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handmade eyeglasses and jewellery ...
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22nd December, 2011 |
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handmade eyeglasses and jewellery ...
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22nd December, 2011 |
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 Occhiali in Florencean eyeglass workshop for jewellers
eyewear/eyeglassesI'm a jeweller who happens to make spectacles. Turns out they are one of the most interesting, humorous, and exacting areas of body adornment.
Leather job
Here's a vintage frame that needed the leather sides replaced. It's a fairly simple 48mm disc sunglass frame but there were these inserts that held the leather sides in place. Silver tube rivets attach the leather to specially made sterling holders. 
flashback to 1981Here's a historical survey of my earliest eyewear pieces. They go wa-a-y back to 1981 ...
'Paua Sunglasses' frame no 1
'Coconut Roughs' frame no 178
'Ferns' frame no 281Frame no 422 April 2008
Custom frames Commissioned by a local Auckland er, guitarist. frame no 420
'Looking Glasses' Number two silver eyeglasses for the customer who has no 418. [endorsement ...] frame no 419
Custom frame, 9k gold Fabricated from 9k gold eyeglass frames to your specifications. The design will conform to your stated specifications ... 418
'Looking Glasses' Sterling silver eyeglass frames, as discussed. Final design to conform to your stated specifications and follow advice from your optometrist with regard to frame PD ... [more ...] 415
... The design will need to work in serious global corporate environments and on a mussel farm in the Sounds ..... 414
2.5mm mokume gane (layers of silver, shakudo, shibuichi) of at least 207mm x 47mm [material supplied by customer]. 412 and 413
kinky series 411
aviator replica (methodology) custom made spectacles, sunglasses and other eyewear from precious metal. standard silver alloy is sterling (925) silver, in gold 14 karat. the age-old malleable and workability qualities of gold and silver make it a useful spectacle material in that it allows for frame adjustments over the long term. the metal will withstand a greater amount of bending and other distortion than any other metal used in making spectacle frames ... 
prescription eyeglasses made to your specifications [more ...] eyewear owner: James, Missouri, USA. Buying on the internet is always a worry for me. With you, however, I was very comfortable for many reasons ... overall I think it went very well considering that we are half a world apart! custom frame: no 402 sterling silver 
'Schubert' sterling silver sunglasses or eyeglasses for prescription lenses. This actual frame (no 398) has an eyeshape of 32.5mm x 40mm ovals... 
[ more]
Eyewear history tells us that utility and frivolity in eyeglasses has always existed together. I'm no exception. I make plain eyeglasses plus I've a fondness for depicting an enjoyment of myopia and its attendant foibles. [ more] endorsements The spectacles that brian made for me are surprisingly comfortable, in spite of being quite solidly built. I think balance has a lot to do with that. I love the way they look on me ... It feels good to wear something that is beautiful and beautifully crafted. When i took the frames to my optometrist to have lenses put in, he commented over and over about how well the frames were made. I'm very happy with their quality and proud to wear a design that is unique and elegant... [ more] eyewear care i recommend you treat your silver spectacles like you treat other finely crafted jewellery. perhaps think of your them as functioning works of custom-designed art rather than as another utilitarian personal appliance... [ more] 'Piano Nobile' 14 karat gold eyeglasses for prescription lenses. Frame no 400, oval eye shapes, 44mm x 37mm... 
[ more]
'eye strainers' hand made eyewear artworks, stainless steel auto parts... 
[ more]
How important is the optical lens in all this_ The historian of optics might prove that frames are the servant of the glass lenses, an invention that some say occurred around 1280. They might say that without a lenses, the frame is pointless. I see things differently. I look at what came from china where they had another type of eyewear which had no optical qualities at all - with stone lenses. true vision blockers - sight restrictors for meditation. Worn to encourage introspection... [ more] |
new jewelleryBrooch
Stacking Rings
Thinking of Christchurch
jade with NZ inclusion
Cufflinks 
#1 Turret shell - Maoricolpus roseus
Nice weight but not too much, a loose-ish fit on the cuffs. I
specially like the little pointy shell on the inside, the way the
chain tucks in well to allow easy threading through the buttonholes.
VARIATION: standard swivel cufflink fitting (stg sil).
pearlshell ring
Mother-of-pearl shell set in a pure silver bezel.Beach pebble necklace
Multi-stone necklace, made from pebbles found at a beach in Southland, New Zealand. Threaded onto a cable of pure silver.
Beach rings -
jewelleryPrincess rings
This is a series of rings that required a sense of touch more than sight to make. [more] Friendship rings 
Pillow rings 
The 'Sputnik' earring design features the concave inside of New Zealand paua shell (haliotis iris). Plus... 
[ more]
'Paper Tiger' earrings are anodised niobium discs that have been textured by roller-printing paper onto the metal... 
[ more]
Tree Trunk Rings are my unique wood-fired silver rings. I melt up the metal and pour molten silver into a prepared hole in a tree trunk. don't try this at home... 
[ more] Ear Moana earrings are textured silver, copper and brass cut into a variety of different ovals and discs, the textures are cotton sheets and towels, paper towel, metal mesh and nylon cord. Ear Moana are spontaneously arranged in unmatched pairs... [ more] Flying Saucers are New Zealand jade disc pendants. Sterling silver lines the centre hole... 
[ more] |
tuition/workshopsRECENT WORKSHOPS
HIGH SCHOOL JEWELLERY The outdoor classroom
(click here for the 4MB class image)
HIGH SCHOOL JEWELLERY Diocesan School for Girls On Friday 17th June 2011 eighteen keen young people made a silver setting for their glass designs. I showed quite a bit of materials technology: the practical differences between work-hardened and annealed metal was demonstrated using copper, pure silver and sterling silver, shoowing their particular annealing temp. Liquidus of all metals used discussed, including of the silver solders. Flux action is described as is the usefulness of the various stages the flux goes through. soldering the bezel join:
it's a two person job:
checking the bezel fit:
The students made a fine silver bezel (with H solder for the join) and soldered it onto a sterling base (M solder), and some added a finding for a bail (E solder). They went on to finish their pieces in class under the expert tutelage of their Technology teachers [pictures to come].
Wedding Ring Experience
"[We] had an amazing experience with Brian making our wedding rings. We both loved the idea of making something ourselves and to make this an experience of both learning and sharing.
Wedding Ring Experience
Bush Jewellery studio is a small private teaching workshop set in the Titirangi bush. It is reasonably equipped for a variety of standard and alternative processes that are practical, simple, lateral, and effective. You'll get to learn ancient low-tech jewellery techniques plus some modern soft-tech tricks. If any of you are wondering why this website has not been kept up to date recently you are quite right. In my paltry defence, updates more commonly appear via facebook:
Custom Tuition 
Custom tuition allows you to make the things that interest you, to learn the processes that will be useful to you, at a timetable that suits your pace.
RECENT WORKSHOPS
Saturday Jewellery a group wkshop of 6 keen people.
RECENT WORKSHOP
Hen Party Pendant Several young women arrived here and made a silver pendant for the bride-to-be.
RECENT WORKSHOP
Methven Summer School
3-day wkshop
RECENT WORKSHOP Hokitika Weekend Jewellery January 16/17 Sat/Sun
Jewellery for Boys (ring, mini-knife, shield) and
Jewellery for Girls (ring, pendant, etc)... Ring-making mini-workshops. If you're shacked up with someone special, come along both of you and work on similar (or different) ring designs. Lo-tech Silver Casting. Sand casting in pewter or bronze or silver.
RECENT WORKSHOPS Boys jewellery
RECENT WORKSHOP
Autumn Intensive
Corban Estate Arts Centre
Turning Points, Aug 08 
Ring-making was a feature of day 2Turning Point Trust in Tauranga is a mental health recovery centre offering a range of positive activities and vocational services for people living with mental illness. I was very pleased to be asked to help set up a working jewellery facility in their existing creative areas.[... more]
ERUPT Lake Taupo Festival May 2008 
a family and their doctor were some of the 50-plus people who made jewellery at the Taupo Museum. Brian brought jewellery to the people with short sharp 'Street Jewellery' workshops at ERUPT. The emphasis was on spontaneity and people made a silver ring in an hour. All ages.
some recent scholars 
Isabella's ring (age 10)
Wild Creations - Children's Jewellery Workshop 
... tricks with thin copper sheet like hammering textures, punching designs, folding it up, cutting it [... more]
Weekend Jewellery Workshop Sat/Sun July 7/8 2007
18th April 2007 
Silver ring and a pendant in a day ...
15-19 January 2007 
Recent photos: Corbans 2007 Summer School
 Wanaka Autumn Art School April '06
1 HOUR SILVER RING! Street Jewellery sessions last held: Sat April 29 2006  Gallery 33, Wanaka Ring-making Jewellery Workshop ages 8 to 108!
Recent photos: Lost Wax Casting 
Whakatane Jan'06 modelling wax and things Recent photos: STREET JEWELLERY  Whakatane Jan'06 1hr rings Corbans Arts Centre 'the Ring' 12 Nov'05 Silver ring and a pendant in a day ... 
[... more]
soft technology 
'soft-tech' in this context is about hand making processes that are small scale, relatively inexpensive, and localized. More kids jewellery. Make a silver ring in a day - pictures from this 1-day workshop ...  [ Spring: Sept 05 ...]  [ Winter: July 05 ...] Jewellery for kids 2005 Make a silver ring in a day and some fold-formed earrings. 1-day workshops for ages 9 - 16  [ Summer: Jan 05 ...] Corbans Arts Centre ”... jewellery-making workshop at Bush studio ...” 
[... more]
Christchurch ArtsCentre ”A fun and informative silver jewellery-making workshop...” 
[... more]
'Bush Jewellery' classes The studio workshop is equipped for a variety of alternative and standard processes. You'll get practical tuition and learn to use tools in simple, effective and lateral-thinking ways ... 
[... more]
'Jewellery for Schools' Seemingly, high school students love the idea of making a silver ring in class and will often co-operate and work hard as a group to do so. The classes will also be fascinating for many as it manages to demystify the jewellery process which is often presented and perceived as being complicated, expensive and quite inaccessible ... 
Elim Christian School, Auckland [... more] Royal Jewellery Gallery ... Nov 2003 
[ more ... ]
I teach here in New Zealand ... according to demand, and I have in the past regularly travelled overseas in June, July or August to take part in teaching programs at universities and jewellery/metals guilds in Australia, USA, or Canada. 
[ more]
'Street Jewellery' A lot of people want to have a go at making jewellery, but they don't manage to get along to the classes. Well this is a session where in 1 hour! you can make a silver ring... 
[ more]
'Bush Jewellery' As a teacher i believe in practical simplicity, lateral thinking, creative tool use, and learning with fun. I will aim to deliver lessons at your level so that i can add to your current understanding and skills and you more successfully move up levels. I teach intensive workshops (generally on a subject), private tuition series on a custom timetable, jewellery undergraduates on workshop experience, and a nightclass. For the custom series we can plan a timetable based on what will suit your needs...Contact me and ask when the workshops are planned, or talk about a private tuition series to suit you... 
[ more] |
infoWe're in a rainy foresty area of west Auckland, New Zealand. I work here alongside Ruth Baird in a studio workshop we built ourselves behind our house... The jewellery studio is in a beautiful part of Titirangi 20 minutes from Auckland city, and surrounded by kowhai, kanuka bush, mamaku tree ferns, cabbage trees, and mixed border Waitakere City reserve land. Hence 'Bush Jewellery' workshops...
Time now in Auckland:
curriculum vitæ/resumé collections/publications: 1998: '100 New Zealand Craft Artists', Helen Schamroth. 1996: 'Spectacles', Samuele Mazza. 1995: Auckland Museum, New Zealand 1994: I. Isad-Pana, The Optician, USA 1989-93: G. Gherardi, l.a. eyeworks, USA 1984: D. O'Neill, Auckland, New Zealand 1982: Dowse Art Museum, New Zealand [ more ...] a history Records of my earliest eyewear date back to a jewellery exhibition when I first thought of applying my then-young jewellery ideas to making spectacles. I got an old spectacle frame and messed around ... 
'Digitalis', frame no 55, 1983 [ more ...] endorsement As a student of Brian Adam's workshop, I am pleased to endorse Brian Adam and his spectacle maklng course. Brian brings jewellery expertise, experience. knowledge, and enthusiasm to his students. Brian's method of teaching is effective and equally constructive the novice, amateur or professional, regardless of previous training. The mechanics of eyewear is explained and demonstrated using basic jewellery tools and practises. The age old problem of securing lenses to a frame is solved in his classroom studio. Anyone interested in the creative challenge of using eyewear for their own personal expression will benefit from Brian's instruction. Mel Rapp B-Sc. Optician ... [ more] endorsement Brian, the glasses have been a great success - they have proved to be a sort of litmus test - the cogniscenti respond with enthusiasm, the grey suits look troubled - couldn't ask for more! Custom frame no 365 sterling silver, Nov 1997... 
[ more]
endorsement from Wales I've been wearing 'sputniks' for a couple of years now, absolutely love them ! Any other earings seem to stay in the box ... [ more] Middle earth: it's so New Zealand. Travel down new zealand's skinny antipodean islands and it is the way the farm hills undulate along the long backdrop of sky that is so striking. that crisp line between green and blue helps visitors and kiwis alike slough off memories of grimier climes... [ more ] [ lotr ... ] [ NZ info] [ NZ map] links
Mario Cesari, My workshops range from one to several days, practically on demand, depending on what (and when) one wants to learn. We just need to agree upon a date when both are free, and we can explore a specific topic |
Brian Adam
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www.adam.co.nz/jewellery/ |
Auckland, New Zealand |
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