NEW EMAIL
Kristin has a brand new email! Please update your address books, contact lists, computers, ipads, mobile devices, gps, etc.:

info@kristindiener.com

Please delete any old email addresses you have for Kristin.
And don't forget to add kristindiener.com to your contacts list.

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Portrait of Kristin in her studio with torch, pictured at left, is by Karen Kuehn.  For more photos of the photo shoot in the Diener studio, click here.

MARIPOSA GALLERY
Kristin's show of New Work at the wonderful Mariposa Gallery in Albuquerque is scheduled for the First Friday of October 2013 and her work is available on an ongoing basis. 

To the left is a detail of Florine's Dream: Florine Stettheimer and Montana Yellowstone River Agate: Necklace with Handmade Chain, delivered to Mariposa Gallery for their 2013 Valentine's Day Show.  For full views (front and back) and more information on materials, click here. 

ON BODY AND SOUL: CONTEMPORARY ARMOR TO AMULETS
The exhibit, in conjunction with publication of the book, On Body and Soul: Contemporary Armor to Amulets, will open in March 2014 in Memphis, Tennessee at the National Metal Museum.  From there it will travel to various venues for a year.

ARTIST/INSTRUCTOR/EXHIBITOR
Thomas Mann's Jewelry School, studioFLUX:
Halloween & Dia de los Muertos Found Object Festival: New Orleans LA  
Kristin will be an instructor in a series of workshops along with an exhibition offered as a Found Object Festival celebrating Halloween & Dia de los Muertos, in conjunction with Art for Art's Sake, New Orleans's City Wide Arts Celebration. The festivities begin in October 2013 and continue throughout the month.

DIENER STUDIO STUDENT HOLIDAY TRUNK SHOW
The 2nd Annual Diener Studio Student Holiday Trunk Show, held in December 2012, was a smashing success with twelve participants showing and selling work and some much appreciated support from the incomparable Maggie Greenberg, some fancy camera work from Kim Florio, and the use of Tom's beautiful home!

Want to know who was there? Wondering what kind of work was shown? Disappointed you couldn't make it? Don't be, because you can view a slideshow of the Trunk Show here.

FIONA'S WORKSHOP
Fiona spent two days sawing, filing, hammering, soldering, etching, manipulating metal and cold connecting and voila! elegant and beautiful jewelry.
Check out a photo slideshow from her private workshop and learn more about her and her work here.

CHELI MENTORSHIP
Cheli recently did an Albuquerque Public School Mentorship in the Diener Studio to learn traditional silversmithing techniques with an emphasis on bezel fabrication and stone setting, and emerged with some really outstanding work.
Learn more about Cheli and view some of her gorgeous work here.

PRIVATE CLASS AND OPEN STUDIOS WITH JOSH
Josh, an art and engineering student on break from Carnegie-Mellon, took a private class with Kristin to learn silver soldering techniques.
See his work here.

SHELLEY'S PRIVATE CLASS
Shelley created a ring using classical silversmithing techniques in a Private Introduction to Silversmithing class with Kristin.
See the process here.

YOUTH CLASSES
Youth classes, ages 13 - 17, are now available for registration through UNM. For more information about the Spring 2013 schedule, click here.
To arrange a private youth class or to learn more, please send an email to info@kristindiener.com.

Classes, workshops, private instruction, and open studio continue throughout the 2013 Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter sessions. Open studio hours are available for those who have taken the Beginning Jewelry/Metals class and are interested in using the Diener Studio equipment, tools, and facility to create their own work in a positive, comfortable, and safety-minded environment. Saws, acetylene torch, silver solder, flux, foredom flex shaft, kiln, enameling tools, buffing machine, rolling mill, hammers, disc cutter, chasing and dapping tools are among the equipment available for use. For more information about upcoming open studio times or specialty equipment and materials available, please send an email to info@kristindiener.com.

INSTRUCTOR VIDEOS
Check out two new videos, from UNM Continuing Education, that feature Kristin. The Instructor Bio follows Kristin's educational background in metalsmithing on through her years as a teacher and successful artist. The second video, Jewelry and Metals with Kristin Diener, provides an overview of what the prospective student can expect in her beginning classes as well as the continuing classes at UNM. She discusses the techniques and methods used in the studio that allow students to successfully facilitate a finished piece of metalwork.
View the videos here.

ENAMELING WORKSHOPS
Enameling has arrived in the Diener Studio! Enameling is the colorful result of fusing powdered glasses to metal with high heat, forming a durable vitreous coating. The countless approaches to applying enamel to metal and the finished result offer a technique for every level of design. No previous metalworking experience necessary.
For more information about the Spring 2013 schedule for Enameling, click here.

MY PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY GRAIL OF ENAMELS:  THOMPSON ENAMEL
When I decided to buy enamels and enameling equipment in order to offer Enameling classes through my studio, i remembered the name "Thompson Enamel" from my very first jewelry class, all the way through Graduate School.  In Boston, where i taught enameling, I ordered all enamels and supplies from Thompson Enamel.  In my current research, contacting contemporary enamel artists, voila!  It's still Thompson Enamels going strong!

I traveled to Bellevue Kentucky in October of 2012 to take an Enameling class from Thompson Enamels.  I figured I would go to the literal source of enamel making for my professional/creative development.  Tom Ellis, a master of enamels and enameling who has taught independently as well as at Thompson Enamels, has worked with Thompson Enamel to create some of the enamels and very products he uses and teaches.  I got to brush up on sifting, firing, wet inlay, application of silver foil, mixing colors by layering, stencil, sgraffito, simple cloisonne, embossing thin copper for enamel application, torch firing, use of lusters, transferring images, etc, and to view and participate in an enameling studio layout and operation.

Thompson Enamel has been a manufacturer of vitreous (consisting of glass) enamel for metal for over 120 years.  Since about 1985, Thompson Enamel has been the only manufacturer of jewelry enamel in the Western Hemisphere.  Enamel comes in a number of forms: lump, string, liquid, and powder, as well as in the optical qualities of transparent, opaque, and opalescent.

A Brief History of Thompson Enamel:
Coming from Coventry, England where he made enamels and dials for clocks and watches, in about 1882 William Marlowe, was urged by Elgin National Watch Company of Elgin, Illinois, to come to the United States to make enamels for their plant.  With William Marlowe's enameling knowledge and his American son-in-law, Thomas C. Thompson's knowledge, they developed the manufacture of enamels in the United States, and went to Elgin and made enamels there.  In 1890,  Thomas C. Thompson elected to go into business for himself.  In 1981, Woodrow Carpenter of the Ceramic Coating Co, purchased the 100-year-old enameling business of the Thomas C. Thompson Co. of Chicago and made it the artistic enameling arm of CCC.  Woodrow Carpenter, now in his mid-90s is still in charge.  Art enamelists from all around the world order enamels from Thompson, because the company has streamlined the processes for students and teachers to examine and purchase enamels for artistic applications.  Since about 1985, Thompson Enamel has been the only manufacturer of jewelry enamel in the Western Hemisphere.

Fast forward to 2013!  Thompson Enamel is located in Bellevue, KY, a town on the Ohio River just a bridge away from Cincinnati Ohio.  It is still the quintessential quality enamel and enameling product manufacturer in and for the United States, with jewelry supply giants such as Rio Grande, featuring them in their catalog.

To learn more about Thompson Enamels and their excellent enamel product (used in the Diener Studio), click here.

newsletter@kristindiener.com  •  KRISTIN DIENER

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