Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : free downloads

Download a Free tutorial on how to etch without acid

Jill Erickson — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:22:00 GMT

Just a quick blog to give you a heads up about a solder inlay technique article that I've been working on for the January 2010 issue. I know, you're thinking -- "Hey, it's just September! What's the hurry?" Well, I wanted to make sure you took advantage of the FREE limited time offer we have for a related article. Go ahead, download Ron Pascho's article, D Battery + Saltwater = Cheap, Acid-Free Etching. You've got until Friday, September 25th to get it for free. Cheers, Jill ;)

30% off all jewelry-making project tutorials! Plus two free tutorials: how to drill through glass and how to etch using saltwater

Kristin Sutter — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:31:00 GMT

Good news this week for anyone itching to stock up on new jewelry-making projects! You have 5 days left to get 30% off when you buy any of the individual downloadable projects from our Yahoo! store. That means you can get PDFs of individual articles from past issues of Art Jewelry for $2.75! So, let's say you weren't a subscriber in 2004, but you really want to know how to make Anne Mitchell's Byzantine and Queen's link chain mail necklace, right. All you have to do is visit our Projects For Sale tab at www.artjewelrymag.com or Art Jewelry's Yahoo! store to buy a downloadable PDF of that project.

You can search Art Jewelry's projects by type (necklace, brooch, earrings, bracelet, etc.), by medium (metals, metal clay, chain mail, enamel, etc.), by article type (project, technique, reference), or by magazine issue. Not sure what you're in the mood for? Try browsing through Art Jewelry's Yahoo! store instead--it's organized by project type (necklace, brooch, earrings, bracelet, etc.).

Of course, you can't pass up the free stuff: Until September 25, 2009, you can download the metals technique article "D Battery + Saltwater = Cheap, Acid-Free Etching" by Ron Pascho from the November 2008 issue of Art Jewelry for free. For another great free tutorial, check out Associate Editor Addie Kidd's technique article on how to drill a hole through glass. It's a handy thing to know how to do, especially if you're interested in incorporating sea glass into your jewelry, like Monica Branstrom did in her project "Genuine Sea Glass: How to Bezel-Set an Irregular Stone," page 64, in the September 2009 issue of Art Jewelry.

Have fun with all this jewelry making! And send us pictures so we can see what you've been up to. (Subscribers, don't forget that you can upload images of your work to our Subscriber Gallery.)

—Kristin

New online content — free videos, projects, and PDFs

Hazel Wheaton — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:56:00 GMT

::eyes calendar::

It's been a long time since we last checked in with the blog, but to make it up to you, I come bearing gifts. Our July 2009 issue made its debut just in time for the Bead & Button Show, which has occupied all our lives recently. We're awfully proud of the issue, and a quick look at the July table of contents will make it clear why.

To add extra value to the print edition, we've put a whole bunch of new content online, from videos that demonstrate particular techniques, to articles that give the basics about a particular medium, to charts that provide quick references when you're trying to pick out the right drill bit to use.

Plus, subscribers to the print magazine get an extra how-to project that directly ties in with one of the projects in the magazine.

Here's a rundown of some of the new stuff:

New subscriber-only project:

Learn how to use wireworking and wire-wrapping techniques to embellish a hook clasp in this beginner tutorial by Erin Paton. You can make a plain clasp or dress it up with a pearl — your choice!

Three new reference charts, available as free PDFs:

Ring size chart: Find standard U.S. and U.K. ring sizes plus inside diameter measurements and inside circumference measurements in this quick-reference chart. Also, learn how to calculate the length of metal sheet you'll need to make ring bands.

Metal piercing chart: Use this handy chart to determine which drill bit and saw blade to use for piercing your metal sheet.

Convert drill bit sizes to inches or millimeters: Drill bit sizes are based on a gauge system that's different from the standard wire-gauge system. Use this chart to convert between drill bit number, inches, and millimeters.

To get you all prepped for Angela Gerhard's lovely Sgraffitto enamel bracelet project, Associate Editor Jill Erickson has written an Introduction to Enamels: A glossary of terms plus safety basics.

And finally, the Art Jewelry editors unveil four brand-new instructional videos:

New video: Using a rolling mill Watch this video to learn about how to use a rolling mill to make a sheet of metal thinner.

New video: Roll-printing Metal Watch this video to learn how to impress a texture onto a sheet of metal using a rolling mill.

New video: Using a Disk Cutter Watch this video to learn how to use a disk cutter to cut circular disks from a sheet of metal.

New video: Using a Dapping Block Watch this video to learn how to use a dapping block to dome a piece of metal.

Enjoy all the new goodies!

NASA finds new Space-opals on Mars!

Addie Kidd — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:47:00 GMT

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted some opal-like material on Mars. Check out the satellite photo at left.

The presence of these hydrated minerals in relatively "young rock" (We're talking only about 2 billion years old here. You know...young.) has scientists all excited because it gives a timeline for when Mars likely had enough water to support life.

This discovery has me excited because I love pretty, pretty opals.

Now I'm just trying to figure out how long it will take space pioneers to start mining this stuff. Can you imagine?? Necklaces and possibly engagement rings of the future could be sporting Martian opals. Crazy, huh?

~Addie~

You can read the story on NASA's Web site here.
If you'd like more information about all thing opal, check out our printable Opal Glossary.
And for information about how best to clean opals and other gems, see out our printable Gemstone Cleaning Chart.

Thanks to The Daily Jewel blog for the link, and NASA for the picture.

New chain mail project by Beth Hall shows how to make a flat weave that you can use to capture a gemstone

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:05:00 GMT

We at Art Jewelry love knowing that people are excited about making jewelry, whether they're subscribing to our magazine or, inexplicably, not. So, no matter what your subscriber status, read on to find out how you can get free projects!

Subscribers, you can download our new free project by Beth Hall here: It's an easy chain mail weave that you can wrap around a small gemstone. The resulting caged stone is a great component that you can use in multiple jewelry pieces. The project, of course, shows the components as earrings, but as Beth Hall suggests in the article, you could also use them in bracelets, necklaces, and as household embellishments. Check out the article to find out how she configures the components in different jewelry pieces, and to see her suggestions for other uses.

Not a subscriber? Click here to learn about the many perks of being an Art Jewelry magazine subscriber. (For example, you already know that you'd be able to download this chain mail project for free!) Among other things, you would also be able to read expert technique articles and see the contents of our must-have toolboxes in our Reference section here.

If you're a commitment-phobe, and you still want free projects, we're always putting new ones here.

And your random factoid for the day: My Forgotten English calendar word for November 20th was "bijoutry. Jewelry; the making or dealing in jewelry. —Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon c. 1850." The calendar goes on to note that November 20th is also the feast day of St. Bernward, "a twelfth-century French patron of jewelers."

Happy jewelry making!

—Kristin

New jewelry project online — make your own friction-fit pendant!

Hazel Wheaton — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Visitors to our Web site can now download our new online project, a nifty friction-fit pendant by Julie Glasser. The sides of this sweet little pendant slide out so that you can swap out your favorite beads.

The pendant as pictured here is holding some enameled silver beads, but Glasser often replaces them with some peyote-stitched tube beads. If you'd like to make your own peyote-stitch beads ... well, the editors of Art Jewelry can't really help with that, as peyote stitch isn't really our subject matter. Luckily, we're right down the hall from people who know all about it, the staffers of our sister publication, Bead&Button. When I appealed to them, they provided a handy link to a project on their site — also by Glasser — that will teach you how to make the beads themselves.

Enjoy!