The book looks as good as I hoped it would be. I've not finished it yet, and had to wait until after the Christmas rush died down a little to even have a good peruse, but the detail and quality of work it displays looks exceptional.
From getting started, to basic and advanced techniques, to a whole plethora of projects to practice new skills on, or refine old ones, it looks to be a cornucopia of soldering delights. I'm especially loving the gallery of different jewellers' works, each photo featuring a description alongside it of the soldering techniques the artists used - how often do I wonder such a thing when I look at jewellery... yes, I am one of those people who mentally deconstructs items to figure out how they were made (and if I could do it myself!).
When I've read the book in more detail I shall do a more detailed review, but it's enough to say for now I'm very pleased with this particular item from my Christmas list. And I'm also pleased to add that I received more than one box of Lindt chocolate. I couldn't possibly reveal just how many boxes though.
Glad you've enjoyed your Christmas chocs (the one's in your last post looked very delicious) - mine didn't last very long! Thanks for the feedback on the soldering book you got for xmas, I'll check that one out.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would feedback to you on the 'Stonesetting for Contemporary Jewellers' that you had on you pre-xmas wish list.... I don't know whether you got it but I splashed out and bought it at a slightly reduced price on Amazon and am regretting my purchase. The cover looks very enticing and although it covers a lot of the basic principles for each technique, that is as far as it goes really. There are lots and lots of photos of beautiful jewellery (not made by the author) but they are there for 'window dressing' only as there is no details on how to make them. I generally found the book lacking what I need which is more instruction on more complicated designs.
Thought I would share this with you and wish you lots of luck with your future projects.
Kristin :)
Thanks so much for that, Kristin. I didn't get that book and may strike it off my 'list' after what you've said - it doesn't sound like a great buy. Galleries can be so good in craft books, but not if they don't relate to what you're being taught, and not at the expense of 'work-in-progress' shots... :( It sounds as if it's a basic guide only, rather than something a little more in depth... and that can be very frustrating when you come to a dead-end so soon.
DeleteI'll post more about the book I got as I work though it - and my remaining chocolates ;)
I bought this book just before Christmas and I was really impressed with it. I've only had a quick look through it but could tell it was a cut above a lot of other metalwork books I have.
ReplyDeleteI like the way it shows how to do the tricky things like soldering on findings, etc, that a lot of other books just dismiss with "finish by soldering on the earwires" type of statements but without showing you how!
I must make time to go through it properly :D
So must I!
DeleteI have a whole heap of jewellery/smithing books and I did think this one seemed pretty special - it's always great when you discover a 'gem' ;)
And I know what you mean about books missing off the important bits - the amount of times the information you really need is just treated as something that goes without saying is just awful...!
The book looks really interesting, I hope you get lots of great ideas from it.
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
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