July 2010

CMAG Board
Bruce McKay
Daniel Baca
Ken Patton
Barbara Covey
Lyn Simon
Earl Lovejoy
Susan Lovejoy
Wayne Acton

CMAG Board Meetings
Board meetings are generally held prior to the General Meeting at 6 pm in Room 33. Members are encouraged to attend and contribute.

How to Reach Us
Website:
www.cmaguild.org
Write:
Creative Metal Arts Guild
P. O. Box 8946
Portland OR 97207

Newsletter
Contributions, comments,
classified ads, display ads
guild@actonjewelry.com
Wayne Acton email

Membership
Please visit CMAG's website:
www.cmaguild.org
Annual membership dues are
$60; students $30

The Creative Metal Arts Guild, a non-profit organization, exists to create a community for metalsmiths, jewelers and metal artists, by facilitating communication, providing information and benefits, promoting a positive image of the creative metal artist and increasing public awareness of the artist's contribution to the community.

Editor's Comments

Country Fair looms, we're off in three days and there's 42 pieces down in the studio with my name on them. So at least they're signed. Hopefully they will polish and set themselves. Upshot is, I'm doing this a bit early and as fast as possible. All in one day, I'm hoping. Getting really a lot of help this month. Bruce sends humor and presidential advise, Lyn and Mandy preview their programs, Hobbs has another interesting book, Alma announces a workshop, Kristin sends news from OCAC, I found a neat web thingy from SNAG and Randy sends an article on him and Joe looking for sunstone. Scary to have a professional on my turf. Mandy and Alma did not attach pics so I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel for goofy shots. In the last month I've also put up, on the CMAG site, a rather more elaborate member page for Ken Patton, see it at cmaguild.org/members/Patton_Ken.

Newsletter(s) etc available at our archive

www.cmaguild.org/picts.html

Contents
Programs
Program Review
Meeting Report
Member News

Announcements
Calls for Entries
Web Stuff
Meeting Times

Programs Go back to contents

July 13, 2010 - GENERAL MEETING PROGRAM
"Swap Meet"

Nobody's written a new Swap Meet program announcement so we're basically going with this two(three?)-year old one. One of the first things I ever put together for digital CMAG comms. On the old email blast. My relationship to the Swap Meet is conditioned by it generally being the next day after we get home from the fair. I never get much together for it except cash. This year I might try some magic fair dust, which I'll shake off my boots for a nominal fee. Bring your own vial. And something for me to buy.

ANNUAL SWAP MEET ! ... MAKE MONEY! CLEAN OUT YOUR STUDIO! FIND TREASURES! ... FIND THE UNEXPECTED! FIND BARGAINS! HAVE FUN!

Round up your unwanted/unneeded supplies, tools, and stones and sell them at our Annual Swap Meet. That odd something (or piece of something), the one that you can’t remember why or where you got it, could be just the thing someone else has been searching for. Leave no stone unturned. Your castaway may be someone else’s treasure.

August: Studio Tour / Demo & Potluck Dinner

OREGON CITY - Tuesday August 10th
Lyn Simon - Grinding & Texturing Techniques
Potluck Dinner begins at 6:30pm
Meeting & Program 7-9pm

Lyn ‘draws’ with power tools - disc grinders, orbital
sanders, twisted-wire brush attachments, flap disks,
sandpaper, brillo pads.... anything that ‘scritches’. CMAG Members only, please.

Sept: Collaborations: Working with other guilds to create art and connections.

OK, so I kind of got a late start planning this program and not everything is set in stone yet, but my procrastination turned out to be fortuitous because at the last Guild Council meeting, we were presented with an exciting opportunity for the guilds to work together on collaborative pieces that tie in with an upcoming retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Crafts. Our program meeting will be the first step in the process, where you will find out more and give feedback. This will be followed by an all-guild potluck and meeting at the Museum.

I have also been talking with Dana Cassara, the president of the Seattle Metals Guild, and she is very interested in speaking with us about their annual symposium in October, the SNAG Conference in 2011, and other ways our guilds can work together.

Program ReviewGo back to contents

Asian Art-Symbolism, June, 2010
presented by Dawn Odell

Dawn organized her presentation thematically, which constituted a rare and edifying occasion for our crowd and worth the price of admission in itself. This is doubtless how they do it up at Lewis and Clark where she has a day job. The exceptional slide show (power point!? should I say) was not so much interrupted by the truculent MAC video equipment as softened by it which this reporter found harmonious to the theme. That being to trace the transformations in the art expressions of Buddhism as it traveled the Silk Road from the masculine and Greekish traditions of India to the more feminized styles of China. The slide were gorgeous, numerous and to the point and Dawn was most personable in her talk and also in sharing her expertise in the following anarchic eruption we like to call a question and answer session, CMAG style. Wayne

General Meeting ReportGo back to contents

Report of CMAG General Meeting June 2010

Board Meeting

Member: Lyn presented the annual return postage membership renewal form slash print newsletter slash nag rag for board review and it got informally approved and we got ours here at the Acton mansion and I sent it back already so I could print that here an not lie. Journalist code. Do you know where your renewal form is?

Elect: A slate of candidates for the board election was devised for the general meeting vote consisting in the traditional one comrade per position and if you want more democracy than that you'll have to fill a ballot slot yourself.

Steerers: The Spring Show Steering Committee, which is also volunteer and self starting and has been working for a while already was formally appointed by the board so they can start spending your money. The newly official members are Greg Wilbur, Tami Dean, Debra Carus and Heather Schiffke.

General Meeting
Visitors: In a tip of the Guild Cap to motherhood and babysitting, the program reviewed above actually preceded the General Meeting. Worked out fine but I didn't get any visitors recorded.

Elections: The members unanimously accepted the Soviet-style ballot. Officers are Bruce McKay, prexy; Daniel Baca, veep; Ken Patton, sectry; Barb Covey, Treas; Wayne Acton, Lyn Simon, E&S Lovejoy, at large.

Membership: RENEW! RENEW! RENEW! Form is at this link if you misplace the annual return postage membership renewal form slash print newsletter slash nag rag: cmaguild.org/newmembershipform.pdf

Spring Show: Tami Dean made the startling announcement that our usual room(s) won't be available and plans are hatching to move to a large exhibit hall with some other guilds. This comes from the Convention Center, so not first choice exactly and so got discussed fully but with generally positive attitude. Also, as with all CMAG's volunteer efforts, the sooner commitments are known, the better things move forward. So if you already know you'll be doing the 2011 show, let the Steerers know early at Tami's email tde_studio88@verizon.net

Programs: The August meeting (this is the one after the next, okay? after the Swap Meet) in NOT GOING TO BE AT THE ART CENTER. It's goin to be at Lyn Simon's house in Oregon City, see programs above. After that come back to MAC for Guilds of NW by Mandy in Sept. , Tudor Rose Earrings by Wayne in Oct. & Old and New Showcase by Everybody in Nov. Then it's Xmas.

Library:Hobbs said she's going to try to make a list of our extensive library materials sort of like a catalogue which sounds like a good idea but also sounds like the sort of work where some data entry assistance would be sublime.

Q & A: With numerous CMAG experts in attendance, Hobbs was able to initiate an intense discussion of the correct evaluation of diamond mêlée. Which apparently ended the meeting or at least my notes. Respectfully submitted, Wayne

Member NewsGo back to contents

President's Message
By Bruce McKay

This Month’s message is mostly unimportant info on an important topic for me – Diamonds. The current rise in conflict Diamonds is a matter of deep concern for our industry but I am going to write on the fun physical aspects, not the disturbing political aspects of this unique gem.

When light hits the interior or exterior surface of a diamond or glass or water, etc, it either bounces off (reflects) or passes through (refracts) the surface. The exact angle at which the light beam changes from reflecting off a surface to refracting through the surface is the refractive index. Technically, the refractive index is the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction. The exact number for Diamond is 2.417, Emerald is 1.57, Zircon is 1.81, with each type of gemstone having a unique Refractive index which can be used in gem identification.

Diamonds are cut so a light beam enters the top, travels through the Diamond to the bottom, reflects off the interior surfaces, bounces back up to the top, refracts out of the top surface and becomes the beauty of the Diamond. Diamonds return more light back out the top of the stone than any other natural gem, 75% or more.

Gemological Institute of America studies have shown that light does not always travel quickly in and out of a Diamond. Sometimes it gets stuck bouncing around inside before escaping, as many as several hundred bounces before finally getting out.
When light enters a Diamond the tight Carbon molecular structure is so dense that it actually slows the speed of light. Light slows from 186,282.4 miles per second to only 77,500 miles per second.

Why is all this important to us? Let’s say that you are trying to sell a Diamond that is a little duller than normal, kind of a sleepy stone that not even fancy lighting can help. Tell your customer all these important facts I have gone over here, especially the sine of the angle stuff. Then with the facts behind you, you can explain how the light got stuck inside the Diamond, and at the slow speed it is moving it will take a while to get out. Assure them that once they get home, it will be a really sparkly Diamond once again.

As for CMAG business, please come to the next meeting which will be our Annual Swap Meet, the most fun meeting of the year. Bring things to sell or swap. See you there!

Sunstone Adventures
From Randy Rasmussen

CMAG members Joe Apodaca and Randy Rasmussen went digging Oregon's state gemstone, the sunstone, at a private claim in the high desert near Plush in mid-June. Joined by Joe's jeweler nephew, Michael Devlin,

the group sifted through buckets and buckets of dirt dug from ground looking for the crystals. In the area where they were digging, the best quality stones they found contained a beautiful copper schiller but the predominant material was clear or somewhat yellow. Elusive colored stones were said to be another 4-6 feet underground but in the two days they had for digging, those stones were safe from discovery. They capped their trip with a visit the Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge, bathing in the hot waters of a rustic hot springs and discovering an abundance of wild flowers (after a very wet spring).

up left Shows Joe at work screening with the dig in the background
up right Shows some of the stones that have the copper schiller
mid right Shows a stone that all came out a crystal pocket
low left Sunstone digging is hard work and just imagine digging down another 4-6 feet looking for colored stones
low mid Shows the main hot pings pool at the campground in the Hart Mountain National Antelope refuge
low right Shows a lovely flower that grew in the gravel (haven't looked for an identity on it yet).

All photos copyright 2010 Randy L. Rasmussen

CMAG LIBRARY'S CORNER
By Hobbs Wells

Japanese Patinas by Eitoku Sugimori

You thought you were busy getting ready for the spring show? How is your garden looking? Mine was looking a bit wintry! Summer took it's time getting here this year, and as a result, I delayed getting out in the garden to do the yearly clean-up and planting. But, the weather is perfect for gardening right now. Even if it's still a bit on the cool side, the plants in the garden seem to love it. So, after a few days to tend the garden, I find it's time to tend to the CMAG Library's Corner!

The CMAG Library's Corner brings you this photo essay about getting your garden planted, meeting commitments, and being a day late, and probably a dollar short too, in getting a book report to the CMAG newsletter maestro, Wayne Acton. Speaking of dollars, it's a good time for me to make out the check for my CMAG membership dues, fill out the form, and mail them both away in the SASE I just got from CMAG! Just as soon as I spell check this and hit send!

The book, Japanese Patinas, by Eitoku Sugimori, is one of the most popular, recently added, additions to the CMAG Library holdings. It has been checked out since day one, for long periods, to a few of our members. Luckily, I have my own personal copy to review for this report! One of our members, Lee Haga, has work featured in this book.

If you are interested in checking this book out from the CMAG Library, let the librarian know at the next CMAG meeting you attend. It looks like we'll need a waiting list for this book!

This book covers traditional Japanese patina recipes, such as one using grated Daikon radish, and provides recipes to make many more, some using common household chemicals, like ammonia and table salt. There are stunning photographs of work by many artists working in hollow and decorative ware, sculpture and jewelry, to provide examples of different patinas.

The photographs of the book sent with this email speak eloquently of why this book is so popular!

See you at the next CMAG meeting, on the second Tuesday of the month - July 13th - for the members' annual swap meet and sale!

Calls For EntriesGo back to contents

Enameling Workshop- back by demand
presented by Alma Rands

In response to a number of requests for another cloisonné enameling workshop, I am planning on holding one late August, or early September.

It will be an intensive two day workshop and will be geared toward beginning enamellists, as well as those who want a refresher course. The fee will be my usual $75, and will include all enameling supplies (enamels, metals, etc.). and my special gourmet soup. Participants will need to bring small (very very small jars with lids plus a few other items such as tweezers, pliers, scissors, files, etc.. A complete list of supplies and details will be sent to those who are interested.

Those who took the ferric chloride etching workshop with me and are interested in doing champleve, are welcome to join. However, in order to save time, they will need to bring their already etched copper pieces (no larger than around 2" or 3" in diameter. Full information will be provided them well enough in advance of the workshop so that they can do etching that is suitable for champleve.

If you are interested send me an email, arands@comcast.net so that I can get an idea of how many would like to take the workshop. As I want to be able to give individual attention to each person, I am limiting the number of participants to 6. If more than that indicate being interested, I will hold 2 sessions.

OCAC Workshop
sent by Kristin Shiga

There's still room in this workshop taught by internationally-known metalsmith Keith Lewis at Oregon College of Art and Craft! Low-Tech Die Forming (ME704) Wednesday through Sunday, July 14-18 (5 sessions), 9:00AM-4:00PM Cost (including tuition and studio fee) $405 *Also available for credit

Die forming permits the creation of complex three-dimensional forms from sheet metal without the use of casting, electroforming or traditional pitch-supported chasing and repoussé techniques. Die-forming enables artists to work "in-the-round" while avoiding the weight problems associated with casting or the extensive equipment and the chemical hazards associated with electroforming. This workshop will focus on the production of hollow, lightweight forms suitable for jewelry or small vessels, with an emphasis on low-tech methods which utilize common shop equipment and studio tools. Students will learn to produce a wood or Masonite die from a Plasticine model, make a range of simple wood and Delrin forming tools and create the two halves of a complex "in-the-round" form without the use of pitch, conforming dies or a hydraulic press. No prerequisite. Location: Metals Studio

KEITH LEWIS, INSTRUCTOR
Keith is currently CWU Distinguished Professor in the Department of Art at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. His work has been widely published and shown both nationally and internationally, and is represented in a number of significant public and private collections. In addition to his work as an artist and teacher, he has also written for a number of publications including Metalsmith, New Art Examiner and Artweek and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG) and of the Metalsmith magazine Editorial Advisory Board. Keith is our 2010 Senior Artist-in-Residence in Metals. MFA, Kent State University

To download the entire spring schedule of workshops and classes, visit
ocac.edu/downloads/catalogs_schedules/SS_Summer10_schedule.pdf
To submit your registration online via our secure site, go to
ocaccms.net/machform/view.php?id=29

On the WebGo back to contents

SNAG FlipBook

Last month Jean Savarese, who is the advertising director for METALSMITH + SNAG Website + SNAG News, sent me a notice about advertising at their venues which I either didn't have time or space to include. However, it has this link to this totally rad online widgetgimmickthingy they call their latest issue in FlipBook version.

I don't think you can get it big enough to actually read, I expect you're sposed to buy the mag for that, but you can look at the pics and have fun trying to trick the algorithm into half-turning the page.

snagmetalsmith.org/flipping_book/vol30_no3/ed/

The deadline for the ad offer passed on June 25 but I bet they'll have more. You can contact Jean at:

Jean Savarese
Advertising Director
METALSMITH + SNAG Website + SNAG News
Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG)
413.585.8478

METALSMITH mission statement: The mission of METALSMITH magazine is to document, analyze, and promote excellence in jewelry and metalsmithing. In fulfillment of the goal of producing a significant document of the field, editorial content will emphasize contemporary activities and ideas, with supportive content to include relevant historical work and critical issues.

Meeting AnnouncementsGo back to contents

MONTHLY MEETINGS & PROGRAMS
General Meeting

WHEN: General CMAG member meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month. Door opens at 6:45pm, meetings begin at 7:15pm, and adjourn by 9:15pm.

WHERE: Room 34 at the Multnomah Arts Center, 7688 SW Capitol Highway Portland 97219.

WHAT: Meetings consist of a general business and a short break with refreshments, followed by a program which may be a demonstration of a technique or tool, a slide presentation, a panel discussion, or other presentation of interest to CMAG members. The CMAG Library is open before the meeting and during the break for checking out books and magazines.

WHO: Meetings are open to CMAG members and their guests.

Board Meeting
Before the general meeting ... at MAC ... in room 33 ... starts at 6 pm.

CMAG Webpage