Great Class with Kristen Robinson

Last Sunday, my sister Maryl and I took a wonderful class with Kristen Robinson in San Jose at "A Work Of Heart" (http://www.aworkofheart.com/). I've been admiring Kristen's work for some time now and I was thrilled to be able to meet her and take a class from her.

Kristen did an excellent job of teaching us about making resin pieces and also metal etching. The class was so much fun and the studio was so inspiring! We started with filling our round bezel with objects.

I used a repro frozen charlotte in mine

My sister Maryl did a lovely job with her bezel

This is Kristen showing us how to mix and pour the resin. She's made some beautiful pieces and has a great book out with step-by-step instructions.

Below, the students are focusing on their art pieces. This is only one half of the studio.

We had the option of mounting our round bezel on our etched bracelet, but I'm not sure if I might put mine on a necklace instead. That's why mine is still unmounted.

Then the second half of our class was to make the etched bracelets. This is how we started.

The next step was to stamp images on the bracelets. Wherever the black ink is visible, is where the etching will not take effect - all other areas will be etched away.

Here's Kristen checking the progress of the etching in the ferric chloride.

After the etching phase was over (30 min), we then soaked the bracelet in a petina solution, which turned the bracelet completely black. We're thinking, that's going to come off? But, that's where the steel wool comes in - scrubbing off the black and revealing the metal. It was like magic to see your image emerge.

Here's a close up of Maryl's finished bracelets. They turned out REALLY nice.

Thank you Kristin for a wonderful class, I look forward to taking another class from you soon!

Andrea Chebeleu is the owner of the studio. She's done a wonderful job creating a fun and inspiring atmosphere for creating art! She has all types of classes offered there. You should definitely check her out. Andrea has asked me to teach at her studio, so stay tuned, this might be one of my New Year's resolutions.

Below is the other side of her studio...nice huh? She has all the supplies you could ever wish for.