One Skein Wonders
Posted by Leah on May 17, 2008
I mentioned the book One-Skein Wonders
I love this book. I enjoy knitting, but I’m not as good at it as, say, my mom, so if I’m going to finish a project, it usually has to be something that is either quick, easy, or both. This means that project using a single skein of yarn are perfect for me - scarves, little bags, and things like that. This book is full of them, and there are several that are on my “to do someday” list.
The other reason I love this book is that I have a lot of single balls of yarn. I’m kind of cheap when it comes to non-jewelry craft supplies, and really nice yarn is expensive - so sometimes I’ll splurge on one ball of a nice yarn, but I can’t justify buying enough for a sweater (even if I did have the skill and patience to knit myself a sweater). So now I have lots of ideas for things to make with my assorted balls of yarn. It’s basically the perfect knitting book for me.
Confessions of a blocked creative
Posted by Leah on May 14, 2008
I’ve been reading The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
Did you ever daydream about being a rock star as a child? I did. And I was painfully shy about singing or playing an instrument in front of people. I even tried to practice piano when nobody was home because I didn’t want anyone to hear me. I also wanted to be an author, and I spent countless hours writing fiction and poetry in notebooks that I would later carefully destroy, by burning them or tearing up the pages into tiny pieces. I think one of the reasons I married my husband is that his art is so raw and emotional, like he doesn’t really give a shi* if the whole world can see exactly what he’s thinking and feeling. I wanted to be that, and the next best thing is being with someone like that. It’s almost like you can become the creative person you want to be by being with them.
Well, it doesn’t work that way. To be out there and vulnerable like that is something you just have to do, you don’t get it from someone else. Making jewelry is a wonderful creative outlet, but it doesn’t quite satisfy the part of me that wants to be a musician or a writer. That part of me remains blocked, but I’m working on it.
I highly recommend reading The Artist’s Way, and actually do what it says. I’m attempting to do that, despite the fact that writing every morning probably isn’t realistic with a baby. I’ll do the writing part each day, but when I have time instead of in the morning. Maybe this time I’ll get farther along in the process before I quit….
I don’t want to wake up one day and realize I never went for it. Jewelry is a wonderful creative outlet, and I want to keep coming up with newer, more interesting designs. I’ll probably never be a rock star, but I can become a better musician. And I can work on getting over my fear of people reading my creative writing.
A note about the book: one thing that might put some people off is that she talks about God a lot. If that makes you uncomfortable, just ignore it, because the advice is really good and worth hearing, but I know for some people even the mention of something that sounds like religion brings up so many preconceived ideas that the rest of the message gets lost. So just pretend she doesn’t say God, and substitute “creative energy” or “the universe” or whatever image works for you. When she talks about God, she’s talking about creativity, and whether you believe in any kind of God or not is irrelevant. I think most creative people would agree that sometimes it seems like there’s a force outside of you that works when you are inspired - you can believe whatever you want about that feeling, it doesn’t have to be a religious thing.
Have you done The Artist’s Way
Crocheted Flowers - update
Posted by Leah on Apr 28, 2008
Recently I wrote a post about a book I saw online for making crocheted flowers. Imagine my surprise when I got a comment from the author - how cool! She gave a little more info about it, and of course said that it’s a good book. 
Browsing Amazon, I discovered that there are quite a few books on making flowers with crocheting, knitting, felting, beading….you name it. Flowers make great jewelry and accessories, so I think I will check out a few more books on crafting flowers and I’ll report back about which ones I liked the best. Maybe I’ll even make some flower jewelry to test out project ideas from the books.
New Jewelry Book: Designing Jewelry with Glass Beads
Posted by Leah on Apr 24, 2008
This book is by Stephanie Sersich, one of my favorite beaded jewelry designers. Stephanie makes fabulous, fun, colorful jewelry using lots of glass beads stitched together in clusters. She manages to use lots of bright, vibrant colors together without clashing - her color work is really incredible.
Crochet Flowers
Posted by Leah on Apr 17, 2008
I just saw this book on Amazon that looks like it would be a lot of fun: Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers
Crocheted flowers are a great way to use up a little bit of leftover yarn if you are a fiber artist, and they can easily be made into accessories like pins, or sewn onto hats, scarves, sweaters, etc as a cute embellishment. The jewelry maker in me wants to crochet up a whole bunch of flowers and stitch them together into a fun necklace, or dangle a couple from earwires. I even have some very thin yarn and tiny crochet hooks so that I could make appropriate sized flowers….so I think I would have fun with the patterns in this book.
If you’ve seen this book please leave a comment and let me know if it’s any good.
Book on making jewelry with Swarovski crystal and seed beads
Posted by Leah on Feb 27, 2008
Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones
If you’ve seen Laura’s beadwork and are familiar with her style, what she’s done with Swarovski crystal will be no surprise - her signature style definitely comes through in the projects. Lots of Swarovski crystals designed to look like flatback rhinestones, set behind intricately beaded bezels, and her excellent eye for color and texture. My friend Marilyn brought this book to a get-together a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures, despite the fact that I rarely use seed beads in my own work.
If you like working with seed beads, you would probably enjoy this book. The techniques could easily be adapted to work with cabochons, rhinestones, and other non-Swarovski focal stones, although I imagine that the Swarovski centerpieces really sparkle.
Beautiful New Jewelry Books
Posted by Leah on Jan 27, 2008
I went to my local book store yesterday & browsed the section of jewelry books - there are some really beautiful new (within the last year) books on all kinds of topics in jewelry making. Here are links to a few on Amazon that I’d love to add to my jewelry making library:
The Art of Jewelry: Wood: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration (Art of Jewelry)
The Art of Polymer Clay Creative Surface Effects: Techniques and Projects Featuring Transfers, Stamps, Stencils, Inks, Paints, Mediums, and More
500 Wedding Rings: Celebrating a Classic Symbol of Commitment (500 Series)
New Bead Embroidery Book
Posted by Leah on Jan 23, 2008
The Art of Bead Embroidery: Techniques, Designs & Inspirations
If you’ve never tried bead embroidery, be prepared to spend a LOT of time on this craft. Each tiny little bead has to be stitched on individually, so even small projects can be time consuming. But, like knitting, the repetitive action of stitching each bead onto a piece can be a meditative experience for a lot of people, and there is definitely potential to make some absolutely beautiful things with bead embroidery techniques.
More gift ideas - jewelry books
Posted by Leah on Nov 30, 2007
I was looking at jewelry books on Amazon and found a bunch that I think would make good gifts for an aspiring jeweler. Here are a few:
Marketing and Selling Your Handmade Jewelry: The Complete Guide to Turning Your Passion into Profit
Bead On A Wire: Making Handcrafted Wire and Beaded Jewelry
500 Earrings: New Directions in Contemporary Jewelry (Lark Jewellery)
All Wired Up: Wire Techniques for the Beadworker and Jewelry Maker (Beadwork How-To series)
Good Crochet Book
Posted by Leah on Jul 17, 2007
Donna Kooler’s Encyclopedia of Crochet
It includes basic instructions, project patterns, stitch patterns, and for jewelry makers, a section on wire crochet which includes a necklace project by Arline Fisch. Since I’ve been learning some new crafts recently & knitting/crocheting some jewelry, garments, and handbags for myself, I started reading craft books that aren’t as jewelry specific. So far, this is the best book on crochet that I’ve read, and I love that it includes information about using crochet techniques in jewelry. There is also information on all kinds of other crochet techniques, and quite a few patterns for things to make using the techniques. The patterns range from very easy to very complex, as do the techniques covered.
