{"id":19347,"date":"2013-08-09T16:18:27","date_gmt":"2013-08-09T23:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/?p=19347"},"modified":"2016-11-09T17:51:42","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T00:51:42","slug":"book-review-aimee-rays-sweet-simple-jewelry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/2013\/08\/book-review-aimee-rays-sweet-simple-jewelry\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Aimee<\/a>Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry: 17 Designers, 10 Techniques & 32 Projects to Make<\/a> by Aimee Ray<\/a><\/p>\n

When I received this book from Ken at Lark Crafts, I saw the cover and was really excited. The cover looks like the designer got his\/her colors from a candy shop. ‘Sweet’, but not sickly sweet, is definitely how I would describe it. I have to say that I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t a quilt book, but was glad to see that fabric is used in a number of the projects.<\/p>\n

I have noticed a trend (can I call it that?) of including a visual table of contents in some recent books I have read and\/or reviewed. Purses Bags Totes<\/a> had one which really helped my navigation of the book as well as writing the review. I notice that this book has one as well.<\/p>\n

Not only does this visual ToC, as we, in the Library biz call it, help with navigation, but it gives a potential buyer a little more information. I hope that Amazon and other online booksellers will include such information in their ‘inside look’ pages.<\/p>\n

From the ToC, I can see that this book has more colorful projects than some of the other jewelry books I have read recently. This one uses felt, embroidery thread and fabric scraps in many of the projects, which adds to the color choices.<\/p>\n

Like many other Lark Jewelry & Beading books, this has a comprehensive Basics, pg.10, section. I love the ‘cover photo’ that begins the section depicting a variety of supplies and embellishments. Many of the supplies can already be found in your quiltmaking cupboard. Each subsection includes a couple of sentences about why you would use each material. Tools are listed separately, starting on pg.17, again, with definitions of what they are and why you would use them.<\/p>\n

Following Tools is a section on Techniques, pg.20-, which discusses embroidery, transferring templates and patterns, hooping, to knot or not to knot (HA!), stitches, working with polymer clay type materials and a whole host of other techniques that may add to your creative jewelry designs.<\/p>\n

After a very comprehensive 28 pages of Tools, Tips and Techniques, Aimee Ray<\/a> launches into the projects. The first page of the section includes larger photos of a selection of the projects.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite projects is the Felted Terrarium Necklace, pg.45. I wouldn’t make it, but I like the look. It would also be great as a gift for a charm bracelet.<\/p>\n

The projects consist of a large photo of the finished piece9s) and 1-2 pages of directions, which includes tips, a materials and tool list. Not being a jewelry maker, I cannot judge whether this is enough information to finish the project.<\/p>\n

I also like the Cabochon Hairpins, pg.57. This is a really unique idea, perhaps because I have hatpins on the mind after reading Jacqueline Winspear<\/a>‘s book, Maisie Dobbs<\/a> again. I have not seen anything like this before and give kudos to the designer, Kathy Sheldon for thinking outside the box.<\/p>\n

This is also a very well designed book. I like the colors of the layout as well as the graphic embellishments and photography on the inner pages. Take a look at this book and be inspired.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry: 17 Designers, 10 Techniques & 32 Projects to Make by Aimee Ray When I received this book from Ken at Lark Crafts, I saw the cover and was really excited. The cover looks like the designer got his\/her colors from a candy shop. ‘Sweet’, but not sickly sweet, is … Continue reading “Book Review: Aimee Ray’s Sweet & Simple Jewelry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[402],"tags":[6,86],"class_list":["post-19347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-402","tag-book-review","tag-off-topic-crafts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artquiltmaker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}