Guest Instructors

Danny apprenticed over 25 years ago as a bench jeweler learning design and repair of fine jewelry. He went on to move from his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he worked for IJS for over a decade and a half and learned how be an industrial tool and die maker manufacturing jewelry findings on a mass scale. In those years he also learned how to do lapidary and took that to a commercial level as far as sourcing new material and having it cut in the USA, China, India and Mexico.

He also worked with 3M and the abrasives division in developing some systems for use in lapidary that are still used today by stone cutters and knife makers.

Danny also was the VP of Marketing for several years at IJS and has traveled around the United States to many tradeshows. He was successful in launching IJS offerings into social media atmospheres in 2010.

He has traveled to Japan, Mexico, and many states in the USA. This helped him immensely to be able to understand the makers in the industry and the trends as well as sharing innovations and techniques with individuals and manufacturers across the world on their design and manufacturing needs.

Danny also worked for DHF for a period selling precious metal to jewelers and worked with the technical side of the sputtering targets division. This helped him develop even more knowledge of alloying and casting things on a large scale uncommon to the bench jeweler or even most trade shops. Danny was responsible of ordering metric tons of precious metal and scheduling production means and within lean manufacturing methods.

Danny is a jeweler’s jeweler. He has manufactured on an industrial jewelry level for decades and is considered proficient in use of multiple alloys, production equipment modern and historic as well as business and lean manufacturing methodology in a flow thru precious metal and ferrous environment.

Today he has his own company Ferro Valley Tools which manufacture tools, findings, and lapidary objects for jewelry makers all over the world. He is constantly innovating and supplying the jewelry makers across 37 different countries. He has been extremely successful with social media and is followed by thousands of people! Recently he began teaching because of overwhelming demand for knowledge of the techniques and has taught classes all over the USA now.Danny has influenced many jewelers and lapidarist across the world.

Currently his tools, techniques and stones have been featured in books, trade magazines, online forums and groups in and out of our industry.

Deb is a highly gifted artisan who at a very early age discovered her passion for arts and crafts when she received a functional miniature sewing machine for her birthday that gave her hours of creative enjoyment while making quilt squares and fashionable doll clothes for the neighborhood!

For the past thirty years, she has continued t grow this passion using many different venues but found her true calling once exposed to the art of silver jewelry making while taking classes from a well=known Maine silversmith known as Karottop. She continued her studies under various other artists across the country and now incorporates this knowledge, blended with her own innate talents, in creating her unique style of jewelry.

Upon moving to the Western North Carolina Mountain region in 2014, Deb became an active member in the Hendersonville County Gem and Mineral Society where she learned how to make her own polished gemstones known as Cabochons. Her talents led her to become the Shop Manager where she was able to pass this knowledge on to other Society members.

Deb continues to expand her artisanal skills through the use of mixed-metal media, incorporating precious and semi-precious metals into her jewelry making processes. She is also currently a member of the Transylvania Crafters Guild and displays her wares at “Village Blacksmith
located at 161 North Broad St in Brevard, NC.Deb believes that jewelry as an adornment should be fun, elegant and expressive of the wearer’s personality. Her beliefs are readily seen as she offers a unique array of hand crafted adorrnments to delight the wearer and the viewer alike!

Artist Bio

Kimberly Renee’ is a goldsmith and silversmith specializing in the ancient technique of chasing and repousse’, a highly valued art form of sculpting in metal. She became captivated with the process, and respect began to grow for the ceremonial aspect within the art of creating through the movement of hammering and sculpting slowly along the metal. With every hammer strike, an essence of artistic expression became revealed into existence.

Her work has been featured in several juried exhibitions and in numerous galleries over the course of several years. Chasing and Repousse’ have been the foundation of creating work since 2014, and prior to that, she has produced other metalwork using fabrication techniques to create sculpture in metal.

Inspiration and design for work originate from personal experiences and connections with the world itself. It is within these two distinctive realms where reflection and exploration occur for creating a unique aesthetic.

Kimberly Renee’  kimberlyreneestudio.com   kr@kimberlyreneestudio.com 270-576-4246