Ryan ChartrandSpring quarter is a time to relax, soak up some rays and show some skin, so why not complement that tan with some homemade jewelry, a souped-up bike or a hand-shaped surfboard?
Registration for the Craft Center’s spring quarter classes – six weeks of instructional courses taught by Cal Poly students – begins today. Prices vary according to the specific class, ranging from $30 to $50.
A quarterly studio pass is also available for purchase for experienced crafters who need little to no supervision or guidance. Unlike the more expensive classes, students with this pass have open access to equipment and tools in one or more of the studio’s areas.
Manufacturing engineering senior Adam Wegener has taught at the Craft Center for almost three years and will teach a beginning ceramics class this quarter on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
He said with ceramics, students can take something from the earth and make it into everyday objects.
“Very rarely do people get the chance to go through that whole process of creation, where you start with nothing and then you go through these steps that you learn in my class and you make something that you can keep for the rest of your life,” he said.
In his class, students can learn basic steps to make mugs, bowls and plates on the pottery wheel. Wegener hopes students will take the skills they learn in the six-week period and continue to pursue the hobby afterward.
Mechanical engineering senior Kevin Sill will teach jewelry smithing this quarter on Wednesdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on Thursdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“It is an incredibly fun class,” he said, wearing a necklace adorned with three shades of metal. “We start with metal sheet and metal wire and hit it with hammers, bend it and shape it, and drill holes in it. Then the most interesting thing we do is learn how to silver-solder it together.”
He said the class works in a fun, interactive environment and learns a skill that few people have.
Once students learn the basics, they can connect different metals together to create pendants, rings, small statues or really anything, he said. Plus, “it’s all made of metal, so it’s permanent and impressive,” he added.
Architecture senior Victoria Ciesiul has taught classes with metal and jewelry for three years at the Craft Center and will teach jewelry casting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. this quarter. She has also taken several jewelry classes in the art department.
In her class, students learn how to shape jewelry out of wax and then put that wax in a plaster mold. Students melt out the wax to make a void in the plaster to be filled with molten metal.
“So it’s a really fun process because we get to melt metal and watch it shoot into this plaster mold,” she said.
Students can make pendants, rings, earrings, bracelets or figurines. Last quarter, Ciesiul encouraged students to incorporate stones or beads into their molds in hopes of making the jewelry a little more exciting. She said she’ll continue to encourage students to do this once again during spring quarter.
“People have been coming up with really cool stuff from that,” she said, after describing a previous student’s ring with a piece of jade on the back, modeled after his pet snake.
Kinesiology senior Matt Ishler will teach bike repair in his Build a Beater Bike class this quarter. He will also teach a custom skateboard deck-making class, and beginning and intermediate glassblowing courses. All classes will take place in the evening.
In the Build a Beater Bike class, offered Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., students can bring in any bike to work on. “We work on everything – your $10 garage-sale special to fixed-gear bikes,” he said, his greased hands showing commitment to bike excellence.
Students learn the ins and outs of bikes and how to do repair work that would normally cost about $200 to $250 at a bike shop, he said. While in his class, students learn how to do this work on their own, “which is badass, more or less,” he said.
In his intermediate glassblowing class, which is rarely offered, students learn more advanced glass techniques; the class is recommended for people who have already taken the beginning class.
Industrial engineering senior Tim Sleeper will teach a surfboard-shaping class this quarter. In the course, students start by picking out a blank Styrofoam board and then follow the steps all the way through shaping the board.
The class doesn’t cover glassing the board, which makes it hard, or painting it, but Sleeper said he’ll assist students with both of these processes.
Aerospace engineering graduate student Seth Silva will teach woodworking this quarter, both an introductory course and an “extreme” class. In the introductory class, he will ask students what they want to make and then proceed to help them.
“It’s going to give people the opportunity to be creative,” he said.
He said the extreme woodworking class, “if anything, will be extremely cool.”
Silva is also thinking about teaching a custom framing class in which students can take a picture they really love and make a frame around it so as to become part of the picture.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s definitely worthwhile,” he said, adding that satisfaction comes from making something by hand as opposed to purchasing it at a store.