Thursday, November 11, 2010

30-Minute Earrings--Not Your Average Earrings!

This is one of the most inspiring jewelry making books I have ever seen. I'm so glad I purchased this book.

 While there are some beginner projects, many of the projects require metal working skills and tools that a beginner jewelry maker would not have. A beginning metalworker, versus someone who has only done basic bead stringing, could do well with these designs. There are also some designs using metal clays, rather than traditional metalwork.



Some designs call for a rolling mill to pattern metal, but the designs could be made with metal patterned in other ways, like etching or hammering. It's not necessary to have every tool mentioned.

 
I'm pretty sure that many of these would take ME longer than 30 minutes to make. I intend to put this book on my bench, practice and hone my skill on these designs until I can make them in 30 minutes. I love this book!

 The table of contents is pictorial. This makes it very easy to see what page a certain design is on and quickly turn to the instructions.

 The photos are clear and close-up. The photos are all of the finished jewelry or a detail of the finished earrings. There are some line drawings of templates. There are no step-by-step photos.

 The designs are modern and unique. Just leafing through the book gave me inspiration for many different designs. Several of the designs gave me ideas on ways to improve some of my own designs, even though I use different techniques with my designs.


This book is good for those wanting to take their skills to a new level, and for those seeking inspiration with their own designs.




2 comments:

Laura Twiford said...

OK I checked, and i don't have this one :) will go check it out at Amazon! Thanks for your comment on my workspaces, i can tell by the few posts I have read here so far that we may be kindred spirit tool junkies and bookaholics! Glad to have met you!

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks Laura! And you're right, I am a tool and book junkie.