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Mostly Metals

Book Review

By Tammy Powley, About.com

Mostly Metals by Karin Buckingham

Mostly Metals by Karin Buckingham

Kalmbach
By the title and at first glance, Mostly Metals: A Beginner's Guide to Jewelry Design by Karin Buckingham (Kalmback Books; $21.95 US) might appear to be a metalsmithing book. But, while you will find it loaded with metal components and supplies to use in jewelry making, you don't have to worry about having to pick up a torch or even a hammer.

Instead the idea of metals revolves around the use of simple metal wire fabrication techniques, such as wrapped loops, and metal components, such as chains and metal beads. The designs in this book, then, offer you a way to incorporate metals into lots of different jewelry designs but in a way that most beginning jewelry makers can handle pretty easily.

I counted 37 jewelry projects which are organized into five technique and materials groups: plain loops (aka unwrapped or simple loops), wrapped loops, jump rings, chain, and spacers. So the techniques you need to master are pretty minimal, but the author shows you can get a lot of bang for your buck just the same.

This 94 page book includes color photographs of the projects as well as how-to technique information. For total beginners, I think this is a good text, but I think it also would appeal to bead stringers who are interested in expanding into metals just a little.

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