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69 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great introduction to jewelry making!, September 23, 2005
This review is from: Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings (Paperback)
If you're seeking an introduction to making jewelry using your favorite beads and simple wire fastenings, you've found it! The jewelry projects offered here are professional and stylish, yet easy to make with just a few tools and techniques provided by the author.
One of my favorites is Tammy's Cubism Earrings, which are made with clever triple-loop ear hooks, crystals, silver spacers, and metal links cut from a commercial chain. Brilliant! She also offers clasps, a figure-8 chain, jump rings, and more in this beautifully photographed text.
The author's instructions are complemented by line-art diagrams in the Jewelry Techniques section, making it easy to follow along. Also included: a helpful chapter on buying beads and wire, using a jig, and a description of the tools.
Some have complained that this book is too basic, and perhaps if you are an advanced wire and/or bead artist this may not be the book for you. But the designs are lovely nonetheless, and because the author's workmanship is excellent and her instructions are so easy to follow, I'm recommending it for beginners as well as intermediate jewelry artists.
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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Handmade findings accent beautifully strung designs, September 12, 2005
This review is from: Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings (Paperback)
This book provides exactly what the title promises -- clear instructions and tips on making jewelry findings by hand, accented by lovely beaded designs. There is a nicely presented introductory portion at the beginning detailing "the basics" -- wire types, tools, and "what makes a bead." (The answer -- for the truly addicted, anything with a hole in it!) It provides clear information for beginners, and a good refresher for the more experienced artist.
The book progresses in a stepwise fashion when it begins to show jewelry artisans a varitey of techniques for making findings -- everything from hook and eye clasps embellished with beads to earwires and head and eye pins. The author shows you how to make these findings by hand with a variety of pliers, so you literally "have a hand" in every component of your jewelry. The gallery of designs provides you with wonderful inspiration (in fact, I found the necklace on the front of book so compelling that I had to buy it) and clear photos accompany the instructions.
The only thing I was a bit disappointed in was a lack of designs to be used on a jig. Though the author does a great job explaining why a jig might appeal to some artisans, the fact that designs to practice with were lacking seemed to make this section an afterthought.
Nevertheless, I still refer to this book frequently, and take great pride in my good looking handmade findings. It takes practice, of course, but this book is an excellent teacher in my opinion.
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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Simple but effective, August 19, 2005
This review is from: Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings (Paperback)
This is a good book for beginning wire workers. I'm giving this a 4 instead of a 5 because many of the projects are strung jewelry using handmade wire findings that are taught in the book instead of exclusively bead and wire/wire-only jewelry. The instruction is clear with step by step line drawings for the wire-techniques that include the basics, the loop and the bead wrap. Then there are instructions for earwires, clasps and connectors. What makes this book useful is that Ms Powley shows how to make 3 and 4 loop connectors by hand instead of on a jig, which is the only way I've seen this wire classic taught.
Another plus is the gallery of jewelry by other well-known wire-artists. Every piece by these experts uses techniques found in the book. Every project also shows a variation, like in her previous book , Making Designer Gemstone and Pearl Jewelry.
Tammy Powley is the hostess for jewelrymaking and has a very simple, straighfoward approach: You won't find lots of coils, spirals, multiple-guage wires for one piece or liver-of-sulfer here.
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