Customer Reviews

Woven Wire Jewelry (Beadwork How-To)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Let me start by saying that if you are interested in making jewelry. You should learn to solder! It is not that difficult, nor has to be that expensive. You can purchase a butane torch that is refilled from the same cans that refill lighters. Add to that the three different solders, hard, med and soft or easy. These are different melting temperatures solder needed. with the flux and one or two tools you have you can silver solder form $30 to under $100.U.S. It will expand your work and range more than anything else you can do. As to the book in question. First is if you want to learn these techniques but balk at spending the money for the silver wire. Just replace it with bare copper wire or brass wire from the hobby or home center. The bare copper wire sold in the electrical dept is called ground wire and they have a number of gauges.
The book is laid out with plenty of color pictures. This is nice for us visual learners. They also have complete descriptions
to go along with the pictures.
My biggest problem with the book,is to somebody that is flipping through the projects the material lists doesn't have the total length of any gauge wire needed. It is listed in the description paragraph at the start of the project instructions. It does make it harder for somebody that is new to weaving. Or does have multiple feet of the size wire on hand. The first 8 chapters are for weaving and then the metal clay finishes out the book consisting of one chapter 35 pages in length. Again the clay info is for the brand PMC clay, but they do tell you that if you use the other clay(Art Metal) you will have to adjust to suit the techniques and requirements of it. The quick clamp idea and use is great but it needed to be expanded to show mounting it to a board or pipe so it can be held in a vise or under the legs of the person weaving. I do like some of the projects with the mixed size wire and will replace some of the clay with metal inserts. I do own It.

Based on the more glowing reviews this book received, I assume these techniques are invaluable to serious artisans. But, as one looking for new techniques in jewelry making beyond wire-wrapped loops and coil-making, this takes too many steps beyond what I am willing to involve myself in as a casual hobbyist.

For the majority of the projects, you must either be able to solder jewelry, or have access to a kiln for firing precious metal clay. Silly me, I neglected to notice Amazon's printing of the first sentence, which is: "This book assumes a basic knowledge of soldering." It is a sentence that would have saved me $15.

This book is well written with detailed step by step, easy to follow instructions. The illustrations are top notch! Bend by Bend of each wire. Very easy to follow and very detailed!
This is a must for any craftsman interested in making wire jewelry.
Linda and Christine have done an excellent job in taking what appears to be a craft that only top notch craftsman would be able to do, and tell the secrets of how to make breathtaking, one of a kind jewelry items that you can wear with pride!
The knowledge that you receive from this book is priceless and will teach you a craft that will help you rise above the rest!
Thank you Linda! you ARE the queen of weave! :)

I am a wire sculpture / glass artist I have not seen such eye stopping work such as this. I bought the book unseen by title not exactly sure what I would get most books are rather disappointing,and was very pleased with it. The pictures and description were excellent and very easy to follow. I was able to sit down and compelte the first project with out problems but as with all new techniques it does take it a while to be proficent at it.

This should be a model for how-to books. Each step along the way has a clear, easily understood explanation with an equally clear photo accompanying it. Every design has a complete tool list and materials list. You won't go looking for other books on the same subject because something was left out of this one. If I had only one criticism it would be that the next book of more advanced woven jewelry designs isn't out yet.

I have to admit that since it took two months to receive this book, I had considered canceling my order on more than several occasions. However, am I glad I didn't!! What a beautiful and informative book! The photographs and the designs are all sensational. The projects looked difficult to me at first, but once I looked at the clear blow-by-blow photographs of each step, I have been never been less intimidated, nor so excited, to get my hands into a project! I LOVED the mold-making lessons on how to make sterling silver accents out of PMC clay if I wanted to add them to the necklaces and bracelets. I'm so pleased to find that I can make an entire piece of fine art jewelry without any man-made additions, nor the use of glue, and many times without any soldering. I'm thrilled, and my biggest regret is that I'm marking up this beautiful book with underlines, written notes, and stickies; it is definitely a working book for me.

**Although I stand by the above review written 11/06, I felt that I needed to add to it hoping that if there is a book reprint, the authors will update what I consider one serious breech of instruction clarity. Now that I've tried some of the projects, what I found was that none of the wire amounts necessary were listed. I had to determine the amount of wire for each project by hunting through the body of instructions until I located the wire length and the cuts, and only THEN could I calculate how much wire I needed. This process is repeated over and over again depending on how many gauges of wire are needed for the project. Frankly, it's irritating. Although, to be fair, all the wire information is there to complete each project, you really have to hunt for it.

In a future reprint, it would be VERY helpful for the amount of wire required for each project to be in the supply list along with each of the wire gauges. Brief instructions on how to change the size of the project through wire length adjustments would be sufficient for those users who might want to adapt it, but for the vast majority . . . specific wire amounts given up front would make it much easier to complete a project.

I would like to clear up a misunderstanding about my review of Woven Wire Jewelry in Art Jewelry magazine. I do not think my review "panned" the book; in fact, I think that the positives of this book far outweigh the negatives. My only concern was that there were not as many wire techniques as I would have liked to have seen. I think this book is worthwhile, and I did mention in my review that it does a good job of introducing readers to wireweaving, that it has a great tools and equipment list, and that it is a good buy for the beginning wireworker.

If you are interested in bending wire or scuplting wire you've got to add this book to your library. It is, without a doubt, the most descriptive book I've ever seen. The book has a section (with pictures) showing exactly what tools and supplies you will need and it is truly comprehensive. You can make all the projects in the book with these few tools. Next, although you would think people who work with sharp things would handle them safely, there is a very good section on safety that is a good review even for those with common sense (might save an eye when that wire is flying around). And then, the pictures! Each movement needed is shown with a photograph that is detailed and large enough to actually see what is being done. Christine Ritchey has put this book together wonderfully. The accompanying instructions are beside each picture in a block form. If you take your time - and don't skip around - you can, in a short time, create a beautiful piece of jewelry. The key, from there on is to practice, practice, practice. The artist, Linda Chandler, has been doing this for quite sometime and it shows what can be done in the pictures of her other works. These perfectly set up interest in a new book that you hope will be coming. As a matter of fact, there will be a new book soon - watch for it on Amazon.com. It's coming from InterWeave Press - the perfect publisher for this book. Warning: this art becomes addictive - you even dream about it! Truly a joy to own and to do.

I found the authors' instructions to be very clear. I had no trouble following their instructions, and made a bracelet in a day! I especially liked the way they showed photos of common mistakes and how to fix them. The section on precious metal clays was very interesting and I am looking forward to trying PMC. I have been braiding wire ever since I got the book, and have received many compliments on the braided wire bracelet I made from the book. My one disappointment is that the authors' showed many beautiful styles in the gallery, but did not include instructions on those braiding/weaving techniques. I would recommend this book for anyone interesting in learing how to braid wire.

The book does give detailed instruction on wire weaving. In addition the illustrations detailing the instructions are very clear. However, many of the weaves of woven pieces in the gallery portion at the back of the book, are not covered. I would have liked to have seen more instruction on the different types of weaving or plaiting possible in metal as shown in the gallery pieces. In addition, the gallery section does not list the components of the various pieces, something that could have been useful in an instruction book.

I was surprised to see so much (nearly 1/3 of the instructions in the book) on the use of PMC clay. Although mentioned in the title, in small print, this was not evident to me prior to purchasing the book. I would have preferred more space for weaving of the metal as mentioned in the previous paragraph.

The book does have a good resource list. Another positive is the encouragement of safety and creativity.

Although I would recommend the book, it would not be a number one title for the subject matter.