Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : projects

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

We know you love bronze clay, but have you tried copper clay yet??

Addie Kidd — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:37:00 GMT

Silver clay has been around for over a decade now. Can you believe it??

Bronze clay was publicly introduced last year with great excitement.

Well wait no more. The next phase is here – copper clay!

(Shown at left is a photo of bronze clay next to silver clay - the contrast in each clay's quantity illustrates the vast price difference.)

The makers of BronzClay are in the final testing stages of a formulation of copper metal clay, with tentative plans to release it around spring time of this year.

But you don't have to wait until then to play with copper clay. There's another version of copper clay out on the market right now!

Hadar Jacobson, jewelry maker, author, and Art Jewelry magazine contributor, has been making her own copper and bronze metal clay for a number of years now. And she's just recently started selling her clay to the public.

Her clay comes in powdered form. It stores easily and you only make what you need – just add distilled water to mix up a batch. You can purchase powdered copper clay and bronze clay here.

Visit our Featured Videos page to check out Hadar's video – she'll show you how easy it is to mix your own copper or bronze clay.

As she describes on her Web site (click the history section), Hadar originally had inconsistent firing results with her clays.

But that all changed when Bill Struve (the creator of BronzClay) revealed his unique firing technique: immersing a clay object in activated carbon (shown at right) and firing it in a kiln. The carbon helps to prevent oxygen from getting in the way of the clay's sintering process.

If you're craving more about alternative clays:

Here at Art Jewelry, Jill, and I got to test bronze clay and its unique firing process before it was available to the public. You can read the article about it entitled "Now Entering the Bronze Age" in the July 2008 issue of Art Jewelry magazine.

And check out this blog post about bronze clay to see the adorable snail Jill made, named BC. He's so cute!

Here are some of Hadar's projects from the pages of Art Jewelry magazine:

March 2005: Learn how to make Bountiful Baskets, metal clay earrings. Click here for the download-able project.
September 2005: Learn tips and trips for working with metal clay. Click here for the download-able article.
July 2005: Learn how to make a metal clay pendant. Click here for the download-able project.
July 2006: Learn how to make a metal clay link bracelet. Click here for the download-able project.
March 2007: Learn how to use metal clay and screen to make earrings. Click here for the download-able project.

And if you do get any copper clay, be sure to post photos of your work in the Show Us Your Work section of our forums. Or if you're a subscriber, post some photos in the Metal Clay section of our Subscriber Gallery.

I can't wait to see what you create!

~Addie~

Special thanks to Elaine Luther and her blog, All Things Metal Clay for the link.

Huge jewelry-making project sale at Art Jewelry magazine!!

Addie Kidd — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:50:00 GMT

We know that if your piggy banks are anything like ours, they could use a little rest right now. (Especially with the holidays quickly approaching - Yikes! ). But that's NO reason to put down your hammers, pliers, or torches.

There are plenty of projects for you in our online archive. And guess what??

All projects are 50% off!!!

Yep, there's only one dollar and ninety-five cents standing between you and a new technique or design. And you can download it instantly - no shipping to pay for!

So go download that project that you've had your eye on, and then post your results in our Forums on in our Subscriber Gallery. I can't wait to see what you make.

Happy Creating!

~Addie~

P.S. We're not the only ones having a sale. Our sister magazines, Bead & Button and BeadStyle are getting in on the fun. If you're into beaded projects, or know someone who is head over there and check them out.

New Free Project: Image-Transfer Technique for Metal

Katie Streeter — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:49:00 GMT

Are you looking for a new jewelry technique to try out this weekend? We just posted a new project by Sherri Haab on how to use image-transfer solution to add photocopies to metal jewelry. The project is free to registered users, so check it out! Download the free project here.

Have a great weekend!

—Katie

Video interview with Robert Dancik: jeweler, sculptor, and originator of Faux Bone

Kristin Sutter — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:54:00 GMT

At the 2008 Bead&Button Show in June, Senior Editor/Online Linda Augsburg was able to catch a few minutes with Robert Dancik to talk to him about how he got started making jewelry, where he's taking the craft, and how he uses Faux Bone. To watch the video, click here. If you're interested in learning how you can incorporate Faux Bone into your work, check out Robert's article, "Chart Your Own Mixed-Media Odyssey," page 28, in the September 2008 issue of Art Jewelry. The article will teach you how to make this bangle:

If this project inspires you to make a piece of jewelry, we'd love to see what you've come up with! Just post it in the Show Us Your Work thread in the Art Jewelry forum.

This Just In!

Addie Kidd — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 19:11:00 GMT

Honestly, when I came to work this morning I had NO idea what to blog about today. But as I walked into my office after lunch, something on my desk caught my eye. The "advanced copy fairy" had paid a visit to my inbox, and dropped off one of the first copies of Vintage Style Jewelry (a Bead&Button special issue) to come back from the printers. Yay, blog topic found!

I perused it intently, loving the cohesive visual look of the pages, and little "vintage-y" details that the Art Department added in just the right places. They really outdid themselves with this beauty. I was so tickled to finally see the physical object of everyone's hard work – it felt like pure excitement manifested.

And it's not just a looker. There's a lot of information in this 97-page booklet. I mean I helped work on it, yet I didn't fully realize the extent of knowledge, research, and creativity loaded into these pages. It's size, layout, and scope definitely make it feel more like a softcover book rather than simply a special magazine issue with a theme. I can definitley see myself shelving this one with my books to keep as a reference.

Here's a look at the special two-sided pull-out at the center of the magazine. It's a jewelry timeline that Bead&Button Associate Editor Lynne Soto compiled, complete with photos and the whys and hows of jewelry trends throught the years.

And while the historical and reference stuff is great, at it's core it's still a how-to magazine. There are 22 brand new projects designed exclusively for this special issue. Since it's from Bead&Button there are, of course, plenty of beading and stitching projects. But there are also projects incorporating chain, wire, filigree components, and one of my favorites: metal clay.

You can see the first pages of my metal clay project here. I love the lead photo: the open metal clay locket holds snapshots of my Grandma Mildred and Grandfather Harold taken on their honeymoon.

If you haven't already pre-ordered it, look for Vintage Style Jewelry to hit store shelves in a week or two. And after you've gotten your own chance to look it over, write me (akidd@artjewelrymag.com) or any of the editors over at Bead&Button (editor@beadandbutton.com) to let us know what you think of it. We'd love to hear your feedback.