What a FANTASTIC weekend – artBLISS had the honor of hosting Richard Salley  for the 3rd time.  We have been very fortunate.  This time the icing on the cake was that his wonderful assistant, Martina Stein, also taught a class!

It felt like a reunion – meeting old friends and new.  A few ladies even traveled from South Carolina and Utah to be there.  A real gathering of soul sisters.  Then came the workshops:  Bits and Pieces, Sawing 101, Southwestern Rings and Balance Beam bangle.  I know we all learned a great deal from the metal master, Richard Salley.

I’ve enjoyed seeing the many workshop photos on Facebook.  Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend!

Richard Salley demonstrating in the Bits and Pieces class.

Top L to R:  Martha Irish, Dia Daniels

Bottom L to R:  Judy Cain, Brianna Wyatt

Student work:  finished Bits and Pieces pendants.  What an array!

I love how my pendant turned out, with all of the layers.  I combined pieces of etched, stamped, and crimped metal.  Oh, and I learned to set a little cab too!

 Friday evening was a nice refresher course with Martina Stein:  Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Saw?

 Martina is an excellent teacher, very patient, and with many life experiences to share.

 Top to bottom:  Tracy Statler, Michelle Timms, and Sally Russick.

A random tool line-up:  what a beautiful site!

 Here Richard is adding flux to a ring band in the Southwestern Rings class.

Making rings, Top to Bottom:   Carol Meyers, Melissa Meman, and

Laura Twiford

Martina helping Bette Brody with her ring.  Everyone received one-on-one assistance when it was needed.

Time to gather for lunch and share stories!  From Left to Right:  Michelle Timms, Melissa Meman, Sally Russick, Laura Twiford,

Bette Brody, Carol Meyers, and Dia Daniels

Hip, Hip, Hooray!  The rings are finished!

 Graduates of the Southwestern Rings class with Richard Salley and Martina Stein

Richard, Martina, Jeannette and I sporting our Southwestern Rings over dinner…..  all created by Richard, except for Jeanette’s!  She finished her own just hours before (top right corner).

Thank you Richard and Martina for a memorable weekend!

And now we’re all looking forward to the next artBLISS event!

– Cindy