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| Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander |
If you're into making jewelry and are comfortable with putting on your safety glasses and using your soldering iron or glass-cutter, this may be a fun book to gather some inspiration.
Pretty Little Things is full of very pretty things indeed. Lots of creative and inspiring ideas for making collage, trinkets and accessories from a variety of materials. There are lovely photographs illustrating the steps for the projects, which don't look impossible to accomplish.
BUT, you had better already know how to solder and cut glass, and have the tools to do so, or at least be willing to invest in them. Nearly all the projects require soldering of some kind so if you're unfamiliar with this process, the book will be of no value to you except as a source of pretty things to admire.
I love jewelry-making (and picked up the book because of this) but my skills are limited to stringing beads and twisting wires. I've never taken any classes on making metal, glass and other jewelry items that require soldering knowledge, so this book is beyond me. And it's not where I'd start if I wished to learn to craft glass charms. I didn't find the instructions very clear for beginners, it assumes you know things like flux. Huh? I had to have the Internet as a companion to make sense of some of the tutorials. I didn't expect to be able to make charms and trinkets from scratch with my limited skills but I was hoping to see some alternative to soldering and glass-cutting in this book - no such luck.
If you're an experienced crafter in this area, you might get something from the book as the author takes you through various techniques and pretty projects.
Verdict: Good ideas, pretty accessories; not so great in the how-to department for the unseasoned metal/glass crafter.
A few photos of the book.
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| Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander, photo from redgal (Amazon) |
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| Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander, photo from redgal (Amazon) |
At Create Mixed Media, you can download the PDF for the All Dolled Up project (click on the photo).
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| All Dolled Up from Pretty Little Things by Sally Jean Alexander |
Pretty Little Things: Collage Jewelry, Trinkets and Keepsakes
Author: Sally Jean Alexander
Publisher: North Light Books
ISBN: 978-1581808421
buy at Amazon
buy at The Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)
[ check out my other book reviews ]
[ check out my handmade jewelry and other posts on bling ]
[ check out my posts on art ]
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by liberal sprinkles
