Found New Books on Creating Jewelry

Well, I made another trip to Ft. Wayne yesterday.  Stayed overnight.  Since our town doesn't have a Michaels or Barnes & Noble, it's a treat to come and see what's new.  While at Barnes & Noble, I found some very interesting books that some of you may be interested in.  I've begun creating wire jewelry.  Just finished a copper wire bracelet that I did using twined copper.  So I wanted to see what might be available for different types of jewelry books.  I found, Beading Vintage-Style Jewelry by Marty Stevens-Heebner & Christine Calla.

I love antiques and moved from an Itallianate 10-room home not long ago.  I've loved antiques as long as I can remember.  And so recreating vintage jewelry appeals to me.  The book has many examples of reproductions from many eras and shows the "how-tos" for each. 

Another book that I picked up for reference is, Wire Jewelry Workshop by Susan Ray. Again this book, too, has great examples for using wire, which I enjoy.  And also has "how-tos" for creating wire jewelry and wire jewelry parts.  Speaking of...I didn't know about a form called a WigJig that allows you to create an amazing amount of decorative wire elements to use in all types of jewelry.

The last book (I know $$$$, right, but couldn't help myself), is called Beyond the Bead by Margot Potter. An amazing book.The cover says, "Making Jewelry with Unexpected Finds".  Very true!  Great ideas and this one, too, shows how to construct everything shown in pictures.  I know Juls does her flowers, but might think about expanding after viewing some of these special books. (Thought of you Juls) as I was looking through these books.   Anyway, for any of you interested in making jewelry, these are great references for your library.

I will post my new bracelet in my next post, hopefully soon. 

Happy Crafting,

Gregg

Crafting Book Finds

One of my weaknesses is books.  No wonder I jump at the chance to go to Barnes and Nobles  when I go up to Ft. Wayne here in Indiana.  I am constantly looking for books on organizing my crafting space and also ones about  how to make crafting a successful business. Recently I found three books that I found to be very useful:  Organizing Your Craft Space by Jo  Packham, The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall, and Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey.

The first, Organizing Your Craft Space is a very thoughtful book, meaning many things to consider when putting together an efficient area to do what you like to do.  Making it a space that stimulates creativity and thinking about where to put everything are the two major focuses.  Jo introduces the reader to seven artists and has them give their take on creating a space for creativity, while knowing where to find that one thing you need to complete a project. Here is the book cover....a very inspiring look at organization.  I got ideas just looking at the cover.

Lots of ideas just here on the bookcover, but having those opinions by the seven artists makes this book a very good resource for your own studio.

The second book I found was one that I really needed help with, The Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall.  I started crafting in March of 2009 and so did so without much thought to the ideas of recording sales and purchases on spreadsheets along with other ideas to consider like; organizing your workspace (as above with the other book), teaching your craft, being a writer, selling your art, choosing our venue, finding outlets to sell, the business-end of things and taking care of paperwork.  Artists' bios are included in the book. A resource guide is in the back, and it is indexed. Example forms are even a part of the book to give you ideas of how to "take care of the business part of crafting".  Here is the cover of the book.

It will be a great resource for me to refer to as I pursue my own crafting business.

The last book is one I felt I needed for my blogging.  Not that I don't think my blogs are okay, but suggestions really don't hurt anyone.  So I also purchased Blogging for Bliss by Tara Frey.  She has done a great job of discussing considerations for what, how, and where to blog on the internet.  The chapters include; Why Blog for Bliss, Tools of the Trade, Learning the Ropes, Beauty and the Blog, Traffic School (about visitors to your blog), Finding Business in Bliss (promoting your business through the blogging), and If Emily Post(ed) (manners, behind the scenes, language translation, pictures, pet peeves, and continuing the creative circle)

Accompanying all the great text are beautiful photographs and actually she talks about trading in her old camera for one that allows for exquisite photos on her own site.  Tara gives example blog pages by many that she follows telling what they blog about and also telling who those bloggers follow, giving the URL so you, too, can checkout other blogs to see what others are doing and whether you might want to follow them.

I love to write and have a daily journal I keep.  I must get that urge from my grandmother Abby, who kept  a daily journal for many years.  My aunt Bonnie was the lucky one who ended up with the journals when my grandmother passed away.  Aunt Bonnie was sweet enough to give me the journal for the year I was born.  It so wonderful to read what went on during that time period and how the family lived, what they did for entertainment (they loved going to movies), and their work.  Grandma didn't really discuss emotions, which  I think would have been interesting. But it is a great historic documentation of her life frome the early 1940's to the '90's.  I miss her so much.  We were such buddies.  I think much of my crafting came from her as well.  Every holiday celebrated at her house was a fun time.  She always asked me to come over about a week before and help her create table decorations an other decorations.  Being an art person, I loved it all.

So,  did you grow up with family member who influenced you? I'd love to hear about it!

Created a NEW Altered Book just Recently

Hello,

Well, I've been busy. My sister-in-law was interested in having me make a special journal in an altered book for her best friend's birthday. So after emailing her and asking many questions to help me formulate a custom book for her friend...I got busy. The book is about 7 x 9 inches. I glued a set of the last pages in the book together (about 1/4" thick) so that I might carve out a rectangular area to house a box shape I had previously created that could be used to save memories. It has flaps that help keep the contents in and the whole thing is glued to the back of the book. I learned from the previous altered book to finish the back cover before gluing the "box pages" to it. It makes for a cleaner look.

So after carving out a rectangular space, I did cover the back of the book. I chose a blue paper with light blue glittered areas that also had butterflies and a floral designed pattern. I also put the same pattern on the front. For the spine, I chose a deep red crinkle paper that I wrapped around the spine and over-lapped the blue paper about and inch and a fourth. On the spine edge, I stamped "Cerise's Journal" in gold ink.

Then, I tried a different binding this time for the blank pages I wanted to insert in the front for journaling. I chose to use "drumleaf binding" meaning, I clamped the edge of the pages together and then applied several layers of glue to keep them together. I had help with that idea from a new book I purchased called, Art and Books by Dorothy Simpson Krause. After the binding was dry, I glued them into the space left in the altered book where I had cutout the original pages.

Once that was completed, I finished the endpapers on the inside of the front cover with music paper, knowing that the receipient loves music. I also found out that she likes coffee and so I glued a navy ribbon in the top of the spine and at the other end used an eyelet to attach an old coffee key to it. Because I was working with things gold, I also gilted the key with a special marker before attaching it.

Finally, I decided on what to do with the front cover. It was nice as is, but I wanted it to be more personable. So I used a decorative C and then smaller regular letters to spell out Cerise's name in red ink. I also made a cutout area in the upper right corner of the cover to house a butterfly replica. The backing was a shiney gold and the cover was clear plastic. To finish off the area around the butterfly that was with red wings to match the red spine, I used the same red from the spine to create a small border about 1/8 inch wide. Above are a couple of pictures of my final altered journal. Two other inspirational books I recently purchased were: Teach Yourself Visually by Roni Johnson, which is a great book for knowing what's out there to use in your art and also many ways to do it, the other book, Vintage Collage-Works-Artful Ideas with Antique Ephemera by MaryJo & Sunny Koch is just great for inspiration and very beautifully done. Would love to have comments about my own works.

Happy Crafting!