Plan for a Creative 2024: January-March Classes Open 10/31

Create nature’s most perfect form—the sphere—in glass! After a basic introduction to melting and shaping borosilicate glass, you will complete several marble designs, including the clear gravity marble, the outside twist, the ribbon, or the eyeball. Techniques include hold and cold seals, color pulling, and color application.

In this class, you can make the kind of mold used by model makers, foundries, sculptors, and other professionals. You will learn how plaster and silicone work together in making molds for casting a variety of materials including wax, plastic, and gypsum products. Class will begin with information that will help you in making or selecting an object to mold that is compatible with the process and size limitations.

Learn basic soldering and metalworking techniques to make a set of stackable rings from sterling silver, copper, brass, and gold fill. You will leave with several stylish rings for yourself or to give as gifts.

Spend the morning making an original heart-shaped pendant for your valentine, pet, or yourself—just in time for Valentine’s Day! Sweetly sentimental or post-apocalyptic, the end result is up to you. Cut your own individual heart shape in fine gauge copper, add texture and dimension, then apply powdered vitreous enamels and fire in the kiln to add color and vibrancy.

Build coordination and confidence as you construct your own practice PVC hula hoop and learn basic tricks with and without fire. You will learn beginner on-body and off-body moves, including turns, figure 8’s, tosses, isolations, fountains, atoms; and waist, hand, knee, and neck hooping. On the final night, you will work with open flame!

Learn the basics of hot glass sculpting, including techniques in gathering molten glass out of the furnace, marvering, color application, and glass shaping. In this three-hour workshop, you will sculpt two different types of both flowers and mushrooms from hot glass.

This course introduces simple and complex mechanisms including gears, cams, pulleys, and linkages. You will learn how to create, convert, and control movement, along with combining these elements to get the complex motion you desire. Hands-on lab time using foam board, plastic, and wood deepen your understanding of these concepts, which you can apply to other materials.

Light up your life with neon! In this class you will learn the skills needed to complete a project in neon and an illuminated project. In addition to hands-on instruction in tools and techniques, this class includes discussion of design and aesthetic considerations.

Learn to fabricate metal parts using the lathe and vertical milling machine. Instruction includes machine design and operation, materials, blueprint reading, tooling and precision measurement. The mill and lathe are the cornerstones of any machine shop and can produce pieces with great precision, repeatability, and accuracy. The goal of this class is to explore the capabilities and scope of these versatile machines through a series of machined projects in aluminum, brass, and steel.

Learn how to throw clay on a potter’s wheel! Students will learn the fundamentals of throwing, including wedging clay, centering, opening, pulling, and shaping a cylinder, bowl, and cup. Learn how to use hand tools to trim and add texture to your pieces, in addition to glaze applications and finishing techniques.

Students will weld a metal rectangular wind chime box, plasma cut their unique design on the sides, and hang steel chain, hooks, and cut metal pieces to create a unique and eye-catching wind chime. Then all you need is wind for a gorgeous visual and tonal work of art.

Use a lathe to turn a rough piece of wood into a beautifully shaped spindle-turned mallet and face-plate mounted bowl. You will learn the basics of the turning process and cover tool usage, sharpening, wood selection, preparation, and finishing.