Steel Champlevé Workshop with Sharon Massey

In this workshop, we will use electrolytic etching to create pattern, imagery, and/or text on mild steel sheet for champlevé. Electrolytic etching is inexpensive to set up and maintain, and is a relatively safe way to etch metal. Steel is a lightweight, inexpensive, and rigid material that can be used in a variety of applications for jewelry or sculptural objects, creating options that aren’t possible with traditional copper enameling. Preparing the steel for enamel and understanding the options for finishing for the surface are critical to working in this alternative material. This workshop is appropriate for all levels of metalsmiths and enamelists.

Sharon Massey lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she is an Assistant Professor of Jewelry and Metals at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Sharon’s jewelry was selected for both Schmuck 2014 and Schmuck 2015 in Munich, Germany. From 2012 to 2015 she served on the board of directors of the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG). Sharon received the Art Jewelry Forum (AJF) Emerging Artist Award in 2009. Images of Sharon’s jewelry have been published in seven books, including The Art of Enameling and Art Jewelry Today 2nd and 3rd Editions. Sharon’s work is included in the collection of the Racine Art Museum in Racine, Wisconsin, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England. Sharon received her BFA from Winthrop University in 1999 and her MFA from East Carolina University in 2006