Penland Book of Jewelry

Reviewed on Amazon By J. Y. Cable-delporte on May 29, 2011

I have another Penland book, Masterclasses in Jewelry Techniques (that may not be the exact title) It is full of great design ideas and techniques. It also exposed me to some new uses for some of my tools. That book was so good I figured I couldn’t go wrong with buying this one, especially at a reduced price for a used book. Even though this is an older book (practically every man has long hair or has a headband on, 1975,geez,those were the days…) it is still a good resource. The very fact that the artists taught at Penland says a lot about what good crafts people they are. Many of them will have some name recognition for the average crafts person.
Nothing fancy here as far as layout and stunning photos go. This is a practical book. Concise text and clear, close up, black and white photos, with a few pages of gallery photos in color. I love seeing how other artists work through their fabrication process and that’s what this book provides. It’s almost as good as standing next to them and looking over their shoulders as they work on their projects and discuss what they are doing. I think this book is geared more toward the person who already understands the fundamentals of jewelry fabrication,eg: you already know how to saw, pierce, rivet, use a flex shaft, solder, etc. However,even if you are a novice, it isn’t daunting to see a true craftsman at work, it is inspiring. I am glad I added this book to my resource library.