Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : behind the scenes

Casting grains: the Thanksgiving turkey stuffing of the jewelry world.

Addie Kidd — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:07:00 GMT

So, yeah...I'll admit that headline was a bit of a stretch. But I'm excited about two things today - tomorrow's Thanksgiving, and the casting grain I just got in the mail. I had to figure out some way to reference both.

Aren't they pretty?? All tiny, sparkly, shiny, and new!
I ordered a pound of bronze (pictured at right) and a few ounces of fine silver. [If you weren't already familiar, casting grain is metal in raw form; its small size makes measuring and melting easier.]

Now, are you ready to hear about my klutz move of the day?
(Yes, I have one practically every day. I think it's in my genetic code or something.)

I wanted to melt my casting grains the second after they arrived on my desk. But I needed to get a photo or two first for the magazine. [Be on the lookout for my casting project and article in the May issue of Art Jewelry magazine!] So I reluctantly dropped the two little bags of casting grains off at our photo department.

Today, Jim Forbes, one of our staff photographers, called me down to get my opinion on the shots that he'd taken. They were beautiful, of course - much better than my little snap shot here. So I officially approved them, grabbed my casting grains, and headed back to my office.

On the way back, I decided to detour to the washroom. No problems so far, right? So I set my two little bags of casting grains on the sink counter.

Just to set the scene, the silver grains came in a tiny zip top bag, so they were safe. But the bronze grains were in this cloth bag shown here. [I think it looks like a miniature money bag that robbers in cartoons would steal from the bank. That makes me want to draw a big "$" on it!] Well, since the cloth bag only has a draw string it wasn't exactly secure.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Before I'd realized what I'd done, the bag full of bronze casting grains shifted on the edge of the sink counter. The next sound I heard was the multiple "PINGS!" of itty-bitty casting grains spilling out and bouncing on the tile floor.

Oops.

I scooped up the bag before too much damage was done, but there were still plenty of grains rolling around. So now I'm on my hands and knees on the washroom floor, crawling around under the sink and counter, trying to retrieve every little elusive grain.

How dignified.

Luckily, only one other co-worker walked in at that moment to witness me in all my klutzy glory. She only laughed a little bit, and she even helped me spot stray grains, which was nice. I think I got most of them, though I know one bounced down the drain.

So the moral of the story is to put all your casting grains (or any other tiny thing, like gemstones) into zip top bags. And close them.
And just for safe measure, keep them away from me.

Happy Turkey Day!

~Addie~

Video gives sneak peek inside Ford Forlano studios and how they make polymer clay art jewelry

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:26:00 GMT

If you like polymer clay jewelry, chances are you've seen work by Ford Forlano; that is Steve Ford and David Forlano, with Maryanne Petrus-Gilbert doing metalwork. We first featured Ford Forlano's work in "A Rarefied Medium," an article by Ronna Weltman (September 2006) about A-list polymer clay jewelry. If you've never seen their work, prepare for a treat. For me, Ford Forlano pieces never disappoint. The texture, the shape, the color — the pieces are always exciting and elegant. When I'm feeling creative, I tend to work better on my own. So it was really interesting to learn more about the team's collaboration in this video.

It shares not only great images of their studios and finished pieces, but also a bit about their history and how they continue to work together. Check it out!

—Kristin

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

How Art Jewelry editors pick the projects for each issue

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:38:00 GMT

Today we had our issue-planning meeting for the July issue. For those of you who enjoy thinking about a design for a piece of jewelry, making various sketches, playing with shape and color until you get an idea just right, you'll understand how exciting these meetings are, because we're essentially doing the same thing — playing around with the contents until we get the balance just right.

First of all, we unwrap everything — it's like Christmas. We open the boxes containing the jewelry that's been submitted for projects, and we put all the pieces on makeshift display. When we've finished ooh-ing and aah-ing, we start by considering what will be going on in the jewelry-making world when the issue hits the newsstands. Since the Fourth International PMC conference will be going on in July, we wanted to make sure we had a good selection of metal clay projects for our July issue.

In general, we go on to talk about cover pieces. Of course, we think that all the jewelry we accept is beautiful, but we need to make sure that the cover piece is especially striking, not only because we want to get your attention, but also because it has to hold its own amid a bunch of words on the page and a bunch of other magazines next to it on the newsstand. Sometimes, we save certain pieces for cover pieces, so a piece that's especially stunning might have to wait a few issues to get into the magazine.

After we pick our must-haves, we start filling in the rest of the issue with all the other media we want to cover: metals, polymer clay, mixed media, wire, chain mail, enameling, etc. and technique articles. We want a balanced variety of media and skill levels so that all of our readers, from beginner to advanced, are able to learn something exciting in each issue. We also consider visual style: If we choose a project that's very precise, we may try to choose another that's more organic or rugged.

At the end of the meeting, we do one last check: good mix of media, good mix of skill levels, good mix of styles. And we ask ourselves: will it be beautiful? If the answer to all these questions is yes, then the real work starts.

Making Art Jewelry magazine better

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:06:00 GMT

The editors and designers of Art Jewelry meet every year for a retreat, where we look at what's been successful in the past and what direction we'd like the magazine to go in. To prepare for the meeting, we often raid bookstores and buy magazines that are accomplishing a little of this, a little of that — the stuff we want to incorporate into our own voice.

Last Friday I pulled at least 20 magazines off the rack. But as I looked, I started to get frustrated, because I realized I didn't like a lot of them, for their content or their design. (Of course, I also found some excellent magazines that I'm excited to share at the retreat.) Personally, I enjoy women's magazines and home-decor-type stuff for about 10 minutes. Then I get overwhelmed by a feeling of failure: my home will never be that neat or color-coordinated (who buys only orange books to place just so on their shelves?), my appearance will never be that calculated (I think this is worth a try, but I don't even have children and I can't find time to brush my hair in the morning; thankfully, my hair stylist works with me on this), and my "decor" isn't really worthy of the term. The design of many magazines is as overwhelming as the content. There are odd lines and colors and icons, and navigating them feels like trying to find your way on an alien planet's subway system. Or the pages are cluttered with an uncaptioned confetti of pictures.

But for me, being overwhelmed soon turns to being annoyed. Instead of feeling like a failure, I start to feel like it's the message in those magazines that's wrong, because I think that people should follow their own bliss, should put time and effort and money into what matters most to them, not into what matters to the collective of women's magazines, the home and garden world, or the industry's fashionista manifestos. This experience reaffirmed for me that it's good for me to be at Art Jewelry, a magazine that exists for the sole benefit of those people whose priorities, in my book, are admirable. For those people who are following their own bliss, putting effort into what matters to them.

I've always cared a lot about Art Jewelry, but meditating on all this makes me even more determined that Art Jewelry should be that excellent magazine that people buy off the newsstand, excited to read it and share it with friends. There are, as always, a few areas of the magazine that I think we could improve. But I'd really like to know what would make the magazine better for you. If you could have anything you wanted from Art Jewelry magazine, what would it be?

I'm excited to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks, in advance, for sharing!

–Kristin

Back to the Zu Photography

Jill Erickson — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:57:00 GMT

We're very fortunate to have talented, professional photographers here at Kalmbach Co. They collaborate with our Art team to create inviting lead shots for the how-to articles we publish each issue. And when we originate a project article in-house, William (Bill) Zuback (shown behind the camera) or his associate, Jim Forbes, makes sure that the process shots are perfect! (Yes, that's me in this photo that Addie took while Bill balanced on a step stool to get the perfect angle for a process shot.) To see some of the work that Bill does outside of the magazine studio, visit his website, http://www.backtothezu.com/. In addition to photographing products, Bill takes incredible portraits, and makes fine art images that he exhibits.

Fun at the One-of-a-Kind Show in Chicago!

Kristin Sutter — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:09:00 GMT

Lunchtime on Dec. 7, 2007, found Jill, Addie, and I (plus Addie's mom and a friend of Jill's) at bluprint, a restaurant at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. We met there to fuel up in preparation for the journey we were about to take through the floor of the One-of-a-Kind Show, which was going on above our heads about seven floors up. I ended up taking a picture of my gourmet mac & cheese.

I wanted to show the picture to Naomi Fujimoto, senior editor at BeadStyle magazine, one of our sister publications. Naomi has a thing for gourmet comfort foods. The food was so beautiful that everyone wanted a picture of their as-yet-undevoured dish.

Yum!

Thus sustained, we took the elevator upstairs and spent the next five hours inundating ourselves with beautiful works of art. Most notably — you guessed it — jewelry. Many times, we stopped by a booth and asked that all-important question, "How did they do that?" (When we ask that, we know we're seeing something magazine-worthy.)

When we're scouting for jewelry artists, we try not to take too much time away from the jewelers; we understand that they're at the show to sell their work. But many people were gracious enough to take the time to hear us out about why they should submit a project or an image for gallery. (If you're thinking of submitting something, we'd love to hear from you! Check out our guidelines.)

Some artists encouraged us to try on their work for fun — and how could we resist!! Of course, some of us went home with a couple you'll-regret-it-forever-if-you-don't-buy-it pieces.

So, thanks to the art jewelry community for delighting us! We hope to return the favor! (If we did our scouting job right, you'll be seeing some fabulous work in our pages in the coming year.)

–Kristin

Take one, scene one...Action!

Jill Erickson — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:56:00 GMT

Addie and I spent the afternoon yesterday in the video studio here at Kalmbach. Our video dudes taped us as we demo'd the next batch of Basics to be added to the AJ website. We'll be sure to keep you posted as these segments hit the web. Check out the snapshots Addie and I took of each other in between taping sessions. It's always helpful to have another editor watching the monitors while the camera is rolling. That way, we can make sure the viewer is getting a clear angle on what we're demonstrating. And of course, it's always nice to have a buddy around to keep you from getting stage fright, or to hand you that tool that you can't reach when you're tethered to a microphone!

Field Trip

Addie Kidd — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:18:00 GMT

I love factories. Well, actually it's the highly specialized machines inside them that I can't seem to get enough of. The loud noises and smells... I could probably leave those behind.

My factory fascination dates back to my childhood; I was introduced to the busy world hidden inside plants and presses by Mr. Rogers. Yes, that Mr. Rogers. My all-time favorite part of his show was a segment that took you through the process of making a crayon. I watched intently as machines formed, rolled, and coallated thousands of multi-colored crayons into boxes. Then they wrapped them up and shipped them off to me. All that work, just to create something for my enjoyment. Wow.

Well, a dozen or so of us here at Kalmbach Publishing Co. took a field trip today to see where all our company's magazines are printed. For over three hours we toured the massive Sussex, WI branch of Quad/Graphics, where our friendly tour guides showed us around their fast-moving machines. Though I disguised it with a calm responsible adult exterior, I was a giddy little girl walking through all that technology and machinery.

My excitement was even greater today than when I saw that production line of crayons long ago, because this time I knew I'd contributed to the final product. Right in front of me, I could see all this ingenuity and technology at Quad, coupled with the content created by the team here at Kalmbach, adding up to this magazine that's delivered around the world. All that energy coming together to create something that we really do hope you enjoy. Now that's pretty amazing.

Modes of conversation

Hazel Wheaton — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:07:00 GMT

Here's one of my deep, dark secrets. I don't like telephones. When I was growing up, my parents always had firm guidelines about how much time we spent on the telephone, and strange as it may seem, neither myself nor my sister chafed against those guidelines, even during our teenaged years. The telephone had its place, certainly, but it was more of an organizational tool than anything else. We didn't talk to our friends for hours on the phone; we used the phone to call our friends and arrange to meet and talk for hours. Early lessons die hard, and I still will never call a local friend just to chat — of course, the friends who are in other cities are another story entirely, and thank heavens for flat-rate calling!

My phone-aversion is particularly ironic, given my chosen profession. E-mail has proved to be my salvation, actually, because shooting off an e-mail is so much easier for me than picking up the phone. I suspect I'm not alone.

The exception is interviews — that's when I have to overcome my reluctance to dial and pick up the phone. I've been doing a series of interviews for Art Jewelry under the headline, "A conversation with..." Each issue, I talk with a respected figure in the jewelry world, and I always have a great time. Once I get past the hurdle of actually dialing the number, the conversations are inevitably great, and usually last at least an hour, and I'm reluctant to hang up. I still can't quite get over the feeling that I should be arranging to meet in person — never mind that my interviewee might be six hours away by plane — but it's low-level discomfort, definitely a guilty pleasure.

This ramble was brought about through my experience yesterday of actually doing what I wish I could do more of — on-site interviews. As much as I do love those long conversations, face-to-face conversations bring with them a whole different energy and set of cues for the interviewer to pick up on. I spent the afternoon at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where I talked to instructors and students alike about the program there. The sense of excitement in the department was noticeable; this is a young department that has been completely revitalized over the past six years. While other university metal arts departments across the country are closing, UW-M is growing — five-fold in the last five years. It was great fun talking to the instructors, who are so invested in what they do, and to the students, who were so enthusiastic about the program and their projects; it was easy to see the symbiotic nature of the teacher-student relationship. The teachers' enthusiasm feeds that of the students, and vice-versa. And seeing that enthusiasm in person made that all the clearer.

The article on the UW-M metals program will appear in our March issue!

Brushing up my math skills...

Hazel Wheaton — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 20:06:00 GMT

Every kid who's ever struggled through a math class has hit that wall of rebellion — you know, the one where you adamantly proclaim that you'll never use this skill in the real world. There's this nifty new invention called the calculator, and that will be enough to get you through all the math you'll need in your day-to-day life. Computer programs now automatically tally spreadsheets, and electronic cash registers mean that we no longer even have to count out change.

I wonder sometimes if we haven't gone too far in the opposite direction, and that the adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" applies even in the case of the dreaded mathematics. The Sudoku mania that's currently sweeping the United States has to come from somewhere, and this nation has never struck me as one that's particularly fond of math as a rule. Yet, suddenly we're all numbers-obsessed, and even better if we can work them as a logic problem.

I was thinking about that today as I was struggling over my own numbers-based logic problem, also known as the "issue planning sheet." This is the point in the magazine's schedule when we sit down with the other departments and figure out how many pages we actually have for editorial space — once I know that, we can make sure the stories fit, and rework ones that need to go up or down a page, or need to start on a spread instead of a single page. It's like a crossword puzzle, but with numbers. And it's fun. Or, as a former coworker of mine once said, "It's fun. It's tear-your-hair-out fun, but it's fun."

Roughly stated, the rules to the game as follows: Each page can be broken up into three separate columns, or taken as a half page or a whole page (unless you have a strangely shaped ad or a particularly weird piece of editorial, and you need a half-column — then you have to start adding again). Some advertisements are guaranteed a particular spot and can't be moved. Editorial departments can vary in size from two columns to two pages, depending on how much space you have. Editorial features need to appear in an unbroken chain, or "well," in roughly the center of the magazine, and must be arranged so that there are no breaks, so that a story that ends on a left-hand page is followed by a story that leads from a right-hand page. Classified ads have their own page definition and requirements. Special ad sections — such as our Classes & Workshops section or the new special Tucson section — need special placement with an unbroken well of their own.

So, what happens when you have roughly 29.25 pages of advertisements sold, 17.32 pages of editorial departments, and 71 pages of editorial features? All of which is supposed to fit into a 92-page issue? I'll wait while you do the math.

Deadlines are Good Things. Really.

Hazel Wheaton — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:44:00 GMT

It's been crazy-busy around the Art Jewelry offices over the last few weeks... as an editor, I have a love/hate relationship with deadlines. Of course I despise deadlines, because they're an ever-present reminder that there's something I should be doing, and because I'm usually running late. But, on the other hand, deadlines make me let go. I'm a perfectionist, and the thing about the written word is that it can always be revised just one more time. I learned this from my father, who hammered it into me that "there's no such thing as a perfect first draft!" I learned that lesson so well that now I more-than-half-believe that there's no such thing as a perfect final copy, either. I'm writing a story for our January issue, and I'm currently driving Jill, who will be acting as story editor for the piece, absolutely crazy. I just can't let it go. Just yesterday, I decided that the entire opening was completely... what was the word I used? Oh, yes. "Lame." The entire opening was lame, and I deleted it and started over. If it weren't for deadlines, this could go on for months. When I finally do let it go, I won't be surprised if Jill is reduced to actually physically pulling the pages out of my grasping hands.

I'm obsessing about this because today was the ultimate, drop-dead deadline for our November issue. The production department called me in to look at what is called the "book proof." The entire magazine, every single page, in order. Everything in place. Exactly the way it will look once it's printed. This is the last chance I have to catch any mistakes before the whole thing gets shipped off to the printer. And it makes my palms itch with the desire to reach for my red pen. Because I'm an editor — I can always find something to change. Even if it's not wrong, there might just be a way to make it better. But while I could still change things, technically, it would cost a lot of money and would give a lot of very nice people headaches. And given what a team effort putting out a magazine requires, it's good to keep that in mind when you're thinking, "I wonder how that would look in blue..."

In any case, there's plenty of scope for my compulsive need to revise. Because even while the production department has pried the November pages out of my grasping hands, the January issue is still in rough text form, and I've got a long trail of red ink ahead of me.

Pin Up and New Proposals

Hazel Wheaton — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:32:00 GMT

If things were quiet around the blog last week, it's for a good reason — I picked up and took off for the wilds of Michigan, in a cabin by the woods. So strange, in this day and age, to be so completely out of contact. No internet connection; if I wanted to check e-mail I had to make a trek to the local McDonald's, which proudly declared "WiFi HERE!" in their window. And the cabin was in a heavily wooded dip, so cell-phones remained inoperative until we hit the main road. At first, it was a bit nerve-wracking, to feel so out of touch, and worrying that things were going sadly wrong without me checking in on them. But right around day 4, all that disappeared, and the sense of release and relaxation was simply wonderful.

Coming back to work, I had two particularly fun meetings to look forward to. First of all was the preliminary Pin-Up meeting for the November issue. This is the point at which the Art Department has worked their first-round magic on the projects, and we all sit around in a room with the stories — yes — pinned up on the wall. We'll take a look at the layout designs, look for things that might look a bit off, figure out if one story needs an additional page (it did) and if one story should probably lose a page (it did). Headlines? Background colors? Sidebars clearly identifiable as such? Captions needed? Enough white space? Too much white space? Any and all issues were brought up and chewed over, and solutions were proposed. I'm continually impressed and excited by what goes into the design of the magazine... we've got a great art department, and it's always a highlight for me to see what they've come up with for each of the stories. So much thinking goes into planning the visual impact and coherence of each issue. At Pin Up, with all the various stories collected in one place, we'll get a clear sense if one color is used too much, or if too many of the stories are oriented horizontally, as opposed to mixing up the look to keep it interesting. During one Pin Up, we realized that every other story was done in shades of blue, and so we chose a couple to shift color schemes. (This, no doubt, is my fault, as it's become common knowledge around the office that "Any color will make Hazel happy as long as it's blue.")

The other fun meeting was our monthly New Proposals meeting. For anyone who wonders how submitted projects are handled, this is it. An artisan will send us a proposal for an article — the proposal can be as simple as a digital image of a piece of jewelry, or it can be as extensive as a written outline of a project. Once a month, we collect all the proposals that have come in and we lay them out on a table. The editorial staff and one or more members of the art department, gather around the table. And then we talk. And talk. And talk. The NP meeting is basically a jurying process, with each of the editors and artists weighing in, and weighing each project against the needs of the magazine. Often times, we'll have ideas of how to make the project stronger, or more suited to our magazine, and we'll go back to the artist with those ideas. Sometimes we'll like a project, but we simply have too many necklaces (as an example) — we may go back to the artisan and ask if they could apply the same technique to a bracelet. Sometimes we'll see a pretty piece of jewelry that is too "beady" for AJ; in that case, we'll forward the proposal to Bead&Button or BeadStyle. When we meet, we'll have a running list of the projects that we've already accepted, and evaluate each of the new projects with a close eye on what we already have waiting for publication. For example, if we have 6 projects that use fiber techniques already approved and waiting — that's at least a full year of issues covered, and we'd be less likely to accept a similar project unless it was truly fabulous. Many times a rejection is simply the product of bad timing. Last year we received a great proposal for an introduction to cuttlefish bone casting — at the same time that we were looking at layouts for an article on cuttlefish bone casting that we'd accepted six months earlier.

Hands-on magazine making

Hazel Wheaton — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:41:00 GMT

The first day with the new site has been ... a lot of fun, actually. I've found myself fixated on the site, reading through all the forum topics, hitting "refresh" again and again, to see how many people have registered and showed up, what they're saying in the forum, what kind of work they've posted to the Subscriber Gallery... I'm sure this complete preoccupation will eventually settle down into a once- or twice-daily check in, but at the moment, it's hard for me to get any other work done!

That will have to change, because this afternoon we have our issue planning meeting for the January issue. This is when the editorial staff sits down and sifts through the stories and projects that we have available and ready to be worked on, and decides what actually we're going to publish come December. We'll strike a balance of media (sometimes it's like dealing cards. One for metal clay, one for polymer, one for metalsmithing...) and look for the weak spots. Are there any stories that might be made stronger by the addition of a sidebar or a related story fleshing out a particular technique? If so, where's that additional information going to come from? Is it something we can do in-house, or should I contact an outside writer or artist? And of course, we'll be thinking about cover options... I always like to have two or three different stories in an issue that I feel have strong cover potential, so we can do test shoots later on and see what works. Once the stories are decided on, they'll be assigned to a particular editor to shepherd them through the whole process and get them ready to be presented to the Art Department.

Then, it's back to thinking about the November issue. And yes, working so far in advance can be a bit unsettling. We're working on layouts for the November issue, so, in my head, it's already November, even though it's 84 degrees outside. (Is this the warmest Thanksgiving on record? Just might be!) Our graphic designer has the photo studio booked for a session this afternoon, we'll be hovering and consulting as they shoot the lead shots for two of the November features. This is really one of my favorite parts of the job; it's really hands-on magazine making.

After I've planned the January issue, and hit "refresh" a few dozen more times, it's off on vacation! Next week, the other members of the AJ staff will have a chance to log in and speak out... they'll have a full week without me breathing down their necks!

I hope you all are enjoying the new site; as I said, please do let us know about any problems you encounter. All identified bugs are being forwarded to the Web department so that they can quickly resolve any difficulties.