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In Tucson with nothing to do?

By on January 29, 2016
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by Judy Ellis, Wirejewelry.com

Wire Jewelry Tip for January 29th, 2016

Are you in Tucson with nothing to do?

How about taking a class from one of our World Class Instructors? Choose from 22 jewelry instructors at the JOGS International Gem & Jewelry Show at the Tucson Expo Center from January 28 – February 8. This indoor show will be packed with exhibitors and booths. Choose from full & half day classes with Kate Richbourg, Marilyn Gardiner, Kim St. Jean, Joe Korth and many more!

 

Today I want to highlight one of our Tucson Instructors, who is also one of our contributors here at Wire-Jewelry.com – Marilyn Gardiner.

 

About Marilyn:

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I love jewelry, color, pattern, and design. It is thrilling to create something new that others love too. And I truly enjoy breaking down something complex into an easy-to-learn sequence that I can share with others, both in print and in the classroom. During the past 13 years I have developed my beading and chain mail skills with energy and enthusiasm and created beadwork and chain mail kits with step-by-step instructions that really work.

 

I know that the kits have quality instructions because of positive feedback from my students and from customers who buy my kits in classes, at shows and from my online store. I regularly teach classes in bead stores in Toronto, Ontario, and at bead shows and retreats across Canada, in Texas, Tucson AZ and at Bead&Button in Milwaukee WI. In 2007 I was “Folk Artist in Residence – Beadwork” at the Joseph Schneider Haus in Kitchener. I set up a series of lectures, seminars, and demonstrations throughout the year. There was also a gallery exhibit of beadwork that featured my work and included the contemporary and historical work of several other artists. The residency resulted in several articles in the local media.

 

I later completed a beadwork commission for the museum, and some of my work is sold in the museum gift shop. I have published projects available online at Beading Times, Bead Bugle, All Free Jewelry, and The Beading Gem’s Journal. Some of my kits are sold online through The Jewelry Professor and Beadfx. The Fall 2012 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread published a multi-page Artist Profile of my work. Most of my time at present is directed to the creation of new chain mail projects.

 

I am currently working on several new designs that will be ready as kits and for teaching at the fall and winter shows. I have well over a hundred active chain mail kits available.

Marilyn offers this quick tip about Organizing Jump Rings:

You may have jump rings left over from previous chain mail project kits. You may have an assortment of bags of various sizes of jump rings. You may have jump rings that you’ve placed in plastic containers. This is your ring stash!

 

You NEED to find a quick and easy way to find out if you have the right size of jump ring for your next project. So, here’s one easy solution.

 

Go to your Office Supply store, or online, and purchase a bag of clear 2×3″ zip lock bags with a hole punched at the top of each, a small box of binder rings “1”, 1.5″, or 2″), and some 2″ wide, white, stick-on, return address labels. Pick up a box of quart size, Ziploc freezer bags.

 

Step 1: Place one size of rings into a bag.
1-JR-bag=5226

 

Step 2: Write a label with the metal, gauge, and ID and place it across the top of the bag.

2-J-R-label-5229

 

Step 3: Repeat Steps 1-2 until all your jump rings are bagged and labelled.

 

Step 4: Sort the bags add them to a binder ring.
3-JR-on ring-5223

If you don’t have a lot of rings, then all the 16 gauge rings could go on one binder ring, 18 gauge on another, and so on.

If you have a lot of rings, then you may need one binder ring to hold all your sizes of 16 gauge copper rings, and so on for each metal/gauge.

Step 5: Put the binder rings with the bags of jump rings into quart size, Ziploc freezer bags. Again, the number of bags you need will depend on the size of your ring stash!

4-JR-in ziplock-5224

Step 6: Now you can relax, enjoy, and know you’re ready to find the rings to start your next chain mail project!

 

register

 

Take a look at a few of the classes that If you’ve never spent any time in Tucson and want a great weekend run-away – why not go?!!! To learn more about our classes or to get signed up today CLICK HERE!

 

Happy Wrapping!

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