Kiwis (not the fruit)

I see now why people love New Zealand. It was green and tropical and from my perspective, it was like Seattle, where I grew up, mixed with Hawaii. The people were really polite--for example, saying "thank you" to the city bus driver as they got off the bus, and then drivers stopped for pedestrians at the crosswalks even if they weren't trying to step out.

Auckland was my first stop to teach for Anne Marie and Peter Grace from Art Clay NZ. they invited me to teach there, and then to travel to Christchurch for another round of classes. The first stop, right after a 15-hour flight, was to the beach near Anne Marie's home. As we walked along, I was intrigued by of the small seashells, twigs and pods native to New Zealand. I became completely obsessed in my search for potential specimens for electroforming, stopping to stuff my pockets with shells like a five-year-old. The seashell hunt, combined with my jet lag, must have scared Anne Marie a little. Within a day, I would be expected to lead a coherent workshop. My side of the conversation consisted of "Huh?" or "Can you repeat that?" while stopping suddenly to pick up one more shell. Later, I taught her about the wonders of copper electroforming, hoping to validate my persistent scavenger hunt.

I met a group of talented Art Clay instructors and jewelry designers in Tacapuna who attended the first class. The workshops consisted of a full day each of electrical etching, resin clay and image transfer techniques on Art Clay Silver. Everyone found unique ways to implement these mediums into their work.

I thought this piece by Ingrid Schloemers was a nice design. She used ITS to transfer a seashell image.