The Jewelry Maker’s Design Book: An Alchemy of Objects

148 Pages·2013·39.63 MB·English

by  Deryn Mentock

the
Jewelry Maker’s
desIgn book
:
an alchemy of obJects
TECHNIQUES AND DESIGN NOTES
FOR ONE-OF-A-KIND JEWELRY PIECES
deryn mentock

This book is dedicated to my wildly creative students. You make teaching a joy!

contents
Introduction (cid:2) 6 CHAPTER 2:
TECHNIQUES AND TOOLS
(cid:2) 29
CHAPTER 1:
DESIGN ALCHEMY MATERIALS AND TOOLS (cid:2) 29
(cid:2) 9
Annealing Metal (cid:2) 38
THE LANGUAGE OF DESIGN: ELEMENTS Drawing a Bead on Wire (cid:2) 38
AND PRINCIPLES FOR JEWELRY MAKERS (cid:2) 9 Head Pins Three Ways (cid:2) 39
THE OBJECTS (cid:2) 19 Wrapped Link (cid:2) 40
Wrapped Briolette Drop (cid:2) 41
Coil Crimp End (cid:2) 42
Hook Closures (cid:2) 43
Working with Vintage Clasps (cid:2) 45
Stringing Beads and Using Crimp Tubes (cid:2) 46
Cutting and Filing (cid:2) 47
Drilling (cid:2) 48
Setting Eyelets (cid:2) 49
Making a Wire Rivet (cid:2) 50
Liver-of-Sulfur and Heat Patinas (cid:2) 51
CHAPTER 3:
DESIGNING WITH SHAPE,
SIZE, AND SPACE
(cid:2) 53
MIDNIGHT ROSARIUM NECKLACE (cid:2) 55
SOUL MATES EARRINGS (cid:2) 59
GO BIG, TEXAS-STYLE NECKLACE (cid:2) 63
CREATION NECKLACE (cid:2) 67
LEATHER AND RHINESTONES CUFF BRACELET (cid:2) 71
CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 6:
DESIGNING WITH TEXTURE DESIGNING WITH RHYTHM
AND COLOR AND HARMONY
(cid:2) 75 (cid:2) 125
EVERYDAY BOHO EARRINGS (cid:2) 77 DOG LOVER’S CHARM BRACELET (cid:2) 127
SHIELD PRAYER-KEEPER NECKLACE (cid:2) 81 AMETHYST MEDALLION NECKLACE (cid:2) 131
HIPPIE HOOP EARRINGS (cid:2) 85 TRINITY EARRINGS (cid:2) 135
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS NECKLACE (cid:2) 89 SPIRITS NECKLACE (cid:2) 139
FOX AND GRAPES NECKLACE (cid:2) 93
Resources (cid:2) 142
SACRED HEART NECKLACE (cid:2) 97
Acknowledgments (cid:2) 143
About Deryn (cid:2) 144
CHAPTER 5:
DESIGNING WITH BALANCE,
PROPORTION, AND FOCUS
(cid:2) 101
SYMMETRICAL: REVERSIBLE STEAMPUNK
NECKLACE (cid:2) 103
SYMMETRICAL: NIGHT GARDEN NECKLACE (cid:2) 107
ASYMMETRICAL: MESSENGER NECKLACE (cid:2) 111
ASYMMETRICAL: A WALK IN THE CITY
NECKLACE (cid:2) 115
PHYSICAL BALANCE: E PLURIBUS UNUM
BRACELET (cid:2) 119
PHYSICAL BALANCE: POMPEII BARS AND
RODS EARRINGS (cid:2) 123
INTRODUCTION
MY FIXATION WITH JEWELRY began at all over again. Finally, with a finger in every crea-
a very young age. I remember happily digging tive pie, a wise advisor said to me, “Make jewelry,
through my Grandma’s little jewelry box, fondling you’re good at that!” So be it.
the pop-bead necklaces, and admiring the rhine- I used to play a game with my kids when they
stone brooches. She didn’t have anything expen- were little. We would go out to find as much parking
lot or sidewalk detritus as possible. At the end, we
sive, but in my eyes it was treasure. Grandma loved
traded junk, and the trading was sometimes fierce!
jewelry and passed that love down to my mother,
The stuff they found was fascinating, and it was the
and then to me. Mom is an incredibly creative lady
beginning of my love of found objects. It seemed
who encouraged me in every art and craft I touched
a natural step to add interesting objects into my
(as did my dad). When I was a kid, we spent many
jewelry. For me, the options are limitless, and while
contented hours together sewing, painting, making
leaded glass windows, creating jewelry, and antique
shopping. She used to take me to the little craft
shop in town for beads and findings to be fashioned
into earrings. The very first project we made togeth-
er was a pair of colorful rings, made from plastic-
covered telephone wire. Hers was made of gorgeous
wire spirals; mine—not so much!
My creative journey was sidetracked later in life
by school, work, and eventually my two sons. As
fulfilling as these were, a maker-of-things can’t give
up making things, and that urge came blowing full
force back into my life. I discovered collage, assem-
blage, drawing, bookmaking, and jewelry making
6 (cid:2) THE JEWELRY MAKER’S DESIGN BOOK
Whether I’m making a recipe, a piece of jewelry, or a white-rose-
and-jasmine tea or the perfume, I like to think of myself as a happy
little sorceress, and if I could just have a little general store with all
that stuff and give people a sense of my taste, that would be lovely.
—PADMA LAKSHMI
I’ve added more sophisticated objects into the mix, My sincere desire with this book is to share with
I still find that the combination of found and fabri- you some of what I’ve learned. I keep a jewelry
cated material is magical. journal filled with my design ideas and sketches,
Over the years I’ve taken classes, practiced and this book is a more detailed extension of that. I
my skills, and discovered a passion for teaching mean to offer you a glimpse of what I do and how I
and design. This book combines three of my big- do it—to invite you into my artistic world and allow
gest jewelry-making obsessions: technical skills, you to see my creative process. I want you to be-
design, and found objects. Good technique and lieve you can do it too. We will explore the magic
design are absolutely essential to beautiful jewelry. of sublime design and the fundamental ways in
Over the years I’ve found that many of my students which elements relate to each other—in other
struggle with both, and especially with design. words, the alchemy of objects!
(cid:2) 7
A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
—ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY