Category: Past Featured Speakers

Past featured speaker events held by the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild. The guild holds events with both visiting artists and member artists speaking on a diverse array of topics related to metal art.

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Lapidary Techniques: Demo, How to Start, and Stone Sale

November Speaker Series: Dave Duncan Lapidary Demo and Stone Sale
Friday Night Nov 15, 2019
7-9 pm
Creator Haven
41B Hangar Way, Watsonville

David Duncan

Dave Duncan is a long-time member of the Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society. He can often be found at their lapidary shop on Saturday mornings, making unique cabochons and helping newcomers to lapidary learn their way around the equipment.

Dave will give a demo of basic lapidary techniques, answer your questions about how to get started in lapidary work, and discuss essential equipment.

After his talk, Dave will have a selection of his best cabochons available for sale. Don’t miss this chance to learn from a pro and to add to your stash at the same time!

This event was held at Creator Haven, LLC, 41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA on Friday, Nov. 15 from 7-9 pm. Light refreshments will be served.

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MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series: October 2018

POSTPONED TO 2019

Due to unforseen circumstances, the MBMAG Speaker Series has been postponed

Panel Discussion and Q&A:
How to Use Instagram to Promote Your Brand,
Sell Your Jewelry, and Purchase Supplies

Our apologies for the change. There will be no speaker this month.

Join us on November 9 when Bob Boscarelli will be our featured speaker

instagram screenshot
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MBMAG September Speaker: Sky Paxton- All About Agates, Sept. 21, 2018 from 7-9 pm, Moss Landing

Lapidary and jeweler Sky Paxton will share his love and knowledge of agates with us on Friday, Sept. 21, 7-9 pm at the Moss Landing Harbor Master’s Office.

Sky will share slides with examples of various types of agates, locations where they are found and some factors that affect prices.

He’ll also give us some tips on hardness and cleavage planes of popular stones which affect their use in certain types of settings.

Sky has been working with stones for many years, so bring your questions about working with these varied and beautiful stones.

This meeting is free and open to the public.

The address is 7881 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing.  After you enter the driveway to the Harbor parking lot go to the building all the way to the end of the parking lot on your right, “Harbor Master’s Office”.

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MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series: Wendy Ballen

Wendy Ballen: Tying it All Together

Friday, July 20, 2018, 6:30-8:30 PM

Don’t miss this month’s MBMAG Speaker Series featuring wire sculptor Wendy Ballen.

We’ll be meeting at the Santa Cruz Art League, 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz

Wendy Ballen is a wire sculptor and guild member

Join us for a peak into what she’s been working on….

The event is free and open to the public

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June 2018 Speaker

calipers, pliers, graver and hammer surround the Speaker Series announcement for the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild

MBMAG Speaker Series

Friday, 7-9 pm, June 18, 2018

Lynette Cederquist: Maximize Your Jewelry Display

Lynette Cederquist

It’s summer, and that means festivals, shows and events where you’ll need to display your jewelry. Lynette Cederquist will share her many years of experience at displaying her own work and organizing shows to help you create displays that show your work to best advantage and also encourage sales!

She’ll share some tips on displaying your jewelry to advantage for photography. 

We’ll follow Lynette’s talk with an interactive discussion of your tips and tricks, plus time for feedback on a few of the audience members’ displays. 

Send in photos of your displays and indicate whether you want to share a tip/trick, or if you want feedback on your display. 

The talk will be held at Creator Haven, LLC, on June 22, 2018 from 7-9 pm

Light refreshments will be served

Creator Haven is located at 41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

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MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series: Paul Kmetko

calipers, pliers, graver and hammer surround the Speaker Series announcement for the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild

Friday, May 18, 2018 7-9 PM

MBMAG Speaker Series:

Paul Kmetko: Stenciling on Enamel -Tips and Easy to Make Tool

Stencils are commonly used in enameling and they can be tricky to manipulate. Nothing is worse than carefully applying powder to your design and jostling the stencil whilst trying to remove it… Not only does it waste precious material, it can be very frustrating.

In addition just laying a stencil down on top of the work doesn’t guarantee a snug fit and powder will creep under boundary zones. In order to solve the problem I went back to my roots in screen printing and devised a solution that solves both problems at once. It started as a low tech device with a easily  available clamp fixture that can be modified with minimal effort by almost anybody.

Paul will share this device and how to make a low-tech version of it, as well as giving tips on stenciling on enamel at this month’s MBMAG Speaker Series.

Stenciled Enamel Dish by Paul Kmetko

Paul is  a silver smith, enamel artist and the owner of Seabright Metalworks in Santa Cruz.

Creator Haven LLC is at 41B, Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA

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MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series: Don’t Miss it!

calipers, pliers, graver and hammer surround the Speaker Series announcement for the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild


Paul Kmetko
New Tools for Stenciling on Enamel

Friday 7 – 9 pm, March 18, 2018

at Creator Haven LLC
41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA

Stenciled Enameled Dish by Paul Kmetko

Stencils are commonly used in enameling and they can be tricky to manipulate. Nothing is worse than carefully applying powder to your design and jostling the stencil whilst trying to remove it… Not only does it waste precious material, it can be very frustrating. In addition just laying a stencil down on top of the work doesn’t guarantee a snug fit and powder will creep under boundary zones. In order to solve the problem Paul went back to his roots in screen printing and devised a solution that solves both problems at once. It started as a low tech device with a easily  available clamp fixture that can be modified with minimal effort by almost anybody. 

Paul will share this device and how to make a low-tech version of it, as well as giving tips on stenciling on enamel at this month’s MBMAG Speaker Series.

Paul Kmetko is a silversmith, enamel artist and the owner of Seabright Metalworks in Santa Cruz.

Creator Haven LLC is located at 41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

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Bruce McKay: Ways of Holding, MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series, April 27, 2018

Bruce McKay with torch and optivisors

April 27, 2018

MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series

Making jewelry requires holding onto things that are often funny shaped, too small, too hot, too delicate, and so on . Bruce’s talk is about ways to hold stuff while creating your jewelry. This includes holding items while soldering, creating assemblies of item to be held together while soldering such as clusters of heads, holding onto items while filing and sanding, holding irregular shaped metalwork while setting stones, and much more.

The tools and techniques will all be demonstrated at this talk for MBMAG at Creator Haven on April 27, 2018 from 7-9 pm. Light refreshments will be served.


Bruce McKay is a gold/platinumsmith, jewelry designer, lapidarist and graduate gemologist with 47 years experience who has recently moved to the Santa Cruz area from Portland, Oregon. There he had a custom design studio for 30 years and for the past 6 years has taught advanced jewelry techniques at the Multnomah Arts Center. Now a member of MBMAG, Bruce is past president of the Creative Metal Arts Guild of Oregon. 

Creator Haven is located at 41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

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MBMAG Monthly Speaker Series

calipers, pliers, graver and hammer surround the Speaker Series announcement for the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild

Pablo Cubangbang
Road to Metal Artist

Friday 7 – 9 pm, March 23, 2018

at Creator Haven LLC
41B Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA

filigree earrings by Pablo Cubangbang
filigree heart pendant by Pablo Cubangbang
Pablo Cubangbang

Join your fellow MBMAG members next Friday, March 23, from 7-9pm  for a fun, interesting evening with speaker Pablo Cubangbang. A popular teacher and artist with a background in drawing and painting, Pablo will be discussing how he came to metalsmithing, as well as discussing and showing examples of his current work. 
Light refreshments will be served. 

Pablo Cubangbang was born in a small town in the Philippines. He has acquired many skills in jewelry making from workshops and Cabrillo College where he was mentored by Dawn Nakanishi. In a workshop by Dr. Yehuda Tassa, he learned the basic filigree process and fell in love with it and has since continued to hone his filigree art in his small studio. Pablo received multiple Visual Arts Scholarships for his jewelry and watercolor pieces. Pablo is a member of the Monterey Bay Metal Arts Guild and is the president of the Cabrillo Seahawk Metal Arts Club.