Customer Reviews

Basic Jewelry Making Techniques

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The beginning of the book has lots of basic information about various tools and workshop layouts. There are plenty of photographs of the tools and diagrams of workshop layouts. Helpful for a beginner. There are lots of photographs of finished jewelry and processes throughout the rest of the book. Several projects are demonstrated as well. I found these to require many expensive tools that the beginner would not have. Likewise, the instructions would make sense for someone with experience, but if you have not done the technique before, the author frequently does not give enough information for you to correctly do it on your own. I am not sure if this book is written for the beginner or intermediate jewelry maker. Instead, I recommend Tim McCreight's books which are very similar, but easier to follow.

Like other books by Jinks McGrath, et al, this book is visually appealing with great photos and clear instructions on a number of projects involving metal working skills. While not the end-all, be-all, it is informational enough to help one become practiced easily with simply written explanations and clear visuals. This is a nicely formatted book, worthwhile for introductory and beyond skill building.

You would think that some person shopping for a book would read the "Inside The Book" section of the sales page before getting to the reviews. This Jinks book is divided into four sections
1.Planning a workshop
2.Designing a project
3.Basic techniques
4.Advanced techniques
Then finishes up with technical info and glossary. As with her other books. The pictures are clear, and follow the flow of work being described.The workshop section will give an idea of what you need to start and what is needed to carry on with some of the fancy work. With ample text to cover the beginners who will pick up this book. It moves one through a couple of projects with varied materials. The advance section is as she states "introduces some additional techniques" along with the statement that you can use one or all the techniques and that any one of them could be the subject of a book. Also she states that if you don't have the tools and or equipment take a class. In The US Adult Education, enrichment classes or community colleges all have classes.
The biggest problem with books on the subject of any hobby/avocation. Is that after you own three or so they all will cover some of the same ground.
I do have to confess I have vary rarely met a book I didn't learn something from. And in the art metal arena, there are as many ways of doing some thing as people doing them.
If you are a beginner and this is your first book you will find it useful to give an overview of the jewelry arts and a nice glimpse in to what is needed in the advance work area and the tools needs to start. I own it and use it.

The book is good, however, technical. I'm glad I have previous knowledge to draw from while reading this.

Basic Jewelry Making Techniques is an ideal book for beginners,clear and informative.