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. 

Art Jewelry Elements Debut

Hello and Welcome to the grand opening of the Art Jewelry Elements blog! We are super excited to be offering this brand new collaborative blog to all jewelry designers who want to elevate their designs to the next level. While our team is very diverse in skill set and media used, every one of our team members creates handmade elements (or components) to be used in art jewelry and has had work published or about to be published. We also make jewelry with our components and know the quirks involved with working with handmade components.

Our goal is to build a community of people who love art jewelry, love making art jewelry, who aspire to make art jewelry, and to those who just like looking at pretty pictures. We will focus on building your art jewelry business, getting published, challenging you to stretch yourself and flex that creative muscle, lots of tutorials, tool and product reviews, studio organization, giveaways, news, trends, and so much more. 

Meet the Team: 

Today is just a quickie meet and greet. You will get to learn more about each of us through a fun interview.

Jennifer Cameron: That's me! Team leader. Primary media are glass (lampworking) and wire. 

Kristi Bowman: Creates her gorgeous elements using CopprClay and BronzClay. She was also my bead soup blog party partner for the 4th BSBP, which was awesome because I love Kristi's work. 

Linda Larsen: A mixed media artist who writes the BEST tutorials on her Objects and Elements blog and will have tutorials to share here too. 

Barbara Lewis: The queen (and author extraordinaire) of torch fired enamel components. She is also in the process of moving and opening a bricks and mortar studio in Florida. It might be a while before we hear much from her. 

Melinda Orr: Works magic with metal and patinas and is the founder of Creative Bead Chat on Facebook (it's an open group, so if you are on facebook, ask to join!)

Karen Totten: Last but not least is Karen, our resident ceramic guru who creates the most gorgeous components. I've used a few in my work.

This is just the beginning of what is to come. While we still have some work to do on the blog and our various social media site designs, please stop by, say hi, and stay a while.