Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Fit To Print -- "Spotlight on Wire" by Melissa Cable


When I was recently at the Bead & Button Show, I snagged this recently-released book my Melissa Cable.  As the title indicates, the book shows how to twist, fold, hammer, weave, and wrap metal and wire.  The cover project immediately caught my eye, and a quick flip through the book showed a number of other projects that were beyond beginner level.  Don't get me wrong -- a beginner will both learn and be able to accomplish many projects in this book, but there are plenty of projects for more advanced wire-lovers.

The chapters are broken down into styles of wire:

1:  Woven Wire
2:  Textured Strip Wire
3:  Corrugated Wire
4:  Heavy Wire
5:  Chain and Wire

The tips and techniques pages explain how to do interesting things with wire and strip metal -- texturing, using a "poor man's rolling mill" (something I found really cool), and patinating.  There are plenty of step-by-step photos, too.
If you aren't used to working with wire, dealing with the many different gauges and lengths of wire in each project might be a little confusing at first -- lots of numbers to deal with in some projects.  However, if you're new to wire, start with the simpler projects first and you'll get the hang of it quickly.  The font is also a little small, but the projects are worth it.
I'm looking forward to trying out some of the projects in this book in a challenge with my friend soon.  Stay tuned for that!
Lori Anderson writes the blog Pretty Things and creates jewelry for her web site, Lori Anderson Designs.   She is also the creator of the Bead Soup Blog Party.   

11 comments:

Lorelei Eurto said...

OH this looks great! will check it out, thanks!

KristiBowmanDesign said...

Yeah for Melissa!! I took my first PMC class from Melissa, it's so awesome to see her published!!!

Miss Val's Creations said...

This book sounds fantastic. That weaved piece on the cover is so cool! ~Val

TesoriTrovati said...

Great review, Lori! I just put this in my Amazon cart yesterday. I will definitely have to get this now.
Enjoy the day!
Erin

SummersStudio said...

Love that cover piece! Nice review.

Leslie Todd said...

It looks interesting. I'm always glad to see a book with more challenging projects. I'll have to check it out.

Melissa Cable said...

Thanks for the mention! Enjoy, and of course, feel free to contact me at Melissa@melissacable.com if anyone has any questions on a project. Create recklessly!

Alice said...

Another book to add to my growing list of must-haves. Thanks for the review!

Judy said...

sounds great Lori!

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note to let you know that a link to this post will be placed on CraftCrave today [20 Jul 01:00am GMT]. Thanks, Maria

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