METALWORKING IS OUR JAM

How Syracuse's metalsmithing community has flourished on and off campus, even during a pandemic.

words by Sarah Dolgin photos by Isabel Madover

During a year dragged down by the hardships of a pandemic, many people are seeking an activity to help deal with their frustrations. For some, this outlet is hammering away at pieces of metal.

Across social media platforms like TikTok, content creators have been documenting their experiences working with metal to make jewelry for themselves and others. Some people have turned metalsmithing workshops into date ideas, while others use this art form to release their pent-up stress. We can’t help but wonder, though, what’s so golden about this metalwork trend?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, metalworking is “the act or process of shaping things out of metal.” To Kelly Diemond, the owner of Metal Morphosis Jewelry Studio in Syracuse, N.Y., it’s so much more.

“You can melt it down. You can turn it into something totally different. It’s so malleable and versatile, and yet you can harden it, you can shape it basically to any form that you want it to be. So, to me, it’s taking something that’s kind of just raw materials and transforming it into something that is a reflection of what you want to communicate,” she explained.

When Diemond first became interested in metalsmithing, she had to travel to other cities, such as Rochester, Utica, and San Diego to master her skillset because of the lack of resources in Syracuse. After practicing and refining her metalworking abilities, Diemond opened the doors to her very own studio for workshops in 2018. She felt that it was important to bring the craft to Syracuse, as there were no other metalworking locations in the area, and she was met with a community of people interested in developing their own relationships with the art form.

“I was really happy that there are people that are interested and want to learn and just keep coming back for class after class,” said Diemond.

This interest persists at Syracuse University, where students can dip their toes into the world of metalsmithing through the Jewelry and Metalsmithing Club. Founded by Adah Brophy, a current senior, JAM Club works to get the student "Having art on your wall is really lovely, but there’s something about having an object that gets to exist with a body and travel through day-to-day life with the wearer that appeals me personally to jewelry and small-scale work."

body involved in a variety of workshops.

The club holds free workshops every Saturday that are open to anyone in the SU and SUNY ESF community (with certain registration protocols, such as emailing ahead to reserve space in the workshop due to COVID restrictions). From earrings to rings to pins, participants can work on a wide variety of metalsmithing activities.

Brophy has been making jewelry since she was 14 and loves the concept of creating art that is mobile as opposed to purely ornamental. “I love the idea of wearable art. It feels very accessible. Having art on your wall is really lovely, but there’s something about having an object that gets to exist with a body and travel through day-to-day life with the wearer that appeals me personally to jewelry and smallscale work,” said Brophy.

JAM Club focuses on one or two basic techniques each week. One of these techniques is texture, which includes the usage of stamps and hammers, as well as steel chasing tools, which are rods of steel finished differently at the end (either with points, triangles, or circles). In the workshop, participants can hammer into the metal with these different tools to explore

the varying end results.

There are many different skills that go into metalworking. Some of those taught in Diemond’s studio include soldering, enameling, sawing, piercing, forming, and forging, and other foundational metalsmithing skills.

From learning how to operate air torches, hammers, files, grinders, saws, a hydraulic press, a rolling mill, and other tools galore, Metal Morphosis offers many opportunities for people to find an area of metalwork that suits their fancies. Diemond teaches her students how to utilize these different tools in the studio and use them to make something that they are proud of. “I think they have a new appreciation for what goes into jewelry-making when they come into it themselves,” said Diemond.

JAM Club also teaches students how to weld, but mostly works in soldering, which Brophy describes as “using heat to glue metal together.” It is done by using a metal with a slightly lower melting point in order to fuse the two pieces together. Additionally, the club works with piecework, which involves using small saws, metal forming by using tools to play with its components, lost wax casting – which is often used to make jewelry from a model or pattern — many other facets of metalwork.

Metalsmithing involves constant trial and error, so exploring the many different techniques that the craft encompasses may seem daunting to beginners. Even though there are many skills to be learned and tools to be used, Diemond ensures to those who are just getting started that “there’s nothing so precious about it that you can’t undo.”

Brophy hopes to squander the notion that only art students can participate in metalwork, and explains the art form as something open to anyone who wants to learn.

“You don’t have to be in art school to learn how to do it. You can do it just because you love it. There’s something that I think is really special about being able to flex and say you made your own jewelry that you’re wearing,” she states.

Diemond’s most popular workshop is ringmaking, which she offers once or twice monthly and usually sells out as soon as she posts it. She also teaches skills such as fine silver fusing and torch-fired enameling for beginners. For those who want to immerse themselves in more advanced metalsmithing skills, Diemond offers an 8-week mentorship program and has a membership program for people who love her studio and want to spend a lot of their time in her classes.

“Most of my students are total beginners, and they come not really knowing what to expect, and then

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"You don’t have to be in art school to learn how to do it. You can do it just because you love it."

they leave with something they’re so excited to go show off to their friends,” Diemond said.

To her, there is something special about metalwork that sets it apart from working with other media. As someone experienced in painting and working with textiles among other products, she likes that metalwork can be combined with other materials to create something that incorporates different elements of art. She also strongly enjoys the movement involved in the actual physical act of metalworking.

“The physicality of working with metal, the hammering, the pounding, it’s very good stress relief for me. I always tell people it’s good therapy.”

Through her metalwork, Brophy has found what she deems to be a welcoming and safe community of other jewelers. She hopes to channel the positivity she receives from this community into cultivating an environment that unites people over an art form that is both fun and inviting. “Being able to welcome other people into that community at a very baseline, accessible level is something that’s really important to me,” Diemond said..

Brophy also wants to promote accessibility within her workshops, as she feels that art often falls into the stigma that it is only digestible to those who are wealthy and have access to the fine arts. She hopes to combat this through the freedom that she conducts her jewelry-making classes with, as “jewelry feels like more of an act of self-expression.” By honing in on self-expression and exploration, she offers people the opportunity to explore and discover aspects of themselves within their metalwork, forgetting about external pressures and enjoying the craft as a therapeutic practice.

“After you’ve had a bad day, sometimes it does feel really good to just put all of your energy into something really physical. It can be such a good release,” said Brophy. Similarly to Diemond, Brophy recognizes the value of being able to pour anxiety and energy into an art that allows physical exertion to be part of the process.

No matter the level of experience someone has with metalsmithing, Brophy says that “it can and should be for any and everybody.” In her eyes, it is a great way to forge bonds and find a common ground, and there are many physical, mental, and spiritual benefits to joining the community. Her advice for beginners? Start wherever you are the most comfortable and try out different skills until something clicks.

“Don’t be afraid to fail. You might make 20 pairs of really ugly earrings, but your 21st pair might be awesome.”