Customer Reviews

The Art Of Making Elegant Jewelry Boxes: Design & Techniques

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Tony Lydgate presents us with a gallery of fine art. The book comprises a ten page introduction to making wooden jewelry boxes, then the art begins.

The bulk of the book is made up of photos and construction details of 30 boxes from 25 woodworkers. The boxes range from classic simplicity, to the curving organic, to the highly complicated. They are all lovely to look upon and to wonder at.

The third section is a gallery of 10 artworks but without the instructional graphics of the main section. These boxes reflect a higher level of constructional difficulty and imagination. They range from serenely beautiful to outrageous.

The work shown is masterful and imaginative. The instructional diagrams are simple, yet sufficient. The inspiration is more than adequate to bring forth beautiful objects from the home workshop.

There's no denying that Lydgate knows how to put together a gorgeous book. The jewelry boxes (all of them the work of other artists) are absolutely stunning - just don't try to follow the directions.

For John Russell's "Multi-Part Cross Box" the _entire_ instructions are as follows:

* The bodies of the central cross-shaped structure and the four corner boxes are all made from 1/4" pine. Glue together using simple butt joints.
* Glue squares of 1/8"-thick plywood across the entire dimension to serve as lid liners and bottoms. Because the exterior surfaces will be veneered, the seams will not be visible.
* Glue and veneer the body and lid of each segment as a single unit. Slice apart.
* Thin sheets of pine inside each box hold the lid snugly in place. Line with ultrasuede. Finish box with spray lacquer.

Gee whiz, is that all I have to do? As I said, these are the directions in full, verbatim. I did not leave anything out, or put anything into my own words. If you can build something from those sketchy instructions, buddy, you don't need the book in the first place.

Bottom line: this is an elegant coffee-table book, loaded with gorgeous photos of other people's art. But it will not show you how to make anything.