Sandra Bornemann - Featured Artist

Sandra Bornemann - Glass Bead Artist

Sandra Borneman – Glass Bead Artist

Sandra was born in Berlin in 1968 and currently lives with her husband and two sons in Bedfordshire.

She has made her first experiences with glass in 2004. Ever since has she been fascinated by this wonderful and versatile material. Glass is a never ending source of inspiration and possibilities!

Work Now Showing at the GALLERY

The artistic joy in experimenting with natural looking shapes, colours and surfaces is Sandra´s main motivation. This is why she often uses enamels and frits in her beads. In addition to this she loves the combination of lampworking and goldsmithing. Be it that a bead is simply lined with a silver core or that she incorporates silver bead caps into her designs. Sandra´s Janus solitaires show their two faces: the colourful glass on one side and structured silver work on the other.

Come and see Sandra's Work here at HSJ

Sandra works with original Italian Murano glass, Bohemian and American soft glass. Every glass bead is an individual piece of its own. After it has been finished it is properly annealed in a special kiln in order to achieve maximum durability.

Beautiful Glass, Enamell and Sterling Silver Bead

You can come and see Sandra's beautiful work at our bespoke jewellery gallery here at HSJ, pop by to check it out!

New Stained Glass Workshop Dates Added to the Programme

Due to popular demand new dates have been added for our extemely popular Introduction to Stained Glass Workshop.

Introduction to Stained Glass Workshop - new dates online now!

Introduction to Stained Glass – learn the basics in just one day!
Join us on our one-day class and get a feel for what's involved in stained glass. We start out by looking at the basic processes and tools we'll be using. We'll then practice cutting and breaking glass. Then we move on to grinding the cut glass ready for foiling. Using the hand foiling method we'll foil the glass ready for…soldering! At temperatures up to 460C we'll solder our glass with the most-commonly used solder types. In the afternoon, we'll get you started on a simple project piece which we expect to finish in time to take home!  We'll provide you with a choice of designs to work on, and a selection of glass to work with. Small class numbers of maximum 6 people. 1 tutor to every 3 students.
Time: 9.45am – 5.30pm Tutors: Jenny Timms / Mike Caddy
Fee: £120 to include all materials, tools, refreshments and info pack to take home.


Click here for more details or to book. Book now to avoid disappointment!

Metal Clay - what is it?

What is metal clay? It is a clay-like material made from minute particles of finely ground metal, a non-toxic organic binder and water.    What can you do with it? In its clay form (it also comes as paste, paper and in a syringe), it can be rolled, coiled, textured, moulded and extruded just like ordinary clay.  Once the water evaporates from the clay, it can be fired using a kiln, a gas hob or a butane torch.   This is the magical bit, the organic binder burns away, the metal particles sinter and the end result is pure metal.   What is it like to work with? Metal clay is easy to work with you don’t need any specialist skills, special equipment or previous experience to use it.  It is a versatile medium and can be used successfully by anyone Working with silver metal clay   What is it like to work with? Metal clay is easy to work with you don’t need any specialist skills, special equipment or previous experience to use it.  It is a versatile medium and can be used successfully by anyone   What sort of metal clays are available? Metal clay comes in lump form and it is sold in sealed packets to keep it moist and workable. Currently there are silver, gold, copper and bronze versions available.  Silver metal clay was developed first and as a result it is now available in a greater variety of forms; as a soft clay in a pre-filled syringe which can be used to produce extruded forms, slip and as paper-like sheets, from which most of the moisture has been removed.  Silver metal clay was the first to be developed, in the early 1990s, and is consequently the best known of all the metal clays.   Lump metal clay in bronze was introduced in 2008 and copper clay followed in 2009.  Pieces made from silver metal clay contain 99.9% silver, known as fine silver, which is purer than sterling silver which is 92.5% pure silver.                      Pieces incorporating fired elments of bronze and silver clay   HSJ offers a variety of workshops in metal clays, designed for both the first-time user or someone who already has experience of this amazing material.   You can start with our Introduction to Silver Clay workshop and progress through the Intermediate and Advanced workshops or try your hand at making your own metal clay ring on our Silver Clay Rings workshop or adding gold to your pieces on our Keum Boo workshop, the choice is yours.  Our experienced tutors will provide you with all the information and assistance you need to create your own unique piece of jewellery. Check out our Jewellery workshops by clicking here.

Featured Artist

This month's featured artist is our very own Joanna Mason. Jo is the director and chief jewellery teacher at HSJ and has a real passion for all kinds of jewellery. She enjoys working in a mixed media of different materials and describes herself as a serial learner! Jo is enjoying working in silver and enammels at the moment, as well as bronze, copper and brass. You can see more of her work here or drop by to see it on display at the school!

 

The 'Message in a Bottle' and 'Sari Silk' range is now on display at the Hertfordshire School of Jewellery - drop by and check it out!

New Workshops online NOW!

The class program for 2011 has been listed and workshops are available for booking NOW! Lots of new and innovative classes have been added to the timetable and we have some new and exciting guest tutors teaching them.   Perfectly Paired: Polymer & Silver Clay Workshop     Also new classes added for 2011: Adding Colour to Metal Clay - 2 day Workshop 4th & 5th June Enamelling on Fine Silver - 2 day Workshop 16th & 17th April Image Tranfer on Metals - 18th June Perfectly Paired: Polymer & Silver Clay Jewellery - 2 day workshop 7th & 8th May   For more info or to book please click here