Mike Runzi made the long drive from the Atlanta, Ga., area to teach a jewelry-making workshop at the Montgomery County Arts Council building in Montgomery City.

It turned out to be a good trip for Runzi as he taught several people how to make jewelry for five days. On the fourth day on May 16, he received a big cake and a guitar for his work.

“I love teaching,” Runzi said. “I usually work with more college-age types of students. I had to adjust the curriculum a little bit. But it’s nice because a lot of these people bring out their experiences. I had a heck of a lot of fun. It’s been wonderful. Every group is always fun. Each one of them has their own vibe and their own personality.”

Six people participated in the workshop, which was held from May 13-17. There were tables full of jewelry-making items such as saws, torches and rotary tools. Runzi said making jewelry is not easy.

“It’s just a lot of applied chemistry,” Runzi said. “When you work out your formulas, a lot of people don’t share that information. It’s kind of a proprietary thing that you put together and it’s taking so much time. I don’t mind teaching it because of the techniques and the control that have to be exercised in doing it.”

Runzi taught jewelry making for the first time this year at the five-day workshop at the Arts Council building. He last taught a jewelry-making class two years ago in Oregon.

“I did a few during COVID out there,” Runzi said. “During pre-COVID, I would do a number of topics with the SCA, which is sort of a Medieval reenactment group. We taught them sand casting and stone carving. I specialize in granulation and fusing.”

Runzi lives in Peachtree City, Ga., just south of Atlanta. He grew up on a farm that is outside of Rolla. He worked in the legal business for years before he developed an illness that took him out of the profession.

“I’m still dealing with it,” said Runzi, who had a stint as Missouri assistant attorney general. “I’m in a period of remission right now. I couldn’t do anything. I needed something that would accommodate my physical limitations as well as some cognitive limitations that the illness causes. So I had to take stock of what I can do.”

Runzi said he first learned about jewelry making from a friend who was a Navajo-trained silversmith.

“It wasn’t really a job,” Runzi said. “It was an interest that I had. Later on, as I did more of it and started to get better at it, my daughter and her friends were like, ‘Can I buy some of the stuff that you’re making?’ So it just seemed OK. This is something that can accommodate the disabilities I’m dealing with.”

Now, he has been making jewelry for 15 years.

“I wanted to do something,” Runzi said. “I needed to do something. Art has always been a fallback in my life. I had a graphic arts business between grad school and law school. So I got into silversmithing. There was no set time schedule. If I was sick, I could walk away from it. If I was feeling good, I could dive right into it.”