CHAIN and BEADED JEWELRY
GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS
by Scott David Plumlee
book review by jean
I taught myself chain maille using online sources. I never bought a book concerning weaving it until four years after I had started. I did, however, study it intensely in a variety of ways on the Internet. After that, I added gemstones or art glass beads to my woven chains. I even used argentium (Scott David Plumlee mentions it in this book) to make a cuff bracelet, curious to see what that type of silver was like, as opposed to its sister, sterling. In other words, I was, and remain, nuts about chain maille.
First, I would like to say this: if this book had been available, I would have wanted to have it, and I would have used it all the time. I would be continuing to use it. It is a great book.
The interesting thing to me is that this book, is so far beyond "chain maille" that the very words are not mentioned in the title, CHAIN and BEADED JEWELRY
GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS.
I believe this is for good reason. This very elegant jewelry book, authored by Scott David Plumlee, goes way beyond what the beginner or intermediate chain maker is trying out and creates a brand new generation of designer jewelry out of jump rings and beads. However, do not misunderstand me. Excitingly, you CAN be a beginner and easily use this book!
To illustrate what I mean about progressing beyond classic chain maille, take a look at the breathtaking bracelet on the cover. Plumlee has designed something strikingly bold and appealing. The bracelet is both sinuous and elegant. Composed of jump rings of two colors and a number of shapes and sizes of beads of semiprecious gemstone and art glass, it handily demonstrates the good reason for this unusual jewelry design book's title: CHAIN and BEADED JEWELRY
GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS
A New Angle on Creating Dimensional Earrings, Bracelets, and Necklaces
by Scott David Plumlee
It truly IS so new!
It is evolved jump ring chain and beaded jewelry of the most sophisticated sort. It is as if you were seeing these projects showcased in a fine store on Fifth Avenue in New York. However, wonderfully, you will be able to make these stunning projects yourself!
What does the term "geometric connections" mean, and why should it be so important that it is included in the title?
To paraphrase from the preface, the author explains that in this, his third book, he continues to explore geometry, a part of nature's beauty, in order to follow designs which can be seen in everything growing and in all things beautiful, beginning with the simpler designs of the Byzantine to the more complex designs found later in the book: the Trifoil and the Quatrefoil, to the mindblowingly lovely "Organic designs" created by Plumlee himself, which are unforgettable: both playful and fancy simultaneously.
I found every design in this book fascinating and amazing.
Additionally, although I am sufficiently familiar with chain maille (or chain mail if you prefer) to be considered to have a fair knowledge of it, I know what to look for which might be confusing to a newcomer. I remember very clearly which aspects of making this sort of jewelry can be overwhelming when you are just starting out, especially as I am ambidextrous and don't know my left hand from my right. Therefore, it is great that the author gives you really good step-out photos in the beginning to show you the proper way to join your jump rings, and to do many of the other things which will be required in the projects. He also uses the great technique of colored graphic designs for your rings whenever necessary (to be found at the back of the book as well), so that when you weave your chain you will easily see which ring goes where, and which ring goes first, and so on.
I love the beginning of this book!
Plumlee has a great tool section (he had a hand in developing one of the tools himself, and it is so cool!), a lushly photographed gemstone section, an excellent technique section, and a wonderful list of chains and aspect ratios. You WILL understand it all when you read this section.
However, this is not the point of the book.
What is the point is the projects: the brilliant, colorful, royal-looking projects are the point of this perfectly fantastic book. I fell for every single one.
It may not seem easy to gracefully weave a focal into a bracelet, but looking at the Jens Pinds Tripoli Bracelet, the reader will see how worthwhile and lovely this style of jewelry designing can be.
The Beaded Quatrefoil Bracelet has two choices of ways to connect it to show off the shape in two different manners, and both are very pretty. The Flower Quatrefoil Earrings is a project which is one of my favorites. I very much like the gem color used in the earrings (Lapis!), and the beautiful shape of those regal earrings.
Even if you don't have tons of money to make jewelry at the moment, I suggest you get this book and, possibly start small. Try one of the author's key fobs. That, or go for one of the earrings projects, which are exquisite. Either choice is just as fine as his larger pieces of work. You will learn a great deal from his organic shapes, such as the fish, which come toward the end of the book. This is where the author really stands out from the crowd in the sense that his exuberance and high sense of style mesh and he takes off into jaw dropping climes. His other organic shapes, such as the cross, the snowflake and the butterfly, make my heart soar.
I love this book. As a designer, it is a pleasure and an honor to have it in my library. I have already learned so much from it, as to where you can go with chain as you progress in your studies of weaving, and your designing just for the joy of it, and even in my new found interest in geometry, I would truly like to thank the author, Scott David Plumlee, for writing this fabulous jewelry design book,
CHAIN and BEAD JEWELRY
GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS
I am now a total fan!
jean
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy. Labels: CHAIN and BEAD JEWELRY GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS by Scott David Plumlee, review by Jean Yates
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