Jewelry Making Books

As long as I can remember, I've been in a great love affair with creative, how-to books. As much for their instruction, I rely on jewelry making books for inspiration, and whenever I get some time to make jewelry, I start by flipping through a favorite jewelry making book to jumpstart my creativity. Even if I don't make the book's projects from start to finish, I always find a technique, design element, or unique material usage that inspires my own projects.

Four books in particular embody all the reasons I have a love affair with jewelry making books. On my desk you'll always find Kate McKinnon’s metal clay books The Jewelry Architect: Techniques and Projects for Mixed-Media Jewelry and Sculptural Metal Clay Jewelry, as well as The Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques and a new favorite, The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry-Making Techniques. Kate's books inspire me when working with my beloved metal clay, and her unique sculptural, hinged, and mixed-media designs also remind me of the extended uses of that medium and help me remember to look at all jewelry-making materials in different ways.

The Workbench Guide jewelry book is always there to remind me of the particulars of a technique I haven't practiced in awhile--or to give me the knowledge to delve into jewelry-making techniques that are new to me. And The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry-Making Techniques is both inspiration and instruction! Seeing the gorgeous artisan-quality jewelry that designers are able to make out metals as well as materials like concrete, paper pulp, rubber bands, and plastic inspires me in countless ways, and--serendipity!--tips and techniques for working with all those odd materials are right there in the jewelry book as well.

Hopefully I'll never get stranded on a desert island and have to pick only four jewelry books to take with me, but if I do, at least I know which four I'll pick!