Monika Heyen of "Silberschmuck Workshop" from Hörstel is the last student to visit Studio "Nevada's Dream" in 2020. She closes this rather gloomy Corona year colorfully. The UV-Resin supplement training was scheduled for today.
 
Just like last week, she travels by train and arrives in Harderwijk at 9.30. There her private driver - my husband Michael - is ready to take her to my studio.
 
Monika has already prepared a ring and a pendant at home.
The activities are therefore limited to coloring, curing and polishing. And that will be ready around 13.00! Okay, what else can we do after lunch? Monika would like to make a hollow bead, you know them, Pandora style. Fun! Then we do that right?!
 
At 16.30 Michael takes her back to the train station and we say goodbye. Next year I will travel to Hörstel to spend a day working with bronze clay together. I'm looking forward to it.
 
Monika, thank you for your commitment and positivity.
​On to a great, creative and above all healthy 2021!

For the first time in years, the prices of Art Clay Silver will be increased. A further reduction was implemented in 2015, but given the increase in silver and gold prices over the period of the past 5 years, unfortunately we cannot lag behind.
 
As of January 1, 2021, Studio “Nevada's Dream” in Harderwijk will implement a structural price increase of
​€ 5,00 per person, for each workshop offered that uses silver clay. The prices of the courses will also be adjusted.
 
Can a workshop Art Clay Silver be called “expensive”? No! After all, you make a beautiful silver piece of jewelry, which in value follows the price of silver. So come and enjoy a day during a workshop, or register for a certified training and become our fellow instructor.
 
I would love to meet you in my studio!
 
 
Henriëtte

Today Monika Heyen of “Silberschmuck Workshop” from Hörstel (Germany) is once again in Harderwijk. She comes for the Kumihimo supplement training. Our neighbor has deployed her plans to collect as many metal clay techniques as possible. Next week she will come for another day, then UV-Resin is next. That day we will color, today we will braid with silver wire.
 
Monika comes by train and Michael picks her up from the station. They both enter the studio at 09.30. First coffee, after all it was quite a trip and because of the Corona measures it is not allowed to eat or drink something on the train.
 
We start the training at 10.00 and I explain the planning and working method. First practice with colored woolen threads. Once the rhythm is in, we switch to shiny silver and Monika braids a beautiful bracelet. A sterling hook and eye closure is attached to the ends. This closure is then elegantly finished with silver clay.
 
Ready to fire, the jewelry is placed on a fiber blanket in the oven and heated at 800 °C for about 30 minutes. After the firing process, the bracelet is polished and tumbled. During these last steps we have a nice chat about our individual plans. After all, I am phasing out, Monika is becoming more and more visible within the world of metal clay. At 17.15 bring her back to the station.

We will meet again next week.
That is, if the Corona measures are not tightened.
Monika, thank you for another nice day.
​Have a great week and see you Saturday the 19th!  

Last year I received the two sisters Miranda and Vincenza for the certified instructor training Level 1. On Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 November they visited Harderwijk again and today they complete the last training day of the 2nd Level.
 
The ladies have not been able to plan a lot of time for working with metal clay in the past year. Last summer, July 1 to be precise, they opened the “Theetuin Driene” in Hengelo (O). That's called having guts and going for it! Absolutely in this Corona time, so full of uncertainty due to imposed measures. Their driven perseverance results in many assignments and reservations. From High Tea to Gift boxes, filled with tasty teas, sweets and savory treats, of course everything To Go. What about delicious fresh oliebollen to usher in the new 2021 on New Year's Eve? Or a workshop Making Cakes and Christmas wreaths with natural materials, or even crochet?
 
A multitude of creativity, in which Art Clay Silver has also conquered a place in the range list. The range of silver clay workshops will soon be even more exclusive, the ladies have learned new additional techniques in recent days. Just take a look at the results of these days.

Dear girls, it was fun again.
Good luck with your beautiful, spacious Theetuin, where people can enjoy, discharge by being creative and designing under expert guidance.
​I will definitely visit you!

Today we complete the training. All required designs are ready, have a look.
You can tell from Monika that these days have had an impact. It was a lot of hours every day and that in addition to an enormous travel time. Because everyone knows: it is autumn, the leaves are falling and that is causing problems for our train system in the Netherlands. A lot of delay, also this weekend.
 
Monika, thank you for your enthusiastic, passionate input. Especially nice that you took so much effort to be able to follow this training. Have a rest, I'll see you in December!

Hi Miranda, there you are again! It has been a year since Miranda van den Broek from Horssen followed the Art Clay Silver Instructor course. She had already wanted to register for the next level - level 2. Personal circumstances demanded her attention, but now she is ready for it.
 
Annemarie is also there these 3 training days and sees this as an “internship”, in anticipation of her new work as a teacher within our network. Miranda and I have a different view of this and are just happy that she is there. Over the years, Annemarie has become sufficiently familiar with metal clay, which has gained her name recognition and not only within the Benelux!
 
And now we enjoy 3 full training days together. Miranda has prepared well. She has already worked out each design with care at home, which poses the question whether it is actually all feasible. I explain that it will work technically, but I cannot promise in advance whether it will be top designs. We simply have to contend with a time limit. Miranda understands this and adjusts her wishes slightly during the days. She would have worked little with metal clay in the past year? It is not noticeable, she effortlessly runs through all projects.

We have lunch together in between. Annemarie has brought her own lunch, for Miranda I have tasty sandwiches and I enjoy my veggie smoothie. All three of us like fresh orange juice, healthy and always tasty, right?!
 
And today we close this training. Unfortunately, it is over. Miranda is going home with 4 beautiful pieces of jewelry and Annemarie has successfully completed her internship, hahaha. And I? I tidy up my studio and prepare everything for the next training.
 
Once at home I write this blog, with a smile I think back to our pleasant hours. Dear girls, thanks!​

Nice, yet another fellow instructor within our Benelux network. May I introduce you? Mirna Breljakovic from Rotterdam. She came to the Netherlands 25 years ago from former Yugoslavia and is a visual sociotherapist by profession. Creative therapy is her specialty. And in addition to that, today also metal clay.
 
Her husband brought her on Saturday morning, this weekend she spent the night in the center of Harderwijk. Mario takes care of the kids and Mirna has a few days off for her new interest. Great right, who wouldn't want this?!
 
We are alone these days. Plenty of space in the studio, an important requirement in these special “Corona” times. And in addition to space, also plenty of undivided attention for the techniques. After the introduction, we start with the 7 designs of this first level. Mirna has already followed a workshop, so she knows the material and this is noticeable. She is clearly ready for a new interpretation of her spare time, metalclay turns out to be a lottery ticket for her.
 
Our conversations confirm her recently discovered passion. How special then again, we have found many similarities too. Not only metalclay, other subjects sound familiar as well. That made these days so special again. And today we close the training days. I proudly show you the jewelry that Mirna has made, take a look.

Last Monday, September 21, Annemarie Klappe from Vollenhove completed her New Mokume-Gane training at Studio “Nevada’s Dream”.
 
This was 1 of a series of courses, for which we made a plan together in November 2019. In the past 9 months she also followed Level 2, Higher, UV-Resin, Kumihimo, Porcelain, Gold, Silver Quilling and Origami Jewelery.
 
Annemarie wanted to become proficient in the majority of the certified (supplement) courses that are offered by the various Teachers under the Craftlines B.V. flag. Her choice to do so arose from the request to become a teacher within the instructor network.

​Shirley de Jong, who works at Craftlines and is the point of contact for colleagues, customers, the manufacturer and suppliers in the field of Metal Clay, offered her this opportunity. And who does not seize such an opportunity? After all, I did that in 2008!
 
And now at the end of 2019 I’ve decided to stop my work as a curriculum Teacher within the Benelux network of certified Art Clay Silver instructors by January 1, 2023. Annemarie will be my successor, will follow in my footsteps from now on and will work alongside me in our region.
 
We have now worked together for quite a few hours and she is ready for the job. You will find a number of designs by Annemarie in this blog.

Annemarie, thanks for the pleasant days.
You have not asked much support from me, you have shown yourself sufficiently skilled in working with Metal Clay over the years.
​We'll see each other for a few “internship days” and then I'll let you go ;-)
 
We will keep in touch, after all, we have a trip to Japan together, right?
Thanks again for everything and especially enjoy everything and everyone around Metal Clay!

Today we complete our first Art Clay Silver Instructor course of 2020. It sounds strange when I say it out loud. What we have had a hectic time. Humanity was hit by the contagious Coronavirus COVID-19 and almost the entire world was locked! The Dutch government also instituted a lockdown, fortunately an intelligent one. For Studio “Nevada's Dream”, this meant no workshops and/or training for 3 months, nor was it responsible.
 
At the beginning of March, Karien van 't Westende from Bergen op Zoom enrolled in the training to become a Certified Art Clay Silver Instructor Level 1. And what was she looking forward to the start that we had planned together for March 30. It was not to be, we had to patiently wait for a relaxation of the control measures. And these finally came in May, a step in the right direction.

And today Karien can be proud of 7 beautiful silver jewelry, all made of Art Clay Silver. She is already skilled in the art of goldsmithing. So an advantage for both. Karien knows exactly how a piece of jewelry can be forged technically and therefore thinks in steps. She uses the correct order to achieve a beautiful design. A technical view is also useful for metalclay.
 
We spend 3 full days together in my studio. No shaking hands and appropriate distance. Easy to do in a space of 65 m2 in total. We get to know each other better between activities. Funny, she is a neighbor of my dear sister Inge Florentinus, the sister of my husband Michael. During the conversations we discover a reasonable number of similarities. How special, our lives have followed a similar path.

And now it is already over. How wonderful it felt to be able to teach again!
I really missed it. The days have flown by.
Dear Karien, thank you for coming, creative input and pleasant chats.
I hope to see you more often to work with silver clay.
That is allowed in Harderwijk and of course also possible in Bergen op Zoom.
Have fun in the world called metal clay!

I am looking forward to it and travel with Renske to Temse on Saturday morning. She is already at my house at 6.30 am, which means that she must have left the high north at 5.30 am. There is no crowds on the way, no traffic jams and we arrive at the workshoproom of “Joc. The Nartist ”inside. Shirley is already there, she spent the night in B&B “De Brug”. That saved her an extra few hours of sleep, because she didn't have to get up early for the ride. Arnolda is also there, nice. In a short time colleagues trickle within.  Once everyone has settled in, Tracey will start with a welcome and explanation of the masterclass for the next 2 days. If we work reasonably well and have enough clay with us, we can even make 2 bracelets?! Hahaha, have I ever had one design ready during a masterclass? Not me! Okay, then get started in good spirits.

Inge has arranged tasty sandwiches for lunch.
I don't really give myself much time to eat.
The work pace is just normal and yet I am already behind.
I’ve some problems with the curves with which the bracelet will be decorated.
These must be rolled out firmly in the clay using a template.
And firm is difficult for me to estimate. I’ve quite a lot of strength in my hands, which means that what is firm to me, for someone else it means super firm, ending with the result: too thin!
At the end of the day I let it go, tomorrow I will fix it further.
Renske, Shirley, Katty and Els are doing well, their bracelets already look beautiful.
I think those of the other ladies too, I will look at them tomorrow.
I’ve a direct view of the work of my nearest neighbors, for a look at the other ladies I have to get up: no time, no sense 😉

It's over again, a super fun weekend in which I learned a lot again.
The upcoming period I will finish both bracelets, I may even make the actual (first) bracelet from scratch. Thanks to everyone for the fun days.
Inge it was again top and hospitable.
Tracey, your masterclasses will always be educational, thanks for sharing these techniques.
Renske, thanks for the lift and sharing the hotel room. Have a safe flight and see you soon!