Bench Jewelers Conference and Orchid Dinner

I want to take a minute to thank ALL of the wonderful people that took the time to explain processes and demonstrate products and educate at the Bench Conference and Suppliers Expo!!!!

I attended along with close to 40 members of the Venice Adult School - Jewelry Making Program. From the conference staff to the experts demonstrating products - everyone was supportive, informative and made all of us feel like we had made the right career choice when looking to the Jewelry Arts!

Those of you who are sitting in a foot of snow missed out on four days of 80 degree temperatures in a location that was 15 minutes from the beach.

A special thank you to Mike at Foredom who went out of his way to speak to our class and to Lee Marshall who patiently let each student sit down and try his Knew Concept Saw…also to Dave with Allset; Vic Joyner with the coolest moldind system; Wayne Emery with his USB Little Camera; Dick with ABI; the Fox Burr/Kyle Abrasives guys (this was a popular booth); speaking of popular - Oliver with Firescoff (who obliged every time I asked him to "demonstrate it for my friend"); and the Laser Welding Demos; Conference Speakers, Joel McFadden, Mark Grosser, and Steve Satow. Last but not least thank you Brad Simon (and his Bench family) for being such a gracious host and for bringing the conference to the West Coast!

The "Price is Right Game" on Friday was so much fun, and not just because I won a prize (thanks to the Stuller table). After the Suppliers Expo broke down on Saturday night we all met at the Orchid Dinner. This was a really lovely evening with about 7 Orchid members and a group of presenters who also joined us!

Lead by Brad Simon we all adjourned to the Latitude 33 Restaurant at the Marriott…the food was good and the company even better. Joel McFadden came with one of his apprentices (a lovely young lady, unfortunately I can't remmber her name), Mark Grosser (what a kick this guy is and so talented), Steve Satow (this guy is a genius with tools), and speaking of tools - Dave Arens, Wayne Emery (did you ever find your "yellow flowers"?), a wonderful artist from Idaho, Ingrid ( she does amazing stuff with antler, porcupine quills, etc.), my "date" Deanna (an engineer by day, jeweler by night) and presenting the "toy" of the evening (no, not his Knew Concept Saw - a FedEx pen!) - Lee Marshall - I can't say enough good stuff about this guy…he has made jewelry doable for "older folks" like me and has to be one of the friendliest guys around! Now I know that I am missing at least two maybe three people - please don't take it as a slight - like I said my memory isn't what it used to be!

Can you tell I was impressed?

Robyn Hawk
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"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." -Goethe