The Teapot is Done!

I just finished the teapot I've been working on-- the one that this set of three pins is part of. I took a little video to give a first glimpse of it-- better pics when I get my photographer (Larry Sanders, Sanders Visual Images) on the job.

It has a beautiful 3-carat faceted sunstone on top, a fossil coral handle and spout, and tigereye feet. It is fabricated from sterling silver, 14 and 22k gold, anodized titanium and copper.

LOTS of pictures

I just created an album on Facebook that contains most of the images I use when I am asked to speak about my work in general and titanium coloration in particular. Here's the link if you want to take a look!

All the News that's Fit to Print

First, I want to mention that I've set up a Facebook Page for my art business. I hope you'll enjoy it.

I've continued to add to my Ganoksin Blog, so be sure to take a look at that.

My teaching schedule for 2011 continues to evolve. I'll be at BeadFest Santa Fe March 10-13 and BeadFest Philly in August, as well as the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee June 5-12. And, of course, I teach year 'round at the Evanston Art Center, as always, with the addition of a teen class on Tuesday afternoons, 4:30-6. My Exploring Metal Clay class is a fun addition to my beginning-through-advanced metalsmithing classes.

We are scheduling a 4-hour workshop on April 30 to make a very cool watch by what I call the "drape and hammer" technique.


Shows are still mostly pending, but I will be doing my first-ever show in Manhattan, a benefit for the CERF (Craft Emergency Relief Fund) at the beginning of April, so if you're in New York, come say hi!

A Gem of an Idea

I've written a column with this title for the quarterly newsletter of the Chicago Metal Arts Guild for about 6 or 7 years now. I'm expanding that idea into a blog by the same title, and you can see my first post (and subsequent ones, I trust) at http://noel.ganoksin.com/blogs/

I plan to share a lot of the same kind of information that makes me popular, if I may say so, as a teacher. I expect to offer tips and tricks, tool reviews, and tidbits about life, from basic to advanced. I hope you'll check it out.

New Piece that is PART of a Piece

Here is a set of three pins that interlock. They can be worn individually, or in any combination. The mechanism that links them together folds to the back when not needed.

They are sterling silver, 14k gold, copper, and anodized titanium.

They are PART of a piece because, though I have not finished the next phase, the pins will form the center of a teapot entitled "House in the Woods". They will fold into a triangle, hinged at the corners, and sit under a dome of pierced silver trees (the woods) with a handle and spout of white fossil coral that look like tree limbs.

I began this piece at an artist's residency at Ragdale Foundation, which permitted me the kind of uninterrupted work time it takes for me to create complex work. I'm not sure when I'll manage to finish, but meanwhile, I want to share this triptych of fully-functional pins.

Note the teapot next to the chair in the living room, and the cat looking out the window of the dining room (bedroom?)

Updated Class Info

Here are some links to classes and workshops I am teaching at events around the country. Click here for my classes at BeadFest Wire in Philadelphia; here for BeadFest Santa Fe, and here for Bead Fest Philly.

I will be teaching a couple of terrific workshops this year at the Peninsula Art School in Door County, WI-- you can see them here.

I have a full week of classes at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee, and you can see those here.

I guess you could say I'm on a roll!

The bracelet pictured in my last post was, as you can see, used on the cover of the January issue of Art Jewelry Magazine.

On top of that, I'm happy to report that I applied to three artist's residencies for next year, and was accepted by two of them, so I'll be spending a week at ArtSmith on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State in March, and two weeks at Ragdale in April or May!

For those interested in classes-- I'm offering two very cool workshops at the Peninsula Art School next year. One is a three-day on soldering techniques, June 25-27, in which we will make a soldering sampler pendant (the picture with the turquoise is my sample). The other is a metal clay class September 30-October 2. The silver piece, "Fish Kitchen" is one of my silver clay pieces.

Also, I'll be teaching once again at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, June 6-13, lots of classes (registration begins January 12th) and at the three currently-scheduled Interweave events. These are: BeadFest Philadelphia, BeadFest Wire and BeadFest Santa Fe

And I'll be a presenter at the http://www.pmc-conference.com/, talking about using metalsmithing techniques on metal clays.

Shows and more classes are still up in the air, so stay tuned, but I am always happy to talk to interested folks directly about pieces they may wish to buy, or classes they may wish to take, or have me teach. You can always reach me at NoelYovo@gmail.com.