Cool Stuff in Your Bedroom Slippers

No matter the weather, here are 3 news-free dives into the big, wide world that you can access from the comfort of your own space and in your fluffy bunny slippers (or maybe steel-toed slippers if you’re in the studio). Spoiler alert: keep reading for a surprise!

Cool place #1

The unparalleled Rauni Higson recently gave a free online workshop on Anticlastic Forming to highlight what she covers in her upcoming course Foundations of Anticlastic Raising, what it is, how it happens, what’s with the name, what you need to do it (spoiler alert-not much!), and, at the end, how she teaches the topic online. This is the last time she’ll run this course for quite a while, so catch it while you can.

Anticlastic raising is at the forefront of metal forming, and its possibilities are literally endless. I’ve taken this course from Rauni and can promise you won’t find this detailed level of extensive information with support like hers anywhere else online.

Anticlastic & Eastern repoussé ladle by Judi Schwartz (3:4 view); This was hammered from a single sheet of sterling silver! This is what Judi created after studying with both Rauni and me and combining the techniques.

Cool place #2

Dr. Colleen Darnell at the Temple of Abu Simbel

Fancy a trip to the past, hosted by a brilliant (and glamorous) scholar? If you join Egyptologist Dr. Colleen Darnell’s mailing list, you will find a world of in-depth webinars and lectures in a variety of topics on ancient Egypt. These subjects go well beyond the usual “Egypt is the gift of the Nile” style TV documentary and cover topics normally only open to graduate students but in a highly accessible, affordable, and enjoyable format.

If you sign up for her newsletter, you can get links to some of the free courses she offers, hear about her new courses, and get dispatches from the field when she’s working in Egypt.

I was particularly thrilled to learn in Colleen’s Jokes, Fun, and Games in Ancient Egypt course that I’m not only one who’s painted a nemes headdress wearing mouse driving a chariot; there is ancient precedent in an Egyptian papyrus! Since I haven’t yet photographed that illumination, I’m sharing my 1920’s tourist mouse instead.

Egyptian Tourist at Luxor Temple by Victoria Lansford

Full disclosure: I’m currently in Colleen’s course on reading hieroglyphs in my non existent spare time. I multitask watching the sessions while hammering the current large, Eastern repoussé copper panel below. It’s a mind bender, so I watch most sessions twice, but they come with the added bonus of seeing which of her amazing vintage couture outfits she’s wearing. I keep hoping one of her basenjis will make a cameo appearance too.

Cool Place #3

Flame Navigation, copper Eastern repoussé wall panel; WIP - the first round of chasing to refine my shapes — Flame Navigation, copper Eastern repoussé wall panel; WIP – the first round of chasing to refine my shapes

And finally, I’m offering Beginning & Intermediate Eastern Repoussé for the first time in 4 years. Discover how to hammer in relief literally any shape or design you can imagine. This course takes you from the basics of abstracted design through to animal or human portraiture.

It’s also the foundation you’ll need for my more advanced Eastern Repoussé courses on undercutting for florals and foliage, micro-chasing for beads and pens, Eastern repoussé rings and cuff bracelets, and Mirrored Forms.

Though I no longer offer Beginning & Intermediate Eastern Repoussé as often now, over the past 3 decades, I’ve taught and mentored thousands of students, and I’ve seen them go from absolute chasing beginner to inspiringly accomplished metalsmiths. I’ve also helped so many people break the cycle of fear and frustration left over from other chasing and repoussé courses that were too formulaic.