April 26th & 27th 2025 : Brilliant Bangles Jewelry Making Workshop (BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE)

2 Day Intensive Workshop
*all classes meet at Katie's jewelry studio in Greenville, South Carolina

Saturday & Sunday April 26th & 27th, 2025 from 9am-5pm.

Brilliant Studded Bangles!

In this course, students will each make a bangle bracelet adorned with flush set and/or bezel set stones.  Beginner students will focus on basic forming, soldering, and flush setting, while advanced students with prior bezel setting experience will be permitted to include additional bezel set stone(s) into their pieces.  Techniques covered over this weekend course will include: 

• Working on curved forms: students will gain practice and strategies for working on domed or curved surfaces.
• Simple forming:   students will become familiar with simple ways to form bangles
• Soldering:  students will learn to solder more complex projects with multiple seams.  They will learn strategies to aid in planning as well as to encourage success while working on larger and more complex pieces.  
• Flush Setting:  students will learn to appropriately size and set faceted stones into the surface of metal.
• *(optional) Bezel Setting on a curve: Advanced students with prior bezel setting experience can elect to include a more complicated larger stone setting on their bangles.  Katie will teach advanced students how to make a bezel on a curve, and/or how to create a seat for a faceted stone. 

Students may work in copper and/or brass or sterling silver (or a combination of these materials).  Silver is highly recommended for wearability. 

The class fee includes the cost of copper and/or brass, but not silver and gemstones.  Sterling is sold to each student individually and the cost is weight based, so each student's fee is different depending on how much silver their projects utilize.  Typical costs for a student in this course average around $50-$90 per class, but can increase if students prefer to work large and exclusively in silver or if they select costly gemstone(s).   A selection of inexpensive semi-precious stones will be offered for students to choose from during class, but students are welcome to provide their own stones if they prefer.  

Prerequisite: Some prior silversmithing experience is helpful, including proficiencies in sawing, soldering, and bezel setting. 

This class will be adapted for beginners with no experience, although bezels will not be covered due to time constraints.  Beginners will learn all of the basic techniques required to complete a bangle, but will be limited to flush settings only.

Workshop Cancellation Policy:

Student Cancellation:
Due to the small class sizes and demand for each seat, if you are unable to attend a class for any reason, please notify Katie as soon as possible to allow another student to register for the class. 

Please note, we cannot offer refunds for student cancellations, but we can offer credit to be applied toward a future workshop based on the time frame in which you have notified us of your cancellation.

• Please notify us at least 72 hours prior to the workshop date and time for full credit towards another workshop.
• Less than 72 hours notice from class date and time, you will receive a 50% credit towards another workshop.
• If cancelled within 24 hours of workshop or if you are a no-show to class, we cannot offer any refund or class credit.  

*While extenuating circumstances happen from time to time and will be overlooked -- Katie reserves the right to unenroll and/or prevent future enrollments from any student that exhibits repeated cancellations.  Students who habitually enroll and then cancel, particularly at the last minute, may not be allowed to enroll in future classes, as this creates scheduling problems for everyone and often results in total cancellation of a class.  


Low-Enrollment Cancellation:
Workshop cancellations are decided three days before the start date. In the rare event that Katie must cancel a workshop due to insufficient enrollment, currently enrolled students will have the option to have the entire class fee refunded or held as credit for future workshops.

Age limitation:
This class is appropriate for students aged 16+, however students aged 9-16 may be permitted if a parent is also taking the class.