As I flipped through the project pages (50 projects as the title explains), I could tell immediately that there were a number of designers at work here because of the variety of styles included. For example, Denise Peck's designs (which happen to be some of my favorites out of the book) had clean lines and a simplicity to them that made the jewelry very wearable, not fussy but the type of jewelry you would slip on quickly before running out the door for the day and still feel totally put together and stylish. Howard Siegel's designs added lots of great chains to the mix, so again, I could spot his work right away. For those who wanted a more eclectic jewelry piece, there are projects by Jodi Bombardier, Linda Gettings, and Ronna Sarvas Weltman. A few projects by Tamara Honaman included styles that were very wearable still but also edgy, such as her "Simply Charming" bracelet project that combines beaded charm dangles which slide around on S-shaped links. Sandra Lupo is into wire wrapping both beads and more unique materials such as silk cord. Finally, Kerry Bogart, who is also a lampwork artist, has some interesting ways to incorporate glass components into finished jewelry pieces.
Though this is primarily a project-based book, there is a short section on tools, types of wire, and techniques used. The wire description area isn't that long, but the information is good. Some wire books don't explain the difference between dead-soft, half-hard, and full-hard wire, and I thought Peck did a good job with this. In addition, she provided a little information on what the different hardnesses are unusually used for as well. The techniques illustrated in full-color photographs will be common-knowledge to anyone who has done a fair amount of wire jewelry work before, such as unwrapped loops, wrapped loops, S-hooks, ear hooks, jump rings, and more.
Projects are defined by levels 1, 2, 3, with the difficulty going up as the number gets bigger. The techniques section is not huge, but between the pictures there and the numerous level one projects provided, I think there is plenty here for the beginner.
One item I would have liked to have seen in the book since the projects aren't organized in any particular way - and this is really a minor issue - is a listing of projects per level, such as all the level 1 projects and page numbers; 2 projects and page numbers; and 3 projects and page numbers. I can tell that the book was designed with various skills levels in mind (beginner, intermediate, and advanced), so a list like this would be helpful for those who are more advanced and want to find projects that would challenge them.
I would recommend this book to beginners who wants to learn some fairly simple wire jewelry techniques as well as more advanced jewelry makers who are looking for more wire jewelry designs to try out.
