“Books make great gifts because
they have whole worlds inside of them.
And it's much cheaper
to buy somebody a book
than it is to buy them the whole world!”
? Neil Gaiman
In honor of today's quote, I'm giving away a new jewelry how-to book. If you're new to jewelry making or using wire, I hope this book helps open up a new world for you.
About the Book
Bewitching Bead & Wire Jewelry: Easy Techniques for 40 Irresistible Projects by Suzanne Tourtillott contains projects by 27 designers. (Interestingly, 19 of them have shops on Etsy.) Projects use techniques such as wrapped loop dangles, decorative spirals, or simple wire wrapping. The project instructions are mainly text with some illustrations and the occasional close-up detail photo.
The techniques section is quite brief (4 pages). If you're an absolute beginner who's never done any jewelry making before, you'd probably find it helpful to first take an introductory class at your local bead shop or watch some videos on YouTube to master basic techniques. If you've made a few pairs of simple earrings before, this book will give you some ideas for stretching your skills a bit further.
What I Liked Best
Believe it or not, one of my favorite parts of the book is the table of contents, which shows tiny photos of all the projects in the book. What a great idea! Those who make jewelry tend to be very visual and this makes it easy to pick out a new project to do or quickly locate an old favorite.
I found myself lingering over some of the slightly more advanced wire designs, such as the Blue Coral Necklace by Brenda Davis. This necklace uses herringbone weave to create framed links around individual blue sponge coral rounds. Similarly, the Asymmetrical Amethyst Necklace by Elizabeth Allerton has a little section on the side of focal where she's coiled some wire and then wrapped the coiled wire around some amethyst rondelles.
Win a Copy of This Book
I'm giving away my new review copy of this book.
- If you'd like to win, please leave a comment on this blog post by midnight (Mountain Standard Time) on Sunday, July 14th. I'll pick a random winner on Monday morning. Make sure you fill out the "email" part of the comment form so I can contact you if you win.
- Please share this giveaway on Twitter and/or Facebook: I'll give you an extra entry for each. (A maximum of three entries per person: one for commenting on this blog post, one for sharing on Twitter, and one for sharing on Facebook.) You'll need to let me know in the comments that you've done this.
- This giveaway is open to everyone. International entries are fine.
Update July 15, 2013: This giveaway is closed. Congratulations to Mona for winning the book! Please contact me with your mailing address and I'll put the book in the mail.
Standard Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this book from Lark Crafts, but received absolutely no compensation for the review itself. The opinions expressed in this blog are all my own. I'm using my own hard-earned dollars to pay for the postage to send the book to the winner. Now, stop reading this disclaimer and go make some jewelry!