Repujado

This past Friday I drove to San Antonio to take a class in Repujado at Stamp Antonio Arts  http://www.stampantonio.com/.  Repujado is a spanish word at means to push.  Some may know it as metal pushing or metal embossing.  For this class the medium we used was pewter.  I was one of five students who had not taken the Introduction To Repujado Class.  But I have had some experience at embossing on soft copper and silver sheets, which is why I was allowed to take the class.  The other students brought some examples of their previous work.  I on the other hand did not have any examples because what I did make I gave them away as gifts. The instructor, Thelma Muraida, http://www.thelmamuraida.com/ was very informed of this craft and gave a little history of repujado and of the mexican game of Loteria, which we call Mexican Bingo.   You see the image that we embossed was picture #41 La Rosa from the Loteria game.  Thelma showed us how to create depth, texture and how to show details of  the rose.  She also kept reminding us to let our tools do the work.  Thelma was an excellent teacher with lots of patience. She did stay at the end of class to answer a few questions I had and  made herself available for any future questions.  I enjoyed the class and came home with a nice piece of art that I love and plan on mounting.  The only thing I would have liked is to have more time to patina and mount La Rosa.  There are about 50 pictures in the game of Loteria, I wonder which I will choose to push next.  But this is not just limited to the pictures in the game.  The images are only limited by your imagination.  By the way, if you are ever in the San Antonio area, I recommend stopping into Stamp Antonio Arts.  They are a One-of-a-kind Art Rubber Stamp Store and More with very friendly customer service.