Books

50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs

Chain Style: 50 Contemporary Jewelry Designs
by Jane Dickerson

I checked this book out of the library, renewed it after a couple of weeks, and my next step will be to buy it. The chain-style necklaces in this book are a wide variety of styles, and all are masterful mixes of metals, beads, and findings. I have been inspired to make beads, chains, and even devised a way to twist wire so it looks like a chain, all from this book. I haven’t used the book to actually make one of the necklaces, but a recommendation I would make to improve the book is to use pictures along with the printed directions. It makes it much easier to understand.

Designs, Techniques & Projects

Creating with Polymer Clay: Designs, Projects and Techniques, by Stephen Ford and Leslie Dierks

The sheer volume of ideas in this book makes it worth the price. I got it for jewelry making ideas, but now I am thinking I might make sculpture as well. Step by step pictures and descriptions accompany many of the projects. The gallery showcases a variety of artists’ works as well as the versatility of the medium. I don’t know how many times I have looked through this book, or studied a page to learn how to master a particular technique, but I recommend this for anyone wanting to learn about how to make things with polymer clay.