Book Review and Giveaway-Irina's Inspirations for Jewelry

*Please read to the end if you want to win this book and participate in a weekly inspiration challenge.*

Irina Miech's Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders 1 &2 are two favorites in my book collection. So when Kalmbach sent me Irina's Inspirations for Jewelry to review, I was excited to see what was between the covers. I was not disappointed.

The introduction page is very informative about finding inspiration. While there are a few small photos along the side of the page that could be used for inspiration, the text is the "meat and potatoes" about being more observant of your surroundings and finding inspiration in things as varied as color, shape, texture, music, books, lyrics, fabrics, nature, etc.

Miech continues finding the right components. It may be that you are inspired by a component, or that you have to search or create a component to go with your inspiration. She includes short lessons on using color, creating balance, and trends. 

Next up is four pages of tools and techniques. The list is made up primarily of the basic tools you probably already have if you make jewelry, but also includes some extras. 

Then we get to the fun stuff...the projects. There are 24 projects. Every single project includes a photo of the inspiration plus a write-up describing why it was inspiring. Inspirations included fall leaves, paintings, beach stones, architectural details, weddings, travel, the night sky, a special outfit, lush Hawaiian foliage, and much more. 

Each project also includes a photograph of a variation of the project with a short caption. However, there are no specific instructions on how to recreate the variation. It's more of an inspiration for the reader to recreate a similar look with different components. 

And while this book is about finding your own inspiration and creating something beautiful and wearable based on what inspires you, I still would have liked to have seen a listing of where to buy some of the components she uses. Perhaps there is a piece that is perfect for something you want to try. You are left to  either find the sources yourself, or use something else all together. Otherwise, I love the book.

When the team and I were kicking around ideas for this blog, we thought it would be fun to do a weekly "Inspired by" blog post. Reviewing this books seems like the perfect time to introduce this idea to our lovely readers. How it works is this...on Mondays one of us will post a photo or lyrics, or a link to something that inspired us recently and the result of that inspiration.

For example, I was inspired to create these earrings:

Based on Chinese lanterns:

We will be using Linky Tools so everyone easily join in and see what inspired you. Hopefully this exercise will help grow every person's ability to be inspired and recreate that inspiration in some form.

Now. About that giveaway. Kalmbach Publishing provided, free of charge, the copy of Irina's Inspirations. I did not receive any form of payment or services except the enjoyment of reading the book. I am going to send  one lucky reader my copy. 

To enter to win the book, you must leave a comment below about one thing that inspires your creativity.  

For additional chances to win, do one or all of the following tasks, and leave a separate comment for each task plus a link.

1-click on "join this site" to follow the AJE blog (to the left)

2-Blog about this giveaway

3-Follow the AJE facebook page

4-Follow AJE on Twitter

5-Follow AJE on Pinterest

6-Share the giveaway on Facebook or Twitter

That is 7 chances to win! Comments must be in by 10pm Sunday, April 22. The winner will be announced on Monday April 23 in the first Inspired By post. Please stop by to see if you won.