Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists [Hardcover]

Susan Lenart Kazmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2008

Featuring a wide variety of cold-join techniques from the commonly used to the amazingly new, this beautiful handbook is the first on cold connections and combines the art of jewelry making with modern craft assemblage, which metal workers can use to spark creativity and look at their craft in new, innovative ways. Proving everyday found objects—staples, rivets, fibers, resins—can be used to make beautiful jewelry, sculpture, or mixed media, this guide explains how to craft original works with just about anything. Each chapter offers a new technique with a different attaching method along with descriptive sketches showing the connecting layers. This handy crafter’s resource showcases a gallery of 23 top jewelry artists and offers insights, philosophies, and techniques as well as pages of creative musings and stunning photos of marionettes and jewelry.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susan Lenart Kazmer is a jewelry artist whose work has been exhibited in museums including the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, the Art Institute in New York City, the Huntington Museum of Art in West Virginia, and the Best of 2004 exhibit at the Post Picasso Gallery, an international online gallery. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press; 2nd edition (August 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979840708
• ISBN-13: 978-0979840708
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #93,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Making Connections..." is more than a handbook, August 30, 2008

By 

C. Pengelley "professional artisan, crafter, ... (Newbury Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists (Hardcover)

This is not a book of how to make a piece of jewelry from start to finish. Rather, it is a book focused on the technique of the actual cold join. And more.

Susan's book is actually 3 books in one- first, it is a handbook of not only cold joins for metal and other parts in jewelry making (as the title implies), but it is an actual starting point for the individual that wants to take their jewelry from craft to art.

It is also a showcase of her fabulous individual style in design; with photographs of her work including her personal talisman necklaces and some of her exhibited Circus Troupe series.

Lastly, part of the book shows like a gallery style coffee table book for the works of other well known mixed media artists and jewelers, with photography of their items of the quality usually reserved for the catalogs of larger museums and libraries.

I cannot stress how highly I reccommend this book. Whether you are looking to upgrade your jewelry or mixed media; or you just love the artform itself, this book will not disappoint.

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I returned this book, April 10, 2009

By 

P. Thornton (New York State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists (Hardcover)

While the authors work is innovatave and imaginative it is more about making a statement than making jewelry. Her work is really more a gallery or museum installation. The instructions for making the joins and connections are actually pencil sketches with very short written explainations-some of which are fairly easy to understand some not so much. If you are already know how to make the cold joins she talks about this book would be useful in expanding they way you use them-If you are fairly new to the techniques it's not a good choice.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars cold connections stretch your spirits, September 23, 2008

By 

Claire L. Ramsey (San Diego, CA USA & Mexico City Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists (Hardcover)

This beautiful book is an object for repeated gazing. And if, like me, your interest in jewelry is based on looking and puzzling and asking "How did she do that?" Susan Lenart Kazmer's book is the best, because in all cases she not only gives you fabulous images to look at, she tells you how she did it and how you can do it too.

The photography is gorgeous and inspiring. The text is clear and intimate and full of Susan's strong true voice. The reader learns not only about cold connections but about the many sources of meaning lying in wait for Susan and her students and fans. What appear to be descriptions of different kinds of cold joins are really journeys into worlds of symbols and the physical objects that become their vehicles.

The techniques are clearly illustrated, and clearly explained. Whether you are a fabricator of ornaments for the body, a wearer of ornamental objects, a fan of Susan's troupes of dancers, singers, jugglers and vaudevillians, or a seeker of meaning and amusement in the curiosities found on the ground, in flea markets and sawed, attached and stacked together, there will be something for you in this wonderful book!! You know you need to have this book for your very own!! Since I got it and started looking at the pages, I have twice dreamed about fabricating meaningful pieces of jewelry for myself and others out of curious things. You won't be sorry when you get your hands on it. You will want to run outside and start picking things up! You will be inspired, and if you're like me, your life as an artist will never be the same.