Keum-boo Gold for Jewelry with Hanna-Katarina and Brienna Hall — June 7th

Dates: June 7th, 2025
Times: One Saturday 10-5pm
Level: Intermediate
Members Price: $250 (Members use discount code MEMBERS10 at checkout to receive 10% off)

Workshop Description:
Keum-boo (Korean: 금부; also Geumbu, Kum-Boo or Kum-bu—Korean "attached gold") is an ancient Korean Gilding technique used to apply thin sheets of gold to silver.Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting a surface of stealing silver to bring up a thin layer of fine silver to the surface. Then 24 carat gold foil is applied with heat and pressure—to produce a permanent diffusion bond.

In this workshop you will learn all the basics of this beautiful surface technique and how to: depletion guild, how to design with intention, cut and apply the gold foil to three dimensional, flat, and textured metal surfaces, techniques for finishing.

Together we investigate the various ways metal surfaces, particularly fine silver, can be enhanced by manipulation..through the application of gold foil, to a prepared silver surface. Topics covered:

• Depletion gilding or ‘silvering’ the metal surface in preparation.

  • Design with intention -Cutting gold foil

  • Adhesion of gold foil to the silver surface by means of heat and pressure

  • The decorative potential of the gold fusion process

  • Use of the rolling mill to add texture to the metal - Fusion and soldering of findings to the surface

  • Specific finishing’ processes.

Requirements/ Skill level This is an intermediate course, however beginners are welcome!! Sample pieces will be made throughout the class! Those with experience are welcome to arrive with their own, pre-made fine or sterling silver work ( we ask that you send photos of said work prior)

$70 Materials fee (included in price). The materials fee is required for all students!

Workshop hours: Saturday 10-5 pm with a lunch break. Students also have the opportunity to attend the following Sunday’s open studio at a discounted rate ($25) to continue projects.

About the Instructor:
Your Instructors

Taught in tandem with Brienna Hall and Hanna-Katarina. The two jewelry artists and educators frequently utilize Keum-boo gilding in their designs and love the process deeply.

Brienna Hall: Brienna holds a bachelor’s degree in sculpture with a minor in fiber arts from the Kansas City Art Institute. Her artistic journey began as a photographer and milliner, where she honed her skills in crafting exquisite headwear and creating ornate, dreamlike imagery. This creative foundation eventually led her to establish Shrine Jewelry, a line that lovingly merges her love for adornment with the artistry of fine metalwork. Working from her studio in Mendocino, California, Brienna brings her unique vision to life, drawing inspiration from the rugged beauty of the Northern California coast and the mystic worlds around us. In addition to her work as a jewelry artist, Brienna continues to study photography and teaches workshops on the ancient technique of sand casting precious metals, sharing her expertise throughout Northern California. Starting in 2025, she is expanding these workshops to the Midwest and Italy. Her philosophy as a jeweler is rooted in the belief that our bodies are sacred shrines deserving of adornment. Each piece of jewelry is crafted to honor this intimate space, blending organic shapes, repetitive patterns, and textile-inspired techniques with the process of metalsmithing. Through sand casting, fabrication, keum-boo and textile techniques Brienna creates one-of-a-kind works, each imbued with a sense of individuality and timelessness.

Hanna-Katarina: California, United States

Hanna-Katarina creates one of a kind jewelry, ritual adornments and performance pieces. She works in collaboration creating experimental videos, photography, creative direction and performance in order to tell stories through the body.

Hanna practices ancient and experimental metalsmithing techniques, in addition to working with a variety of materials, found objects and traditional craft processes. Hanna creates adornments for performance and ritual, recontextualized in the landscape of modern life. Her work draws on mythology, mysticism, dreamscapes, archetypal symbology, magic, memories, the subconscious and perspectives of reality. Honoring storytelling traditions of the past while writing a new narrative out of time. Adornments meant to act as deities for the body, enabling the wearer to invoke the sacred through their own embodiment. 

She is a believer and investigator in the transformative power of disguise, movement and of talismanic objects.Hanna is consistently exploring the links between the meditation of the intimate craft process and expression of the body through performance. She is interested in the balance of intimacy between maker, wearer and witness. 

Hanna-Katarina was born by the Sea and grew up in the mountains of Northern California. She currently resides and works in her studio in Mexico. She studied metallurgy in New York and Florence, Italy. She has exhibited her work in New York,California, Europe, and Mexico.

Her work is currently on exhibition at Carlo Lucidi Gallery in Rome, Mendocino Art Center in California, Costaiia Showroom in Mexico City, Salon 1168 in Guadalajara and Lagoon in NYC

Artist statement

“I I enjoy playing with the balance of light and  dark and the parallels of fantasy and reality. I am fascinated with investigating light, reflection and movement as a language of storytelling. I make objects and tell stories because of my desire to interpret indescribable things."

Instagram: @hannakatarinaalexandra Website: hanna-katarina.com

Required Materials: - $70 Materials Fee (included in price) includes:

1”x4” sheet 20g fine silver

1.5”x1.5” 24k keum boo foil

Burnishing tool

Optional Materials:
- closed toed shoes
- finished silver pieces