Customer Reviews

Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing (Jewelry Crafts)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The fact that McCreight has been teaching for 25 years really shines through. The little tips he slips in are great and his suggestions for improvising and making your own tools would save you the cost of the book in short order. There are flashes of humour and the illustrations are inspirational.

One of the editorial reviews mentions that the book contains no projects. While strictly true this is slightly misleading. McCreight includes a number of step-by-step sets of instructions for achieving particular results, but doesn't arrange them into end-to-end projects - leaving you free to think up your own, which personally I prefer.

One of the customer reviews also notes that the illustrations and text are not directly tied together. This is also true, but I was able to make the connections myself in 90% of cases. In the section on hinges, the illustrations show pieces with hinges, and so forth. They are there to stimulate your creativity rather than to tie in tightly to the text.

If you buy no other jewellery crafting book, buy this one.

I am in the midst of a beginning jewelry making class and this book is proving invaluable. Not only are there beautiful examples of work pictured, there are in depth descriptions of which techniques were used to create them. A beautifully designed book - a pleasure!

I truly wish I would have purchased "The Complete Metalsmith" by T. McCreight FIRST and possibly this book second as an inspiration/idea/picture book of metal art possibilities. Now don't get me wrong, there is a lot of useful information throughout the book, in between the incredible metal art, and he does cover some of the safety issues in one of the appendices that pleases me. Another sticking point for me is that the details are sketchy in many of the metal application processes in this book. Yes, this book was published years before "The Complete Metalsmith"...so now consider that book over this one for a more thorough review, incredible details, abundant information, great charts and tables with even more easily readable data, and so much more if you want to really get a grasp of metalwork even for beginners. I refer to "The Complete Metalsmith" frequently as it is organized in a fashion that appeals to me along with the spiral binding that keeps the page open when I need to glance at it during my work.......However, do not expect WOW images of metal art in this book. "Jewelry-Fundamentals of Metalsmithing" brings to light artists' work in beautiful photographed images. Many stimulate my brain in ways so I can create my own designs. Therefore, don't rule this book out...or at least get this book for the inspiration. You won't be disappointed.

This book is an excellent tool being versatile enough to take into a classroom shop environment or the metalsmith's jewelry shop. The book reads easy and is therefore easy to understand and transition the patterns and instructions to reality. All in all a well rounded book that could be used as a text or supplemental text.

This book is well thought out, with brilliant photos and well-expressed text. It covers a huge span of metalworking techniques, and is great for one to see an explanation and in a fit of lightbulb-comes-on say to himself, "Oh, so THAT'S how they do that!" It conveys lots of concepts and ideas, and although it is well worthwhile as a text for the beginner, it is ideal for someone with some degree of practical working background, since you need to be able to understand the concepts to make full advantage of its possibilities. The wide array of photos express plenty of complex concepts suitable to stimulate the mind of the experienced metalsmith. I recommend this book to anyone short of a professional who wouldn't be buying a book anyway.

This version of "Jewelry Fundamentals" had beautiful pictures, thorough explanations, and step-by-step directions. The book would be useful for beginning and experienced jewelers alike. The directions were thorough and explicit, and easy to read. Highly recommend. SE

I have purchased this book to learn about the fundamentals of metalsmithing. Unfortunatelly in most cases the final product is shown and only theoretical description is provided without pictures or description of tools needed. The book is more theoretical than practical and other literature is needed in order to get a full idea of what is needed and how job gets done.

This book is a required book for a college class I'm taking.
Normally, required books are seldom used because the information is not up to date or not easy to understand. Tim McCreights book is excellant. It is instructive, and visually appealing. It includes great examples of metalsmithing projects of not only his work but many other contributing artists. It is inspiriring.

Thank you for this amazing book! This book was recommended to me by a friend who does metal work jewelry and she told me that this was the only book one needed to get the job done! I believe she was right! Even a simpleton like my self can follow it! It's Amazing!

The book has useful tips and methods. I am satisfied. It is a good complement to the same author book Complete Metalsmith, Professional Edition.