SILVER SKILLS | FEATURE
Lynda Nash brings home her bling after a day at the Tangle Web Craft Workshop making jewellery
In an unassuming unit on the Albion Industrial Estate in Cilfynydd lies a treasure trove of arts and crafts – ceramics, metalwork, stained glass. It’s like walking into another world – a cavern of objects and materials that would delight any creative person.
I’d come along for a taster session in silver jewellery making. I was going in blind – my only experience being threading beads onto a string and making rings from strands of grass when I was in Junior School.
Mike, co-owner of the unit and our teacher for the day, greeted us at 9.30am with a cup of tea and chocolate biscuits and explained the agenda for the session.
The workshop took place in the little shop where the walls are covered with silver and copper earrings, pendants and necklaces and display cabinets hold rings, bangles and more – all uniquely designed and made by Mike and his wife Cath.
There were three participants at the workshop including myself. Mike keeps numbers at a minimum to ensure each student gets in-depth tuition. The session began with demonstration on how to work metal and a quick lesson in metal properties, melting points and the tools we would be using. We were then given a piece of copper wire to bend into a curve. Mike made it look easy but he and Cath have been making jewellery professionally for the last eighteen years, and taught courses at the Model House in Llantrisant until the centre closed in 2010.
After practicing with copper, Mike demonstrated ring-making and we then went on to design our own in silver under his watchful eye.
By midday we were becoming adept at using the tongs, hammer, block and blowtorch and I must admit that soldering is fun.
As lunchtime approached we had produced intricately twisted rings, and after lunch – bought from a local shop – we were let lose to design and make pendants. This proved challenging, but Mike was there to support us and to make sure we didn’t run amok with the blowtorch.
Later in the session, Cath arrived to walk us through the pickling and polishing process that would turn our endeavors into wearable pieces.
A six hour day may seem a long time for a workshop, but in the intimate, enclosed setting it was easy to lose track of the outside world – the jewellery making process is almost meditative and Mike and Cath were in no hurry to evict us.
If you’re a person that likes instant results then this workshop is a lesson in delayed gratification – working metal is a slow delicate procedure. The day was less a taster and more an intensive course in silver work. I didn’t feel that I’d tasted so much as I’d had a good meal, and I came away wishing I could dine again.
A workshop at Tangled Web would make a tasty treat for anyone who fancies brushing up on forgotten skills or trying something new.
Info: 07979 947472 / www.makersworkbench.com