My week at William Holland School of Lapidary Arts

What a wonderful week I had at William Holland School of Lapidary Arts! As always, a lot of rock hounds and some fabulous jewelry and stones to admire throughout the week.  This year, I took a wire wrapping class. I've dabbled a bit, but really wanted to learn the right way rather than just figuring things out bit by bit, and possibly develop "bad habits" in my wire work, as my teacher called them.  The photo above was from the show at the end of the week. All students from all classes present what they have done for the week, and every year I am amazed at some of the work I see.  


Now, you must understand, the average age of participants (teachers and students) at the school is probably in the 70's (yes, 70 years old).  I was amazed that the photography teacher that week was apparently in his 90's based on his participation in WWII and his business ventures in Cuba. Needless to say, I always meet lots of new friends with interesting stories from their lives. At first glance, some would look right over these people of other generations, but wow! I love soaking in the gems of wisdom I get when I am there. This includes jewelry information of course, but just the wisdom and life experiences are worth the trip alone. The instructors donate their time to the school and I can't say enough thank you's to this group for their dedication to teaching others and passing on their crafts.


The week had the usual events, including the auction on Tuesday. Everyone is encouraged to donate items for this auction each week, and the proceeds go to buy new equipment such as rock saws, torches, and other jeweler's equipment.  I donated a bottle of my home made wine, and purchased several items including some home bottled honey from a new friend who lives near Nashville. Good ol' Tennessee clover honey. Seems like a fair trade, since I used half of the honey to sweeten my current batch of honey wine :-)


As far as the class, I learned to wrap regular cabochons (flat back, rounded stones) as well as some odd-shaped items, three new bracelet designs, a wrapped ring, and some great earrings as well.   Even better, the teacher gave us plenty of ideas and inspiration to take the designs and change them up to make them our own.  Her motto  is simple but inspirational: there are no mistakes, only new designs (or something to that effect anyway).  It gives you a little hope when you think you've messed up on something.


If you ever want a little getaway with mountains and no blaring TV's (there are about 2 TV's in the place) plus the chance to try a new skill, William Holland is the place. Are you a beginner? That's ok, they will take you under their wings and help you work your way through it!