Fold Formed Leaf is a 3-hour make-and-take workshop where students turn a flat sheet of thin metal into a sculptural leaf pendant or earrings that you can wear or gift before the holidays. Fold forming is an almost magical process that gives pieces an incredible texture and depth.
The class runs 3 hours of instruction and hands-on making, plus an additional 30 minutes to finish up projects and clean the lab — 3.5 hours total. This is a no-solder, no-torch project, so it's safe and welcoming for a wide range of ages and comfort levels.
Cut a clean leaf shape from thin sheet with sharp shears
File edges so they are smooth and skin-safe
Anneal metal safely under supervision and know why it is needed
Fold, hammer and open out a leaf with a central crease and natural curves
Add detail with small hammers and round nose pliers
Clean and polish the finished piece
Attach a jump ring and a pearl dangle on wire
Chinanshu Arun Sharma (she/her) is a jewelry artist, maker, and designer-entrepreneur whose work spans over a decade of material exploration and creative reinvention. Since 2011, she has designed and handcrafted jewelry across an unusually wide range of media — from metal, stone, and recycled denim to found objects, yarns, natural fibers like grasses and banana fiber, and repurposed car and cycle parts. This range reflects her core creative philosophy: that beauty and meaning can be drawn from any material when approached with intention.
Chinanshu trained at the Indian Institute of Gems and Jewelry in Jaipur and interned at Amrapali, one of India's most celebrated jewelry houses. She went on to study directly under master craftsmen practicing traditional techniques such as Kundan and Meenakari — an experience that shaped not just her technical skill, but her relationship to the craft itself. Working alongside artisans in humble, hands-on settings taught her the discipline and patience that traditional jewelry-making demands and instilled a mindfulness that now defines her creative process.
For Chinanshu, making jewelry is a meditative practice as much as an artistic one — each piece is created with presence and care, and she designs with the intention that the wearer carries a small reminder of that same mindfulness into their day.
Chinanshu now brings this same blend of craftsmanship, creativity, and mindful intention into the classroom, teaching jewelry-making to students of all levels.
*We will be annealing with a flame, so all participants should be ages 14+. No unaccompanied minors. Youth participants must register alongside an adult 18+ who is also registered for the event. No youth-only regristrations permitted.
Fold Formed Leaf is a 3-hour make-and-take workshop where students turn a flat sheet of thin metal into a sculptural leaf pendant or earrings that you can wear or gift before the holidays. Fold forming is an almost magical process that gives pieces an incredible texture and depth.
The class runs 3 hours of instruction and hands-on making, plus an additional 30 minutes to finish up projects and clean the lab — 3.5 hours total. This is a no-solder, no-torch project, so it's safe and welcoming for a wide range of ages and comfort levels.
Cut a clean leaf shape from thin sheet with sharp shears
File edges so they are smooth and skin-safe
Anneal metal safely under supervision and know why it is needed
Fold, hammer and open out a leaf with a central crease and natural curves
Add detail with small hammers and round nose pliers
Clean and polish the finished piece
Attach a jump ring and a pearl dangle on wire
Chinanshu Arun Sharma (she/her) is a jewelry artist, maker, and designer-entrepreneur whose work spans over a decade of material exploration and creative reinvention. Since 2011, she has designed and handcrafted jewelry across an unusually wide range of media — from metal, stone, and recycled denim to found objects, yarns, natural fibers like grasses and banana fiber, and repurposed car and cycle parts. This range reflects her core creative philosophy: that beauty and meaning can be drawn from any material when approached with intention.
Chinanshu trained at the Indian Institute of Gems and Jewelry in Jaipur and interned at Amrapali, one of India's most celebrated jewelry houses. She went on to study directly under master craftsmen practicing traditional techniques such as Kundan and Meenakari — an experience that shaped not just her technical skill, but her relationship to the craft itself. Working alongside artisans in humble, hands-on settings taught her the discipline and patience that traditional jewelry-making demands and instilled a mindfulness that now defines her creative process.
For Chinanshu, making jewelry is a meditative practice as much as an artistic one — each piece is created with presence and care, and she designs with the intention that the wearer carries a small reminder of that same mindfulness into their day.
Chinanshu now brings this same blend of craftsmanship, creativity, and mindful intention into the classroom, teaching jewelry-making to students of all levels.
*We will be annealing with a flame, so all participants should be ages 14+. No unaccompanied minors. Youth participants must register alongside an adult 18+ who is also registered for the event. No youth-only regristrations permitted.
