MetalSmith BenchTalk with Judy Hoch

My Guest this Thursday, November 15 at 3 p.m. PDT/6EDT on MetalSmith BenchTalk is metalsmith and jeweler Judy Hoch, the author of Tumble Finishing for Handmade Jewelry: Mass Finishing on a Small Scale.

 

About Judy: A second generation American–Dane, and a preacher’s kid, I was born in Nebraska and attended school in Brush Colorado. I graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in mathmatics, minor in physics.  I spent quite a few years in the corporate world of computers as a manager and a programmer.

 

My new life began with my primary education in metal-smithing at Arapahoe Community College studying under Richard Sweetman. In addition, I have taken workshops from masters such as Lee Marshall, Phil Poirier, Thomas Mann, Richard Messina, Jerry McClure, Carol Webb and Michael Boyd. These wonderful teachers enthusiastically shared their expertise and passion for metalworking. I am a Graduate Gemologist of the Gemological Institute of America, Carlsbad, California.

 

My family came from Marstal on the island of Æro in Denmark. They were shipbuilders and smiths for the shipbuilding industry in the late 1800s. I wanted to honor that tradition and so have named my studio the Marstal Smithy.

 

The first gemstone I recognized was amber in a pendant my mother brought from Denmark. While I use many traditional gemstones in my work, I have a special love for Danish amber and stones of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Greenland in my one-of-a-kind designs. The spare sensibility of the Scandinavian lifestyle imbued our home and is still a major influence in my art. I love the work of Georg Jensen.

 

For more information, visit http://www.marstal.com/.