“Foredom products have been part of my “jewelry life since the very beginning, so being a passionate advocate comes naturally and I jumped at the opportunity to share my Foredom story. For the past 8 years, I’ve been the director of Metalwerx, a non-profit school and community studio for jewelry making in Massachusetts. I’m also a graduate of Mass College of Art and have been creating handcrafted jewelry and objects for the past 15 years.
Our studio relies on Foredom products and you won’t find a bench without a flex shaft in the entire building! We are home to 22 jewelers along with a full classroom of equipment that can accommodate up to 12 students. The flex shaft was my very first equipment purchase because of its ability to tackle so many bench tasks. If I could only get one tool for my studio, it had to be a flex shaft. My Foredom with a #20 quick change hand piece has treated me well for more than a decade.
By the time I was ready to set-up a second studio at home a few years ago, I went for a micromotor and my world changed. The micromotor allowed me to set a specific speed tailored to any attachment or task, and also work for a much longer period of time without feeling fatigued… My next big Foredom acquisition was the bench lathe… This one really blew my mind. I had been spending too much time trying to clean up the bowls of small silver salt spoons. They’re cast to keep the labor cost associated with fabrication down; but this ends up leaving me with plenty of clean-up work trying to achieve a high polish on the dapped interior of the spoon bowl. My “aha moment” came after I got the collet adaptor, which meant I could use ANY flex shaft attachment on the lathe.”
