Create Three Dimensional Jewelry book review

Kalmbach sent me another great book to review. This one is 'Create Three Dimensional Jewelry' by Heather DeSimone. Heather lives in Maine and has been taking apart and putting together jewelry for 35 years and has been co-owner of The Beadin' Path and beadinpath.com since 1993. She was influenced by the work of Miriam Haskell and realized she didn't have to 'string' beads, but could 'build' her jewelry. She dabbled in vintage beads, but got an e-mail from a man in the Lucite bead business that had some beads to sell.  She decided to check it out and came back with 3 semi-tractor trailer trucks with 40,000 lbs. of beads, plastic hoops, bangles and other components and decided to meet the challenge of using the brilliantly bold plastic pieces in her jewelry and inspiring others to use them, too.  She has done a great job of that in this book. She starts with materials (small beads), nailheads, sew-ons, filigree, beads and buttons and more.  Then she gets into the tools you need for stacking all the layers in your jewelry work and explains the Building Blocks of stacking and working in layers. In fact, she has other building blocks for stitching and creating surface adornment and constructing custom components, before you get into the projects. She describes elements you may use to incorporate into finished jewelry, then gives step by step projects for you to make. Along with that comes Tips to make your work go more smoothly, tidbits that are facts about jewelry or fashion for fun, and alternative projects based on the elements that are introduced in the projects. They are fun ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
I've been trying to work with/add leather to some of my jewelry, so I really enjoyed her 'Boat seats to Begonias' project. They found some overstock vinyl at a fabric warehouse and used it to create upcycled vinyl flowers to mix with metal, Lucite flowers and other materials for a fabulous Statement necklace.

One of my favorites, though was the Memory wire Cuff. I've been working with memory wire quite a bit and I loved the way she built on this cuff to make this wonderful bracelet.
The Silver Lining necklace is featured on the front of the book and another favorite of mine is the 'Down by the Sea' stitched cuff where she stitches found seashell beads and frosted glass to a copper cuff. I love it. Be sure to check out the book for both of these projects.
All in all, this is a great book to add to your repertoire for jewelry inspiration and learning how to 'build' your jewelry to make it unique and find your own style. I loved it.
If you're looking for some of my jewelry or Stained Glass, Mosaics and Fused Glass kreationz for your home or garden, check out my shop, KayzKreationz.