Mokume Gane Workshop Review by Erin Proctor

Back in February MASSC had the pleasure to present a Mokume Gane workshop taught by Anne Wolf at the studio she and her wife Ame run, aptly named Anneville Studio, which is located in beautiful San Diego, CA on the grounds of the historic Liberty Station.

Barracks 15

Over the course of the 2-day workshop Anne lead our group on a journey into the world of Mokume Gane chisel patterning, which was explained to be the more traditional patterning technique and proved to be both challenging and rewarding. 

 

Workshop

The first day was all about laying out the desired patten onto our Mokume sheets, setting up the piece in a pitch bowl filled with a special handmade batch Japanese pitch (for which we all got the recipe for later!) and then, using custom chisels that Anne made herself, carefully tap tap tapping our way through our metal, hoping to reach just the right depth to reveal the marvelous layers of brass, copper and silver that made up our sheets. After class we all met for dinner and got to know each other little better. I have to say that is was a great group of people at all different skill levels, and all with interesting stories to share. 

wood

The next day participants had the choice of working on their pieces more, or take the opportunity to make their very own chisel! Anne made this challenging process so accessible and easy to understand with the help of these giant sized wooden chisel models that a friend had made for her, which I imagined would also prove handy should a vampire ever show up and try to get a little too familiar! 

Samples

Anne and Ame were such kind and fun hosts, and I think its safe to say that the whole group learned a ton and had a great time. I am anxious for things to start opening up again so that we can get back down to San Diego for another workshop soon!

Anneville Logo

Visit annevillestudio.com for more information about their upcoming classes and events!

~ Erin Proctor

Former Vice President / Program Chair

Current Board Member at Large

massc.vp@gmail.com