Book Review: Step-By-Step Jewelry Workshop

By Sandy Amazeen Feb 25, 2008, 21:24 GMT

Think of this book as Jewelry Making 101, a beginner’s course in jewelry design and construction. Starting with the basic tools and materials conveniently marked with a three star system identifying essential and desirable tools along with those to consider adding later, perspective jewelers are shown how to set up their workspace, find inspiration and plan their designs. A broad range of techniques including piercing, drilling, filing, soldering, annealing, forging and finishing are illustrated with detailed, close-up photography and clear, written instructions. The projects beginning with a simple pendant become progressively more challenging as they continue to build upon previous techniques while providing a nice collection of jewelry ideas in the Professional Samples boxes. The basics of bending, texturing, doming and riveting metal plus making stone bezels and basic bead stringing are explored with enough detail to get started on the right foot, allowing the beginning jeweler to discover which technique they would like to focus on. The book concludes with an extensive Resources chapter complete with a shapes gallery to kick-start the creative juices, a brief directory of gems, some helpful size and property charts, glossary and further reading list.