Give Away and Review of Jewelry books

Once again, I would like to thank the people at Lark Craft Books and Sterling Publishing for giving me the chance to review some of their wonderful books.   The two books that I am reviewing today along with the give away are all professional jeweler books.  When I first got the one book to review and the other for a give way for my blog readers, I was a little taken aback as they both were far out of my realm of comfort.  Neither one seemed to interest me at the time, but then I sat down with the first book by Carles Codina, Color, Texture & Casting for Jewelers: Hands-on Demonstrations and Practical Applications and was immersed in the book.  Never again when I see metal jewelry for sell will I question the prices on each piece.  I had no idea the complexity of the design and craft man ship involved in any precious metal jewelry.

Carles Codina i Armengoi in his introduction states that "to understand jewelry making, it is not adequate to know it on a theoretical level".  These theoretical levels are based on the knowledge of Mathematics, physics, and chemistry some based thousands of years ago by Phoenicians, Romans, and Greeks.  In this modern age, it is still a requirement of any jewelry to know the techniques of "granulation, keum boo, and mokume gane" which allows the artist to "come into direct contact with the material and fully appreciate its construction requirements".  Once these are learned and practice on the workbench, does the artist "use ancient processes to develop a current design and be inspired by contemporary artist who are doing the same".  With many photos and understandable language for someone like myself who has no instruction in the jewelers' world, I was able to understand and fully appreciate the steps taken to produce outstanding jewelry using these long used techniques.  The logic of the chemistry and physics involved in manipulating metals into jewelry from granulation techniques to molding is a fascinating read for anyone who wants to see "behind the curtain" when you step into an Artist booth and cast your eyes on the simple or intricate design.  You like myself will learn to appreciate the work involve in the creation.

Sample of technique pages

After reading the above book, I turned to another book on Master Jewelers.  The book, The Penland Book of Jewelry: Master Classes in Jewelry Techniques, took me one step farther into the mind and techniques of jewelry creation.  The Penland School of Crafts is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and is the haven for many students and teachers.  The in depth classes train the students in techniques such as those described in the above book, but goes further into developing new directions for the Artist teaching and the Students learning.  The editor Marthae Le Van writes that the offerings at the Penland School of Craft "in metal work are even more diverse, and including raising, holloware, and small sculpture, along with alternative materials, anodizing, die forming, lost wax casting, mechanism, jewelry design, and concept oriented classes".  She has ten diverse artist to write an essay, provide a hands-on demonstration of a technique along with many photos of their creations and each chapter ending with a gallery of other artist work that has meaning to them.  The turn of each page greets the reader with information and beautiful work that literally can take your breath away.  The artist highlighted in this book include Marilyn Da Silva, John Cogswell, Jaime Pelissier, Rob Jackson, Heather White van Stolk, Jan Baum, Tom McCarthy, Maria Phillips, Mary Ann Scherr, and Douglas Harling.  All are unique and all are amazing Artist.  I really enjoyed reading this book learning each Artist discovery and motivation that has lead them along the road to achievement and teaching.

I learned so much from these two books and would like to pass along this chance to explore and learn the history, the techniques, and the future direction of Jewelry Artist.  I am giving away to one person both of these two amazing books.  You should see these two books as gateways to answers about the past, the techniques, and the future direction of jewelry making.  I recommend that the one winner read the books in the order I have to fully appreciate them.  Start with Color, Texture & Casting for Jewelers for the basic information, then read The Penland Book of Jewelry to see the result of practice of these skills and then taking them beyond to another dimensions.

sample of hands-on technique

gallery pages 

I will be choosing one person to receive both book on July 21.  If you are interested please leave a comment to this message.  I would also like to ask you to PLEASE make sure you leave a way I can contact you if you are the winner.  You can do this by either having your e-mail information in the comment, or have a way through your blog account that I can contact you.  If you have blogger, you can actually edit your profile to so that your comment will have a workable e-mail address.  Or check back after July 21 to see if your name has been chosen.  As much as I would love to pass these great books onto people outside of the US, there is an issue with the cost of postage, so therefore this give away is only for those inside the US.  I'm sorry to all my followers from outside the US.

Disclosure...As a reviewer of  products from Lark Books, I receive the book above free of charge. I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion of the products...positive or negative. I am not being compensated by Lark Books for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received and reviewed.

________________________________________

Congrats to

Lavender Dreams!  

you are the winner of the two jewelry making

books.

Enjoy the read!