Classes
Get The Scoop On October-December Classes In Our Latest Member Guide
8.13.2022
With more than 100 classes opening for member registration this Tuesday, August 16, there is something for every age and experience level. To help you find your next class, we’ve put together a comprehensive guide to October-December 2022 classes—check it out below!
Families with kids as young as eight can sign up for ornament-making classes in departments like Ceramics, Glass Flameworking, Foundry, Enameling, and more. Plus, our Family Baubles and Bling class, specially designed for families with kids ages 5-7, returns this December. And don’t miss classes like Mechanical Sculpture, Cartonería: Mexican Paper Sculpture, and Fred Ball Experimental Enameling Techniques, all running for the first time since 2019.
If you’re still not a Crucible member, what are you waiting for? Sign up today to access exclusive perks like early member registration, 10% off class tuition, discounts on merch, free Crucible tours, and more! Save your seat in class during Tuesday’s early registration. Public registration will open Tuesday, August 23.
Highlight: Holiday Classes
Celebrate the season with a creative class at The Crucible.
Family Series Classes – Ages 8+
Parents and Guardians of children 8+ are welcome to register with their kids.
Mexican Tin Ornaments
Learn techniques for tooling aluminum, a malleable form of tin, while working with available designs and patterns or creating a unique design of your own.
Ceramic Ornaments
You will select three pre-fired ornaments to paint and glaze, learning about glazing techniques and color application. After class, the instructor will fire your ornaments and string them up, so they are ready for pickup one week after class ends.
Family Series Classes – Ages 12+
Parents and Guardians of children 12+ are welcome to register with their kids.
Cast Ornaments
Carve your designs into resin-bonded sand to make a sand mold, then watch as molten aluminum is poured to fill your mold. When the metal has cooled, learn finishing and coloring applications to make your ornament pop!
Glass Flameworked Ornaments
After a basic introduction to melting and shaping borosilicate glass with an oxy-propane torch, create elegant, icicle-inspired ornaments or miniature candy canes ideal for holiday gifting or for your own ornament collection.
Glass Fused Ornaments
Add sparkle with dichroic glass, frit, and stringers that will embellish your design. Ornaments will be kiln fired and ready for pick up the following Monday.
Enamel Ornaments
Using flat, precut copper shapes as a base, layer colored opaque glass in stenciled designs, then fire it in the kiln to create a unique ornament you can pass down from generation to generation.
Pâte-de-Verre Ornaments
In this ornament-maing course, you will learn the fundamentals of pâte-de-verre or “paste of glass”, including color and application techniques.
Adult Holiday Classes
Grab your friends and family for some seasonal making!
Glass Ornaments
Ages 16+
In this class, instructors guide the process of basic glass blowing, including gathering molten glass from the furnace, applying color, blowing a hollow vessel, and attaching a hot glass loop to hang the ornaments.
Festive Embossed Cards
Ages 16+
Students will learn to emboss using a traditional press, exploring various materials, and utilizing both traditional and experimental techniques. Then apply watercolor designs gently on top of the pressed imagery.
Wooden Toy
Ages 18+
Learn to safely use woodworking tools and machines, then complete your project with colorful, foodsafe finishes. Class projects include wooden pull toys, simple dollhouses, or animal rattles.
Rare classes you don’t want to miss!
These only come around once in a while.
Family Baubles and Bling
In family groups, you will learn to make customized and engraved pendants by creating a collage pattern encased with plexiglass and copper. Then work together to create decorative polymer clay baubles that may be used as ornaments, window hangings, or accessories.This workshop is specially designed for children ages 5-7 years old with accompanying adult(s).
Bell Casting
Bell Casting introduces participants to bell design and the lost wax foundry technique. Each student will design, cast, and finish a bell approximately six inches in diameter. This entry level class will provide a foundation for further exploration in this versatile foundry approach.
Cartonería: Mexican Paper Sculpture
Learn cartonería, the ancient and popular art form of Mexican paper-mâché. Cartonería combines Aztec styles with Spanish techniques and is deeply rooted in ancient Mexican legends, traditions, and craftsmanship. In this course you will create fantastic and colorful sculptures from paper and recycled materials, using mythological beasts and characters as a starting point.
Casting Organics and Found Objects
In this exciting course, you will expand your jewelry knowledge by making castings of unique items from organics, plastics, or styrofoam forms. Students will do two casting burnouts, pour molten metal, and file, polish, and finish one-of-a-kind creations.
Fred Ball Experimental Enameling Techniques
Fred Uhl Ball (1945-1985) was an enamelist who lived and taught in Sacramento. His work was viewed as highly unorthodox at the time, but created a firm basis for current contemporary enameling. Specific techniques include working with fire scale, creating collages, using liquid enamel and other materials associated with the porcelain enamel industry, over- and under-firing, and much more.
Marquetry
Learn the basics of handling veneer and the decorative technique of marquetry, where you use small, variously colored veneer to create an image. You will make at least two coaster-sized projects, one of which will have the traditional leaf design.
Mechanical Sculpture
Learn how to make your creations move! 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.
Metal Clay Skulls
Using copper and silver metal clay, create fine metal skulls using a variety of rolling, texture, applique, and carving techniques. Kiln fire your designs, then polish your ornate pieces in time for Halloween! This class is designed for all, with more complex techniques covered for advanced artists.
Pen In One Day
Students will make two pens at the lathe, one of solid wood and one of your own design built up from several pieces of wood. Since turning pens is a quick process, we will have time to teach you how to choose woods, how to prepare and mount wood on the lathe, and several of the more popular finishes.
Techniques in Ornamental Iron Work
Take your skills to the next level and begin producing work that sells! This class covers traditional decorative ironwork methods and introduces the power hammer. You will explore techniques, such as steel carving, fullering, and riveting, to create an ornamental dragon.
Stone Setting
Develop your stone setting skills by learning techniques for stones of all shapes and sizes! You will learn the prong, tube, and flush settings using sterling silver. Stones are supplied, but students are also welcome to bring their own.
PREREQUISITE: Jewelry & Metals I or Silver Soldering
Stone Working: Creative Carving
(Formerly known as Stone Carving)
Experience stone carving using traditional hand tools. With a hammer and chisel, your own creativity and imagination will slowly reveal a unique sculpture. All tools will be provided. During the first session, you will learn about selecting your stone and where to buy it. FKA Stone Carving.
Join us for a 3-Hour Taster
Try out one of our departments without making a bigger commitment.
Level up your learning
Continuing level classes are your opportunity to grow your skills in a department of your choosing.
Advanced Marble Making Techniques
Blacksmithing II
Adventures in Soft Glass: Finding Your Inner Monster
Bottles and Vases
Casting Organics and Found Objects
Enamel Open Studio Hours
Enameling II
Fire Hula Hoop II
Fire Poi II: Turns, Transitions, and Flow
Glass Blowing II: Cup Class
Glass Fusing and Slumping II
Jewelry and Metals II
Large Ceramic Forms
Neon II
Sculpting with Steel
Stone Setting
Techniques in Ornamental Iron Work
Wheel Throwing I
Wheel Throwing II
Woodworking II
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