I leave in less than a week to begin my new life in what I semi-affectionately refer to as “Cheese-Headistan”, AKA Stoughton, Wisconsin. A small town just south of Madison, Stoughton houses the Howard Academy for the Metal Arts which I am due to begin schooling at on 01MAR. This is far different from the medical studies I had been doing but I think a drastic change is called for and I think this is going to be a very good experience for me.
I will be going through a 14 month course which is quite comprehensive in scope:
- Practical gemology
- Diamond and gem setting
- Goldsmithing, welding and forging
- Casting and mold making
- Hand engraving and die carving
- Tool making, jig forming
- Drawing, sketching and layout
- Sculpture and art foundry work
- Troubleshooting for repair
- Custom work
- Advanced creative techniques
- Observation of working shop and store
- Gold work and production experience
I am interested in custom cutlery and some jewelry (rings in particular), but ultimately my goal is to design and build high end lightsaber hilts.
Needless to say, this will be a huge change for me but I feel like I have been foundering for quite a while (ever since I graduated with my rather useless 4 year degree), so I feel that drastic measures are justified and necessary.
I plan to start making videos and posting them on my youtube account (Krant28) when the time comes that I am making things worthy of actually showing to other people. The school is small, which is really a good thing. Counting me there are 4 students and 3 Master Goldsmiths are the instructors so a lot of personal support will be there. I showed Bill and Glen (2 of the instructors) some of my hilt designs and they were very encouraging with their response. They both began almost immediately to dream up ways to accomplish what I want to do, which I take as a very good sign.
Anyway, I will try to keep this updated at least once a week and probably more than that when things start getting interesting.
