We live in a time crunched society today.  It is indeed  hard to find the time to make jewelry.  However, there is a wonderful series of jewelry making books published by Lark Crafts which addresses this deficit. The projects can be made very quickly.


The 60 designs from 30-Minute Rings showcase  highly creative pieces by some of today's top innovative artisans.  The rings are guaranteed to draw attention to one's fingers!  I agree with the juror, Marthe Le Van who said,  "Your hands are among the most expressive parts of your body. They communicate joy and frustration, anxiety and experience, and love and hope with incredible fluency."

The book inspires readers to try new techniques, combine them and use unusual materials.  One such ring is the one made by Karen Rakoski.  She sanded, carved, sawed and scratched the ring from plastic plumbing pipe.  A dust mask or respirator should be used when working with this kind of material. As you can see from the free tutorial for this ring, the instructions do not include the typical step by step photography used in other books.

Karen Rakoski's Ring
Many of the projects require some experience with metal work techniques such as sawing and soldering in order to make the rings in the allotted time span.  It is worth the effort to learn and practice as you can make some really pretty rings. One of my favorites is Victoria Tillotson's beaded ring. You can check out the tutorial here.

Victoria Tillotson's Ring

Kenneth C. McBain's ring really does have a space age look about it. See how he accomplished the design in the PDF tutorial.

Kenneth C. MacBain's Ring

2 Roses Studio's ring also has a modern yet funky look!  The main part of the ring is black buna cord which is a type of synthetic rubber. The tutorial explains how to hide the cord ends within the brass spiral element.


Giveaway
I have a spare copy of this book so one lucky winner will be receiving it in the mail! If you wish to try your luck please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog.


Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank. Please leave an email at the very least so I can contact you easily if you win.

This giveaway is for US and Canadian readers only.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway,  those will count as additional entries too!  Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, August 20, 2012. I will pick a winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips