Belle Armoire Jewelry Volume 2

Published by Stampinton & Company.
After having read the first issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry, I couldn't wait for the second issue. It does not disappoint. The 144 pages features no less than 38 unique and beautifully photographed jewelry projects. Techniques and materials used include textiles, glass slides, polymer clay, crochet, wood tiles, mica and PMC, just to mention a few!

The projects do require some familiarity with jewelry arts and not all of the projects have detailed instructions.

My favorite projects include:

• A complex bracelet by Pat Bolgar using polymer, PMC, and fringe that looks like brilliantly colored sea urchins clustered on twiggy beeded branches.
• A lavish free-form peyote stitch flower necklace by Myra Wood.
  An artsy vine jewelry set (necklace, bracelet, brooch) by Lilla Le Vine using textile piece, gold ribbon, silkk covered cord, glass beads.
• A flip-opennable storybook pendant by Louise Duhamel using PMC for the bookcovers and mica for the pages.
• Hip sixties-looking mosaic pendants by Sarah e. Smith using glass slides and solder
• Two projects by Deryn Mentock - a wire and mica necklace using collage, and colorful collage doll pins using found objects.

Designer Style Jewelry by Haab

By Sherri Haab. 128 pages. Watson-Guptill Publications.

This wonderful book showcases a wide variety of non-precious materials and techniques in jewelry-making. I love the author Sheri Haab’s ability to create gallery-quality pieces from different materials. The book has clear step by step written and large number of picture instructions. It starts off with a description of each type of findings, tools, stringing materials and glues used. Although the book covers wire wrapping, what sets it apart is the examples of jewelry that uses nonmetal materials. It teaches you how to make jewelry using crochet, shrink art, polymer clay, resin and transfer on leather. Each type of technique has an explanation of the technique and several examples that you can make. The resulting pieces look folksy and retro-hip. The book ends with two pages of templates and a supplier’s list.

Examples of my favorite projects include:

• Stone pendant with wire-wrapped bezel
• Crocheted beaded geamstone necklace
• Vintage photo pendant and earrings using transfer on shrink plastic
• Mica pearl pendants
• Resin filled bottlecap pins and pendants
• Retro pictures transferred on leather bracelet