REGISTRATION OPENS:
JANUARY 9 AT NOON
One of seven courses available for the May 8 – 11, 2025
MCA Weekend Workshop @ Haystack
Tin – Cold Connections
Instructor: Ellen Wieske
Haystack Studio: Metals
Enrollment Limit: 12
Materials Fees: See Student Materials List
Level: Beginner – All Levels Welcome
Class Description:
Tin cans, which are made of steel, and coated in a thin layer of tin, some with a plastic lining and some printed with colorful surfaces are a material generally discarded to be recycled. With a discerning eye, one can see a free, plentiful, and easy to come by resource. This workshop is designed for anyone who wants to make a connection between idea, material, and process with zero monetary investment.
Students will learn assemblage techniques such as pop riveting, tube riveting, tab/slot construction, prong setting, basic forming as well as low-temperature soldering using tin as the primary material. Demos will be jewelry forward, but applications can be open to interpretation. Taking the time to PLAY is important work and should be taken seriously. In this workshop, we will do just that, make a worthy investment with a worthless material.
Materials + Fees:
Students will be responsible for bringing their materials. Students are asked to bring the following items:
- Bring tin cans. The best to use are the ones with printed surfaces however the plain silver type is also fine. Aluminum cans are very thin and not great to work with
- Can opener
- Tin snips (only if you have them)
- Household scissors, ones you don’t mind cutting tin with. Heavy-duty Fiskers are my personal favorite
- Sketchbook and pencils
- Any pliers you might have or other tools you want with you (drill bits, sandpaper, flex shaft tools, measuring tools)
- Small gauge (16-24) copper, brass, color-coated or steel wire and tubing could be useful
- Any other materials you think you might want to work with
- It is always good to have an apron, towel, and safety glasses
- Examples of your work or a few images
About the Instructor-
Ellen Wieske is an artist who works in many materials. Primarily a metalsmith, she
received an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Arts. She worked in the jewelry industry for 18 years as a jeweler/stone setter/designer in Detroit Michigan. She has taught internationally and across the USA. Wieske maintains dowstudio, her studio/gallery with wife and potter Carole Ann Fer on the coast in Deer Isle Maine.
Wieske was the Assistant Director at Haystack Mountain School of Craft since 2003, the interim director in 2022, and retired after 25+ years with the school in April of 2023. “A wonderful place in a divine location,” Wieske says.
She returns to her studio full-time with ideas and projects great and small. She typically begins each day by putting on her apron, turning on something to listen to and doing a little drawing or repairing something.
