Precious opal ring/pendant workshop - St Austell

Name: Precious opal ring/pendant workshop - St Austell
Start: 2024-07-07T10:30:00+01:00
Location: Unit 3, ESAM, Chi Askorrans, PL26 8WE

Schedule

Sun Jul 07 2024 at 10:30 am

UTC+01:00

Location

Unit 3, ESAM, Chi Askorrans, PL26 8WE | St Austell, EN

In this extremely popular and fun 5 hour, small group workshop, you will be making a silver ring (or pendant, if you prefer) with a stunning Opal, mined and extracted from the ever famous Lightning Ridge opal field in New South Wales, Australia. This is a really lovely workshop, where you’ll learn about how opals are formed, the different types of Opal and of course you get to take home an incredible piece of handmade, precious jewellery!
My opals are sourced directly from the miner/land owner and range from crystal opals to black opals and many things in between. One thing's for sure - and that's the incredible quality and play of fire available with a huge selection of opals on offer from which you can choose. These are all high quality natural precious opals. Not a doublet or triplet in sight!
There will also be a selection of opals available which have been mined from the now defunct Mintabie opal region of South Australia. These opals are much harder than many and more durable due to the unique way they are formed. They are also increasingly rare given no further opal can be mined from this region.
You'll be given an introduction to making a unique sterling silver and fine silver ring. Once the basics are covered, you'll set out on the fun part - the making!
During the 5 hours, you will learn to design your own ring from scratch by choosing your Opal and the style of ring you’d like to make; you'll then pierce-saw sterling silver making both the band and back plate for the bezel; you'll closely wrap your opal with fine silver and make a bezel setting, soldering the back plate, fine silver bezel strip and band all together - easier said than done! You'll file, solder, form metal, buff and polish and set your opal with me on hand to help from start to finish. You'll be surprised how much you can learn in 5 hours!
All materials are included in the price - sterling silver, fine silver and of course your opal, as well as all the tools required to make a high quality ring, ready for you to take home with you at the end of the workshop, in a beautiful presentation box.
Tea, coffee, soft drinks and a sandwich lunch are all provided as well as a good dose of fun! Please kindly let me know of any dietary preferences.
We have free parking available, as well as accessible facilities, accessible parking and electric vehicle hook up.
The minimum age for this workshop is 14 due to the use of extreme heat and chemicals and children must be accompanied by a participating adult, please.
£135pp