustrations really illustrate much difference, but the bottom line is: Hold on tight! And watch your fingers! You have to load the wheels with compound, apparently called Zam, that helps to buff/polish your piece.
You can see the actual equipment we use below.
These hand-drawn gems were on our teacher's desk. I'm not sure the illustrations really illustrate much difference, but the bottom line is: Hold on tight! And watch your fingers! You have to load the wheels with compound, apparently called Zam, that helps to buff/polish your piece.
Note that only one buffing wheel has a guard on it, and it's pretty much impossible to see through it to your piece. So I use the other ones, which means I end up with bits of buffing/polishing agent in my eyes, all over my front, coating my hands, etc. But the piece is nice and shiny afterwards!4. Basic soldering techniques for adding brass balls and making a belt buckle.
Normally one might mount a piece of turquoise in the middle, but for the sake of cost, we torched scraps of our metal until it got so hot that it melted and formed balls, which we then soldered, along with the buckle pieces to make a belt buckle!5. You can put your hand down into an acid bath (used to clean our belt buckles) without hurting your skin, as long as you let go of your greedy, jealous attitude. This one I learned not by trial, but by watching the teacher explain and then do it!
Our teacher is practically the grandfather of Dine College, as he has been teaching Navajo culture classes since the college was founded in the sixties. So he has lots of other words of wisdom and culture that I've learned during class as well. But it's hard to paraphrase his unique style of delivery in a combination of English (clearly his second language) and Navajo.
1 comment:
Patricia, Thanks for sharing this post, we don't talk enough on the phone to get these details.
you may not feel the stamps were great, but I really like your pieces.
Post a Comment