Product Review

This comprehensive and heavily illustrated manual teaches the craft of jewelry making to students looking to create professional quality items. The author covers every step of the process, from creating original design concepts to fashioning professionally finished pieces of jewelry. She lists all required tools and equipment, explains their uses, advises on safe working practices, and then guides her readers through every stage of the jewelry making process in a series of carefully structured tutorials. Students will learn—How to start with an original idea, translate it into a workable design, and then use the design as a pattern to make beautiful wearable jewelry, how to work with precious and semiprecious stones, metals, glass, plastic, resin, and wood, and how to present and sell one’s creations to dealers and wholesalers. Clear, full-color, step-by-step photos demonstrate the methods of fashioning metals by heating, hammering, casting, soldering, riveting, polishing, finishing, and adding surface decoration. At-a-glance panels explain how to apply the right techniques when working in specific metals, as well as ideas for experimenting with inexpensive substitutes before advancing to precious materials. Here’s the perfect book for transforming hobbyists into true professionals. It will also serve as a useful textbook for those conducting organized courses in jewelry design. Color photos on every page.