Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : Art Jewelry Magazine: readers

Art Jewelry magazine now offers free desktop wallpaper downloads!

Addie Kidd — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:35:00 GMT

Hello everyone!

I don't know about you, but I could look at jewelry morning, noon, and night. No, seriously – I'm surrounded by it every day, and oftentimes jewelry even ends up in my dreams. (If you dream about jewelry too, I'd love to hear about it in the comment section below. It'd be nice to know I'm not the only one!)

There's inspiration to be found in other artist's jewelry work. Plus, well...it's just plain beautiful stuff. And I'm not alone in this art appreciation. Judging by the response we get to both our in-print Gallery and our online Gallery, you guys looooo-oooove looking at innovative and stunning jewelry.

I guess it's no coincidence that the Show Us Your Work section of our Online Reader Forums has more views than any other section!

So that got us thinking here at Art Jewelry. We've got all this beautiful imagery of equally beautiful jewelry. Hmm, what could we do with it? What...to...do?

Simple: Wallpaper!!!!

There's something for every jewelry maker in this first batch of 6 images:

Metals: silver, gold, copper, and brass
Polymer clay (metal clay to come shortly)
Gemstones
Tools and equipment
Techniques: soldering, fusing, cold-connections, hammered finish, keum-boo, chain-making, patination, and bezel- and prong-set components

These images are from articles featured in Art Jewelry magazine, and you can learn how to make each and every one of them!
(Okay, so we can't teach you how to draw a cute ilustration like in the Kiln Love image, but we can teach you all about how to operate and care for your kiln!)

Visit our wallpapers page for more details about the projects and the artists.

Top row: John Sartin, Patricia Tschetter, Jill L. Erickson
Bottom Row: Melissa Muir, article by Pam East, Kim Stephenson.

To get your own free wallpaper, head on up to the Resources tab at the top of our Web site, and click on Wallpapers link. You can download your favorite image instantly! You can also bookmark www.artjewelrymag.com/wallpapers. Then again if you're looking for ultra-convenience, sign up for our newsletter. It's free, and we'll send you link every month with the latest free wallpaper.

And if you've got a minute, head to our Web site's home page to take our new Reader Poll — we'd love to hear your opinion on our new wallpapers.

Take care everyone and have a happy Friday!!

~Addie~

P.S. If you have any favorite images from the pages of Art Jewelry, or a specific technique you'd like to see featured as wallpaper leave a comment below.

Want to see your work in Art Jewelry magazine? We've made it easier to submit.

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Have you ever wanted to do an article for Art Jewelry so you could teach your fellow jewelry makers how to do a technique? Or have you ever thought that your work would look great in Gallery or Beyond Jewelry? If you have, we'd love to hear from you. Check out our new PDF "How to Pitch a Story Idea to Art Jewelry" (hint: you can do it in 4 easy steps) and our newly revised "Art Jewelry Submission Guidelines" here. We admit, understanding how the publishing world works can be a little daunting. Hopefully, these documents will make it easier for you to navigate the quirky world of magazinery. And stay posted — we'll have more helpful documents available soon.

—Kristin

Can you make a living by making objects of beauty? An exhibit of Wiener Werkstätte jewelry at Neue Galerie inspires questions.

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:00:00 GMT

From now until June 30, 2008, you can visit Neue Galerie in New York to see an exhibit of jewelry from the Weiner Werkstätte (Vienna workshops), a movement that developed at the same time and with a similar ideology as the English Arts and Crafts movement. I found out about the exhibit from an article by Ken Johnson that appeared in the New York Times.

Johnson's review, "Rage Against the Machine with Artisans and Beauty," piqued my interest, because the more I read, the more I recognized similarities between those artisans from a few generations ago and our beloved Art Jewelry readers. Johnson points out that the jewelry's value for these artisans came "not from the raw materials but from its aesthetic, the purview of artists and designers, and its craftsmanship, handled by the workshop’s expert artisans." In every issue of Art Jewelry, we publish pieces that fit this description — it's one of our defining characteristics.

But in his review, Johnson goes on to talk about how the Wiener Werkstätte was an "ultimately untenable business model" that failed partly because it didn't have a "political vision." Instead, he says, "Its only purpose was to make beautiful things without compromising artistic quality, an expensive ambition." He hopefully suggests at the end of his review that perhaps such a movement could survive in, say, the 21st century with "rich and enlightened patrons."

The article raised a lot of questions for me:

How do you, as an artist, find the line between accessible art and quality materials and craftsmanship? Or do you even feel the need to make your art accessible in the first place?
Is it necessary to have a political vision behind your work in order for it to sell? Or can you simply make objects of beauty that are marketable on that merit alone?
Do the "political" pieces sell better than the "beautiful" pieces, or do 21st-century buyers actually fork over more money for objects of beauty rather than for pieces with political vision? Are you finding "rich and enlightened patrons"?
How does the mass-production of jewelry continue to affect you as a craftsperson?
How do modern concerns about social responsibility (where do we get our metals and our stones, what chemicals are we using, do we have sustainable working practices, etc.) compare to the concerns that the early-19th-century artisans had?

Of course, the list could go on. But I'm really eager to hear what you have to say about this. To share your thoughts, leave a comment in the comment box below.

—Kristin

How to Make a Bezel: NEW 5-part instructional video series from Art Jewelry magazine

Addie Kidd — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:49:00 GMT

Yet more videos, everybody!

A few weeks back, we released the How to Set a Cabochon in a Bezel 3-part video series.

Well, now we've posted a 5-part video series teaching you how to make that bezel to fit your selected cabochon.

Go to www.artjewelrymag.com, click on the "Videos" tab, and scroll to the Metalsmithing section. You can't miss the bright red 'New' next to each video link! Or you can just click here.

And again, you don't need to be a subscriber to view the videos, but you do have to be a registered user – meaning you have a screenname and password.
It's free to sign up. And once you've got your screenname, you can watch all our videos and also comment on our blog here to let us know how we've done.

Enjoy!

~Addie~

Art Jewelry magazine now has a YouTube channel!

Addie Kidd — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Last week, I shared our newest videos with you folks – the 3-part series on Setting a Cabochon in a Bezel. They've been quite popular. Apparently there are a lot of people out in the jewelry world wanting to learn how to bezel-set a stone, and looking for a video to teach them.

Well, we hear you loud and clear! We understand that reading about an action or technique just isn't quite enough sometimes. (Though if you do want to read about it, we're a touch partial to our little publication. *wink*) Every once in a while it's easier to just watch someone do whatever it is you're aching to learn.

So we've opened our own YouTube channel. Yes, we've decided to spread our tutorial wings past our own Web site, and share some jewelry-making instructions with the YouTube community at large.

We've posted some of our most popular videos on our new Art Jewelry Magazine Channel page:

http://www.youtube.com/artjewelrymag

So, check 'em out and make comments. We'd love to hear about what you enjoy about the videos, what else you'd like to learn, and even about how you're applying these techniques in your own designs.

And keep an eye out for new videos in the future. We'll be unveiling some new videos this week and next month!

~Addie~

New weekly poll on the Art Jewelry home page. Check it out!

Katie Streeter — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:43:00 GMT

Most people enjoy sharing their opinions, and now we have a weekly poll on the Art Jewelry home page so that you can do just that. Each week you'll find a new question on various subjects. We might ask what your favorite jewelry-making tool is, where you find inspiration for making artwork, or even what your favorite season is. The editors will be coming up with different questions to ask, but if you have a great idea for a poll question (it doesn't have to be jewelry related), let us know! Add some comments to this blog post or send your suggestions to editor@artjewelrymag.com.

And don't forget to answer this week's question!

––Katie