cynical bitches with hammers: February 2011

I like to think of this little group of ours as a Jewelry Making Self Help Group. Twice a week, in a small jewelry studio in the middle of Salt Lake City, we bitches get together for our jewelry making class and beat metal into submission with some enviable hammers. Lately the submission has happened under the force of fire - 3 torches on a "Crucible full of sins" as one of the bitches so eloquently put it. To the lay person, that would be a ceramic container you melt scrap in - this container happened to be filled with years worth of silver scrap that was never properly stored and was thrown in any old container or bin that happened to be open at the time. It was a "bitch" to sort through it all, to say the least. The sin part comes from the fact that this particular bitch doesn't care much for instructions and just kept cutting and working the silver till something was successful. Please note that the bitch who called my pile of scrap a pile of sins (and who dutifully follows directions so as not to make mistakes) didn't have enough scrap to use for her casting while this bitch had over a pound and a half to torch into silver lava. Ha! But I digress.
   I give her a hard time, but to be honest, the "Sinful" bitch I speak of has leant me her ear and her own fabulous workshop over the past year since we met which allowed for some much needed steam letting, not to mention hammering.....and FIRE. I couldn't ask for a better friend to bitch and hammer with.
   My cousin, whom I shall call Mellow Bitch, is just that... mellow. It takes a lot for her to get fired up, which is why I think this little Jewelry Making Self Help Group is a good outlet for her. She can remain silent while methodically hammering away at a helpless little piece of silver, working out the day's kinks from babysitting my crazy kids all day. The silence works for her, as she has turned out some pretty fantastic pieces.
   And last but not least, we have Teacher Bitch. She's not really a bitch at all but she introduced me to Fretz Hammers and forever will remain the bitch of all bitches among pretty and powerful little hammers in my book. Teacher Bitch is a true artist who challenges her students in the sweetest but most convincing ways. Her work is a wonder to behold.
   We four have been dutifully meeting at this workshop twice a week for the past couple of months with Teacher Bitch at the helm. We've talked about design, experimented with enameling, and been introduced to natural object casting. We even took our class to the Beer Hive one frosty evening when temps in the the workshop reached no higher than 52* despite the torches and kilns going at full blast. Teacher Bitch made good use of the time at the Beer Hive, giving us a lesson on casting while we sipped some good stouts and IPA's and French onion soup.

Casting. What an experience. The first time down that road with 3 fiercely hot torches and tanks the size of a sixth grader I have to admit I was shaking in my boots. Slowly the fear turned to a feeling of empowerment, a cleansing of sorts, as the crucible full of sins turned a fiery orange and succumbed to the heat, turning to a liquid ball of molten silver with the fire purifying the mistakes of projects long forgotten in that big heap of scrap.

The feeling of empowerment increased as we three bitches worked as a team, each holding our torches over the crucible as Teacher Bitch carried it to the flask to pour into the investment to form our first artistic attempts in this medium. There has to be total trust during this operation - trust in your friends and fellow bitches, trust in the tools and your own hands and trust in fear. Because it's the fear of the fire and the molten silver that keeps things under control.