The Leicestershire and Rutland Federation Denman Dip 2014
Imagine my surprise and delight when I saw Angela Rippon holding my postcard picture entry for the Denman Dip raffle prize at last years AGM.
Postcards from the WI calendars have been used for the annual award by signing ones name and Institute on the back and placing in a basket for the main speaker to pick out the lucky winner. I have been lucky enough to have some of my photographs included in the WI calendars and when I spotted a couple of mine I thought they might bring me luck if I used them.
The hardest thing by far was to choose from the enormous list of activities available at Denman College. I wanted to choose something that I had not done before and something that I could have as a reminder of the course and also to learn from it. Silver Clay jewellery making seemed to fit the bill.
On a cold, crisp November day I arrived at Denman House to a warm log fire in the reception area and coffee and copious supplies of Danish pastries. Several people were already there and invited me to join them at their table where we soon got to know how far we had travelled and what course we would be doing. When all were assembled we were taken into another room and the days events were explained to us before we were taken to our respective classrooms.
Louise Simmonds was our tutor and she gave us an insight into what it was possible to make and had lots of examples of her own to show us. Some of us had ideas that were possibly a little too ambitious for a first attempt and I for one had to re-think my options.
We all had a place at a long table with a lamp and and a set of tools and Louise explained how we would be using them.
We had to practice first with play dough as the silver clay dries out fairly quickly and we needed to be sure of what we were doing. We could choose from a cutting shape or a mould. Make a brooch, a pendant, a charm for a bracelet or earrings. All these along with a wonderful selection of semi precious stones on which the smaller items could be attached, were pored over, chosen, discarded, chosen again until we were satisfied that we had made the right decision !
We then set to work. We had our tools, a rolling pin, and the means to get an even roll. Any excess silver was to be put back in its covering to keep moist. It was possible to make two or more pieces depending on the size with the 7g of silver clay we were given. The items needed drying then put in a kiln.
Time for lunch. We all admitted that we felt quite stressed and that it had been harder than we imagined as the tension of getting it right and not ruining our first attempt in what is a fairly expensive material was at last realised.
Lunch was delicious, fish cakes or stuffed beef tomato with vegetables, the chicken had run out as we had dawdled somewhat over the timing. However, there was also an extensive salad bar, soup, fresh fruit salad or steamed pud and custard with tea and coffee to finish.
It was soon time to get back to our work. We received another 7g of silver clay and this time it was easier to decide what to make and to get on with the task. Whilst these were drying we finished our earlier items by filing the rough edges smooth, then with a succession of wire brushing and sanding we achieved the shiny silver appearance of the jewellery pieces we had been shown.
We were given an information sheet and instructed how we could continue to make items at home
and how to fire them without a costly kiln by using a brulee torch, a camping gas stove or a gas hob burner.
To finish off our pieces we were shown how to attach a pin to a brooch and a loop to the pendants.
All that was left was to enjoy tea and cakes and to ooh and ahh at everyone's efforts. A fantastic days work and a skill to keep and use again, not to mention several ready made Christmas presents !!
These are the pieces I made, two brooches, and a pendant
A selection of tools and the kiln
Some of our tutor's examples
Other work by my fellow course members.