Our chapter is proud of its productive history with workshops. We hosted Hattie Sanderson and Barbara Becker Simon in 2008. May 2009 brought a chapter-sponsored workshop by our own Ginger Seiple. Catherine Davies Paetz came in October 2009 to offer Water Etching and Bronze Inlay (both featured in Art Jewelry magazines). Holly Gage was here in January 2010 to treat us to Negative Space Caning and Creative Prong Setting.

Our instructors have been well prepared with examples of the finished product as well as samples of the clay through the various stages. Catherine Davies Paetz started with the Water Etching workshop, the Bronze Copper Inlay class followed and we all managed to switch gears and get messy. Cathy showed us many approaches to the inlay process and encouraged us to experiment with the different techniques.

Holly started her weekend with Creative Prong setting. She has beautiful free form titanium pieces to set or participants can bring their own irregular treasure to set. She guided us through the process of creating a suitable design before we got into the mechanics of creating the piece. Holly concluded her time in the world of negative space. Negative space caning is serendipitous and unpredictable. Because of her gifting, Holly does a wonderful job bringing all this together.

With our sluggish economy, everyone is more careful and thoughtful about spending money on non-essential things. We all considered the money we invested in these workshops very well spent and worth it.