Enameling on Copper Clay
Join Pam East as she teaches you special skills you need to design unique jewelry with copper clay, and add color, depth and dynamic interest with lustrous glass enamels. Pam’s step-by-step approach will have you creating beautiful, show-quality art jewelry in no time!
2 DVD set with 4 hours of instruction, PLUS over 20 minutes of bonus material and special features.

Enameling on Silver Clay
Learn step-by-step how to design beautiful silver jewelry and how to add lustrous enamels. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned professional, this is designed to help you successfully create stunning show-quality art jewelry.

2 DVD set with 3.5 hours of instruction, PLUS over 30 minutes of bonus material and special features.

Available from Art Clay World and probably many other fine sources!

Details here: http://www.pameast.net/videos

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but books have their own video trailers these days! Here’s the video (above) for the book Contemporary Metal Clay Rings.

Here’s the book at Brynmorgen Press: http://www.brynmorgen.com/CMCR.html

Here’s the book on amazon:

Metal Jewelry Techniques: Enameling, Engraving, Setting, and Mounting – a Masterclass

Just when you think that every possible book on jewelry making has been written, someone comes out with another winner. Charles Codina, whose other books I’ve loved and reviewed (The New Jewelry is one) has a new one out: Metal Jewelry Techniques: Enameling, Engraving, Setting, Mounting (A Master Class).

Publisher Schiffer sent me a copy to review.

One of the things I love about Charles is that he can do just about everything, apparently, and he makes it look easy!

Almost everything in this book is covered in one or both of Oppi Untract’s books, but this newer book has color pictures, a big advantage.

In addition to ages old techniques, any book by Charles Codina also covers the newest techniques. There are some fun and good looking projects in this book involving image transfer, carving alternative materials, airbrush painting and more.

While Charles is the lead author and editor, other voices are included in the book as well. Guest chapters and projects and works by other jewelry artists round out the book.

I was surprised to see niello covered in a brand new book, since it’s a technique that uses lead.

Who this book is for: this is not a book for beginners, except perhaps as inspiration and aspiration. For example, the section on setting faceted stones is clear if you already know how to set, but if you’re a total beginner, it would probably not be enough information for you.

I suppose the biggest question, is will I actually use this book myself? I already love it for inspiration. It’s helpful to see what European jewelry artists are up to.

The project that was “worth the price of the book,” so to speak, is one that uses an LED light and connects the battery in an elegant solution. I’ve been learning basic electronics along with my son and have been wanting to apply this knowledge to the world of jewelry, this step by step is very useful.

And I find the carving machinable material project interesting as well.

I saw that this new book is available, from Tim McCreight’s publishing house, Brynmorgen Press and thought, oooo, I should review that, but Gail Lannum’s already done it! You can read her review here:

http://gaillannum.blogspot.com/2014/04/legacy-jewelry-techniques-of-west-africa.html

If you have a little girl who’s a fan of the Wizard of Oz, and have ever found yourself searching the stores frantically for those Ruby Slippers, that were once so common at Target, then you’ll be glad for this book, which shows you how to turn any pair of shoes into Ruby Slippers!

This book caught my eye because we have an Oz super fan at our house.

The projects in this book — there are over 50, how do these authors come up with so many? — are fun and do-able. If you want to throw a Wizard of Oz theme party, this book has terrific ideas for foods and decorations.

The book has some projects that are quick and no skill — like making a color copy and cutting it out. While that’s not a fulfilling craft, if I’m putting together a party on a budget and a deadline, that seems just fine to me.

Other projects, such as the hot air balloon decoration, allow for more creative expression. That’s one I plan to make. We have a little “Seasons Table” where we have a changing seasonal display with little Waldorf dolls I made years ago when we were in a Waldorf playgroup.

The crafts are great and the food is really adorable: Cyclone Cupcakes, Squashed Witch Cupcakes, edible yellow bricks and more.

Other craft projects in the book wouldn’t be a good fit for a kid’s party, but would be a great gift for an adult Oz fan.

The Emerald Hairpieces are made using a techniques I’ve never seen before. That’s what I like about general crafts books like this: I can learn to do something I wouldn’t have gone looking for, because I didn’t know what it was called.

Another charming feature of the book is the old drawings that look like they come from the original books.

The book includes many pages of templates, plus some color pages ready for copying.

Everything Oz: Make Munchkin Placecards, Over the Rainbow Cake, “I’m Melting” Witch Candles, and Much More

I’ve written a Squidoo Lens on have to throw fabulous theme birthday parties for kids: http://www.squidoo.com/fabulousbirthdayparty

Today’s post in Handmade Weddings Week is a review of Rustic Chic Wedding by Morgann Hill.

My first job out of college was working in a wedding ring and engagement ring factory. Before that, I worked as a wedding photographer’s assistant. I’ve been to a lot of weddings and given a lot of thought to weddings. So much in fact that I wrote a little book on it, back in my photographer’s assistant days.

Back then, there was kind of “one way,” to do a wedding. I’m glad to see that that’s changing. The most recent wedding I went to was a theme-costume wedding held in the courtyard of an historic home. A friend of a friend had a wedding in a church turned brew-pub, and she hand crocheted little beer mug figures with eyes for each and every guest!

Rustic Chic Wedding reminded me of the pictures of metalsmith’s Arthur Hash’s wedding, you can see pictures on his blog, here.

My own wedding wasn’t very handcrafted, though I did make my own bouquet – a simple ribbon-wrapped bunch of tulips.

One reason I wanted to review this book, when I was offered a free copy, is that the author, Morgann Hill, is a power Etsy seller, her shop has an astonishing 85 pages! In fact, you can buy already completed versions of some of the book projects in her shop.

If you’re a big Martha Stewart fan, then this book is probably not for you. On the upside, that means that the projects are much more approachable and do-able. You know how you look at some craft books and everything is gorgeous, but the step by step is exhausting? This book is not like that, I feel like I could gather the tools and supplies and do any of these in an afternoon.

While the book is very wedding focused, there are also some ideas for decorations and place cards, for example, that you could use for other parties. I love the chalkboard place cards and could totally see using those for a dinner party.

Here are the major chapters:

Shabby Vintage Couture Wedding
The Rustic, Recycled and Repurposed Wedding
The Country Farmhouse Wedding
The Classics
Bridal Bouquets and Bout Pins
Deconstructed Tablescapes

What skill level is required? I would rate most of the projects as easy to do. The exception would be the wood working projects — not everyone will have the tools and skills for those, but for some of them, she provides a simpler alternative.

I have a couple of minor quibbles with the projects: in the ones upcycling old rhinestone jewelry and bits and pieces into new jewelry, the author uses superglue. I suggest substituting 2 part epoxy in those projects. The floral projects all use silk flowers, I would substitute fresh flowers.

Who this book is good for: anyone planning a rustic or farmhouse style wedding who wants to include lots of handcrafted accessories and decor. If that’s the style you want, this book will provide you with the inspiration and specific how-tos to create a cohesive look for your big day!

Rustic Chic Wedding: 55 Projects for Crafting Your Own Wedding Style

I made this list! Blogger Rachel Gordon Singer included my Kindle book on today’s list of Kindle Freebies and Cheapies!

Thanks Rachel!

Check out the post here: http://www.mashupmom.com/five-kindle-freebies-five-kindle-cheapies-11414 And if you like free and cheap Kindle books, Rachel, a former librarian, posts a list daily, and she’s just added three new websites, focused on 99 cent Kindle books in three categories: cookbooks, romances and mysteries.

You would think I would have read enough of these books by now, wouldn’t you?

Perhaps it’s because making art can be a solitary activity, that I’ll take all the encouragement I can get, and there are some terrific books that are very positive and encouraging.

Making Art a Practice: 30 Ways to Paint a Pipe (How to Be the Artist You Are) by Cat Bennet is the newest in my “collection.” I say that in quotes since I have a library copy at the moment.

Have you heard this phrase? “My art practice,” or “in my practice,” is this new phrase (at least to me).

Author Cat Bennet relates this idea of an art practice to the idea of a yoga practice — something that we do for its inherent value, not for outcomes.

With jewelry making, there’s more of an expectation than with other art forms, that we’ll sell our work. Which is fine, lots of us do want to sell our work. But what about when it doesn’t sell? What about when we haven’t found the right outlet for our work yet?

Then it’s good to be reminded about why we do this, why we make jewelry, what we get out of it besides sales. And how we can push ourselves to higher levels of achievement, in terms of executing our vision.

If that all sounds good to you, you might like this one.

Here’s the link to the book.

I just reviewed this book over on the blog of the Chicago Metal Arts Guild. You can read it here: http://chicagometalartsguild.com/blog/review-shrink-shrank-shrunk

Or go straight to the book on amazon, here.

Inventive Wanaree Tanner has published a how-to guide on using the Silhouette Cameo computer controlled cutting machine to cut metal clay!

You can buy a hard copy on etsy:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/102420716/metal-clay-starter-guide-for-the

Or a digital copy here:
http://www.jade-orchid.com/www.jade-
orchid.com/Wanarees_Metal_Clay_Design_Shop.html

If you aren’t familiar with Wanaree, here’s an interview with her on Tonya Davidson’s blog: http://www.tonyadavidson.com/musings_and_mullings