West Coast Engraver's Confabulation 2015

Well, I'm finally home after two days of driving after the 2015 West Coast Engraver's Confabulation which was held at Brian Marshall's Stockton Jewelry Art School.

A great time was had by all. Brian and his crew were outstanding hosts and hostesses. I ate a lot of good food, saw a lot of good demos, met a lot of interesting people, and learned a whole bunch of new stuff! I may be home, but I'm still tired... I only took a few photos because I was listening with rapt attention and usually forgot to fiddle with the camera...


Here's John talking about his undercutting graver during the inlay demo.


Danny during his Western Flat Engraving demo. All hand push! If I fool with hand push there's either blood or a long nasty scratch, or both...


More of Danny in action with his push graver. Zip, zip, zip and he was done.


My favorite demo, Danny soldering a small brass shield on steel, just like he would do on a big Western buckle. Note the little "T" shaped soldering pick he used. One point was sharpish, the other was flat, and smoothly polished. He used the points to move the sticky flux around, and the flat of the T to sweep the carpet, either pushing flux into the soldering areas, or pulling the excess back. Also a lot of good information on controlling the torch/heat. Very neatly done.

Many, many thanks to all of the folks who made a long drive very worthwhile!

Tom

I too would like to thank all of those who helped make the "Confabulation" a success. A big thank you to Brian Marshall for having the courage to put it all together and hosting it. The weather was perfect, the food was wonderful, the company was great, and the information was invaluable. Some of my takeaways from the weekend were : I need more reference books. Castings are great tools for learning, and I need to start collecting them. I can always use more tools and fixtures.

After Danny's demo, I feel like I might just get the upper hand on my soldering problems. The first thing I did when I got home was to make my very own set of soldering "t-picks" that Danny used in his soldering demo. I will also be increasing the amount of flux I have been using. The second thing I did was order two castings from FEGA. I also appreciated the many insights and comments from the participants during the demos. I had a great time. Thanks again to all who made it a great weekend.

Veni, Vidi, Confabuliti (We came, we saw, we confabulated!)

A big ditto on the thanks and appreciation to Brian Marshall for hosting the event, and the hard-working folks who helped in so many ways to pull it all together, including Steve Lindsay's tool/auction donation. There was a broad range of topics/demos, show and tell, and, well, confabulating! I also want to thank all of the folks who made the trip to Stockton. We had attendees from Washington, Arizona, Nevada and California. If I've missed any representatives, my apologies. Great to see and meet forum comrades, and it was a nice mix of experience levels and different areas of interest and expertise, too. The exchange of information and ideas were graciously shared, and I found it inspiring to see the demos, hear the genuine interest in the questions that were asked, and the thoughtful answers that were offered, and it's always interesting to hear different points of view. I think some great ground-work has been laid, and if Brian's willing, I'd look forward to a repeat next year.

Best regards,
Doug

DevilDog said:

I can always use more tools and fixtures.

Click to expand...

Thats how it all starts, you've got the bug, now look at what you caused Brian.

Sounds like a great time with like minded people. I plan on taking some classes this summer, but if they don't happen, and you have another I'm there.





Saludos,
Carlos

I cannot take much credit for the Confabulation – it could never have happened without John Salmon and Danny Frank. Both spent countless hours of hard, sweaty labor making the place ready. Both encouraged me when I was thinking it would NEVER be ready… (it wasn’t, but it was close enough)

I do plan to repeat it again next year – but perhaps move it to a different date? We got very lucky with the weather – it has been well over 100 degrees this week, and the historical record for those dates was 114!

3 of our days were in the 80’s and the last day was in the 90’s – but by then we were indoors with AC.

I(we) learned a lot. Made quite a few mistakes, some obvious, some not so obvious. None of which will be made again. Now that I’ve seen firsthand how it goes, I think I can enhance the experience by double next year.


I also need to thank ALL of those who donated at the event, that was a big help!


Brian


P.S. Thanks for putting these up Tom. And pretty much keeping me out of 'em... as I requested.

Too bad there weren't more photographers amongst the bunch.

There were... and perhaps they will get around to putting some more up.

Without me in them. (as I requested) I am not photogenic.

Or perhaps I am simply photophobic?

I'm not fond of lookin' at myself in the mirror either...


Brian

I have been informed that there will be a video collection of the event soon to be put up on youtube.

I'll post it when I know more...


Brian

Here are a few. Close-up lens didn't lend itself to "people" pics.
Sample hand push plate by Danny Frank
Danny working on his demo plate
WIP demo plate
The secret to Katherine Plumer's fabulous scrimshaw, these "pointy things"... and a ton of talent!
"Stick" soldering twisted wire border on a plate
Danny Frank using his custom solder pick
Danny Frank's custom solder picks
Master template for use on a pantograph, and a couple of examples of the results
Top and bottom halves of John Salmon's instructional inlay plate

I must admit that I didn't get to take any pictures although I had my camera there. It was a very busy time for me with trying not to miss any lectures / demonstrations and trying to prepare the food on time. The day was filled with confabulation of all sorts from some very interesting people and backgrounds. The lectures/demo's came one after the other and I was very much interested in some of the pieces that people brought for show & tell. It was a great learning experience holding a piece of work and finding out how it was done and what to watch out for, etc. Everyone that came contributed to making this an experience to remember and I Thank You all for your kindness and participation. Brian is much to modest.... he was involved in every aspect of this event (many long hours) and I could see the toll that was put upon him to make a good first time showing. You did a fantastic job Brian and you deserve a big Thank You :clapping: JohnR

I had a great time and will plan on being there next year. Thank you Brian for all you did. Also a big thanks to all that did demos.