Searchers General Meeting 
                Jan 13, 2005

 "Scrimshaw, Pouring a Casting, and Casting Stones in Place"
                                                 Dr. Walt Johnson


Walt Johnson shares lost-wax casting tips with the Searchers

The Searchers enjoyed not one, but three (!) amazing presentations by Walt Johnson at the Tuesday night General Meeting for January.  Dr. Johnson, a GIA gemologist and teacher with over 40 years of experience as a designer and jeweler, taught techniques of "Scrimshaw," "Pouring a Casting," and "Casting Stones in Place." Dr. Johnson received a masters degree in Jewelry Design from Chapman University, in Orange. 

  Walt shared invaluable tips on creating wonderful abstract designs in wax using free-flowing hot jeweler's wax to create one-of-a-kind pendants, rings, and earrings.  Walt also passed around authentic and fake scrimshaw work in ivory, and taught some identification techniques, as well as basic scrimshaw (carving in bone or ivory) skills.
 

  Walt's step-by-step demonstration of casting stones in place was an advanced lesson in how to assemble an entire ring with multiple stones (hardness 7 or above on Mohs scale) cast in hot investment during the burn-out phase of casting.

  Don't miss another of Walt's lectures!
Walt has presented programs on opal cutting and polishing, and Diamond Identification and Classification in previous meetings. Jewelers pay a premium for real-world lessons like these, and the Searchers benefit from them for the price of their dues alone! 

 Dr. Johnson can be reached at:
(714) xxx-xxxx
or via email at: Donnawalt@msn.com