The Art of Making Fine Wood Jewelry

The rich patinas and interesting shapes of the pieces seen here make them wonderfully tactile; you'll want to handle the smoothly angled surfaces and trace the graceful polished forms. Twenty-four artists share their one-of-a-kind creations--incorporating marquetry, laminates, assemblages, and carvings crafted from both ordinary and exotic woods--along with general explanations of their techniques and ruminations on the appeal that woodworking has for each of them. It takes some degree of skill to achieve the sophistication of this work, but if you've always longed to try woodworking and have been intimidated by the process or the list of equipment, making jewelry is a good place to start. Most pieces can be crafted with hand tools (although a few basic power tools speed certain processes) and only small amounts of wood are needed. There are no step-by-step instructions in this book, but there's plenty of inspiration. --Amy Handy