This weeks winner is Lesley Watt at THEAJewellery. Congratulations!
You won a cuff connector from Heather Powers at Humblebeads! Send Heather an e-mail with your address and she'll send out your fantastic cuff bead to inspire your next design.
This week we are in the studio of Lynn Davis, who is doing some reading and admiring old techniques to be used in new ways:
It's summertime, and it's hot, so it's a great time to sip something cool and do some summer reading in a lawn chair under an umbrella. Some folks like to read light fiction at the beach. For me, it's much more fun to do some reading about new and different ways to use an old jewelry technique.
This book was reviewed last fall here on the Art Bead Scene Blog, a bit before the book was published. This fascinating book, Chain and Bead Jewelry - Geometric Connections, is written by Scott David Plumlee, and published by Watson-Guptill Publications. He has written others on the same topic, and also has some tutorials on his site. Check those out, too, if you want to try some simple chain maille techniques, to satisfy your curiosity about the age-old methods of using jump ring links to create wonderful shapes and forms.
I have used some of these great old techniques myself, to create chains and generate links that combine with my cast pewter pieces for necklaces or bracelets. The chain maille works well with lampwork beads and other types of art beads, to give either a contemporary, modern look, or a more vintage, antique slant, depending on how the jump ring links are combined.
In the heat of the summertime, it's nice to sit indoors beside a fan where it's cool, with some jewelry pliers in each hand, creating wearable and beautiful chain from wire and jump ring links.
If you'd like to win a copy of the book to get started on your own version of chain and links, answer the question below by posting a comment here, you might be the one selected to win this book for your summertime reading!
" What's your favorite summertime jewelry making activity? Do you tone things down when the temperatures go up? Do you take projects with you on vacation, or do you take a vacation from your projects? Are you an armchair jewelry artist when it's hot, or do you dive even deeper into your creativity when the days are long and slow in the summertime?"
Do tell, you might win a copy of this interesting book for your jewelry library!
Posted by Lynn Davis, who finds it easier to read than to bead in the hot, hot summertime!
