Something Sublime Class by Deryn Mentock

So I decided since i'm not working yet I would take this opportunity to take a class from a lady whose jewelry I adore.  I bought her book earlier this year and I am so inspired by her work.  Here's a look at the book:

I saw that she was offering the class back in February but my life was in such flux that I decided not to add anymore to it.  But now that I am sort of settled for now i'm taking the class.

It's called The Alchemy of Objects taught by Deryn Mentock.  I did a review of the book in an earlier post. Deryn uses lots of found objects in her work and I have always wanted to try using them.  But I never understood how to take things apart and use them in another way.

Well, this class walks students thru her process of designing, using color, tools required.  It's very in-depth and so far well worth the price of admission.  This class runs thru April 20th, 2014, so even though i'm late beginning, the videos and the written material have helped me to get into the groove of the class.

During the class you make six pieces of jewelry incorporating some of Deryn's techniques. I went out today to an antique mall i've been passing by.  I found some nice jewelry parts but nothing that i'm gaga for yet. I will show you some things I picked up.  The first lesson is about symmetrical jewelry designs.  So I picked some items that I thought might be pretty focal pieces.

I love the one below.  It has a great patina and is a pin.  It looks to be brass with some simulated pearl and red rhinestones.  Now, taking the class I know how to turn a pin into a plain focal for a necklace or bracelet and the tools to use.

This one is a really pretty gold-toned necklace.  The focal is a locket that opens and closes.  And I like the pretty red rhinestone.  It has some steel cut silver decoration the front.  I also love the three-way connector with the red rhinestone.  I really picked it up for the chain.  A closer look shows the deocrative links in the chain.

View of the chain on the locket necklace.

Then I bought some plain twisted glass beads for only a buck!  I figured why leave them behind.

The focal below is some type of silver colored metal with lots of decoration.  And now that I know what it takes to put holes in metal and what tools to use I think this would make a nice focal.  The blue beads and the hearts I won't use for this piece but maybe in something else.

And lastly I bought some rhinestone bracelets because it's nice to have a stash of rhinestones that you can use to replace stones in a piece missing some stones.  So i'll just keep them to use if needed.

I probably spent an hour and a half in this antique mall.  I had a blast.  I love antique jewelry, furniture and just all-around weird stuff.  I spotted another antique mall just up the street also and hope to hit it on saturday since it's supposed to rain here over the weekend.

Deryn's class is still open until April 6th and the class ends April 20th.  I am so excited to be learning new techniques from this very talented lady.

As always comments are appreciated.  Thanks for stopping by!