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Book Review and Giveaway | Troubleshooting for Jewelers

There are lots of project books out there with many inspirational designs. Less common are jewelry making resources which target common problems and offer solutions.  If you get stuck with a problem, "who you gonna call" ?  Well, ghostbusters sure aren't going to cut it in the jewelry making studio! Glitches do arise no matter how experienced the designer, so having a handy guide will help.


I recently received this book from Firefly Books for review - Troubleshooting for Jewelers: Common Problems, Why They Happen and How to Fix Them.  It is by Freida Munro, a British metal smith. The book is geared towards helping jewelry makers solve problems so the pieces are fixed and not trashed!


The book does not cover ALL aspects of jewelry making - no one book can do that.  For instance, beading, metal clay, polymer clay and resin areas are not included. The casting section refers to the techniques needed for lost wax casting rather than for epoxy resin work.  The book concentrates heavily on metal work with some wire work.


The book is well organized, making it easy to find specific issues and the solutions. It actually starts with the diagnostic charts - 150 of them - which are typically found at the end of many kinds of manuals.


The rest of the book covers specific techniques in broad categories - Shaping, Decoration, Wirework, Casting, Stone Setting.  Each category is divided into Best Practices and Fix-Its.  Best Practices makes sense as learning and practicing the correct way of doing things avoids the problems in the first place.


The pictures are clear as are the text explanations making this a highly readable manual.

Patination is one of the highlights from the book. Here the author offers many patination ideas.  The section on stone setting is also very useful.

Less helpful is the page on plating which covered just a few points about plating thicknesses and how to mask off areas prior to plating.  Most jewelers send out their plating to specialists so plating, unlike the other techniques in the book, is not something most would do.






This book is full of useful information and some tantalizing glimpses of beautiful inspirational pieces. Highly recommended as a manual in any metal worker's studio.

Giveaway
If you'd like to win a copy of Troubleshooting for Jewelers please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info below if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Email subscribers need to scroll down the post they receive, click on Share Comment and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.

This giveaway is only for US and Canada.

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. (The exception is Facebook - just like/comment on the giveaway status there!!)

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday,  July 18 , 2016 . I will pick the 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!

Disclosure
I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.

Before You Go:
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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42 comments:

  1. Would love to win this trouble shooting book. Thank you!
    Julie

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  2. Love the ideas and instructions in this book. Great resource.
    Edy
    ewinokur1@gmail

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  3. The book "Troubleshooting for Jewelers" is a must-have for my library. If I don't win it, I'll buy it! Christine (cmcocon at g mail dot com)

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  4. love to have this. thanks for sharing looks great and helpful

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  5. WOW, a problem solving book. Now we don't have to search the internet for answers,

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  6. need this book cherylgrinnell@yahoo.com

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  7. Just what I've always needed...Thanks!
    Jgreen0521@gmail.com

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  8. i'd love this book! i can't get out to classes and this will be a tremedoushelp! (sabastet at aol dot com)

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  9. a wonderful resource especially as it appears to have been updated since I saw a copy at college definitely would love to win this - or hubby will have to get me a copy

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  10. What an incredibly useful book! I DO so hope I win this!
    I subscribe to your blog.
    sis5of11@yahoo.com

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  11. Shared on Twitter:
    https://twitter.com/1kathyr/status/752513378896056320

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  12. Shared on Pinterest:
    https://www.pinterest.com/pin/353532639482479356/

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  13. Shared on Google+
    https://plus.google.com/112570097321542300437/posts/E2B1aFxRsCX

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  14. This looks like a great book!!! katrynkaATgmailDOTcom

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  15. I also follow your blog on Bloglovin! katrynkaATgmailDOTcom

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  16. Thank you, Pearl, for introducing us to this great book!
    Barbara
    banwriter@aol.com

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  17. This looks to be a very good resource in all areas of jewelry making. I will share it on facebook with my beading buddies. nccat922@yahoo.com

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  18. I am adding this book to my wish list. I learn most easily when I can ask questions as I work--I love working in classes as I have a teacher available---in a perfect world human contact is my most enjoyable and effective way to learn when I come up against "challenges" but as I am alone a great deal of the time, this wonderfully organized book asks questions I ask---sooo thank you very much for writing and publishing this volume of information for up and coming metalsmithing lovers!

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  19. This looks like a really great resource!! great pictures and instructions. Would love to add it to my library.
    Denise Kunz

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  20. Sounds like a book I REALLY need!

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  21. This looks like it has some great ideas. I love to metal work so this would be a real asset. Love the cover photo.
    ekennedy0906@gmail.com

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  22. What a fantastic book. I'm going to have to get this one. Seems like a good bench reference book. Thanks for the chance to win it!

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  23. What an incredible resource!

    Via FB

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  24. You can never have too many jewelry making books - ever!!

    A troubleshooting book is a brilliant idea!

    When you're deep in a project and the fumes have gone to your head or you're in desperate need of a caffeine intake and you can't see your way out of problem - even a short answer can sometimes be all it takes!

    Chuck my name in there Pearl. You know how I love messing around with metal and other techniques!

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  25. This would be a great book to add to my library, looks like a good resource to have while working on pieces. karlynr@gmail.com

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  26. Any book on Troubleshooting is a great resource and I would love to add this to my small jewelry library. Thank you for the opportunity Pearl!

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  27. This looks like a great book and I would love to own a copy and have a helping hand when doing my work.

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  28. Looks like a great resource. I'd love to win it.

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  29. As an instructor for new jewelry makers, this would be am excellent resource for me to bring into the class - not only could students learn by looking up their own trouble areas, it would give clarity to the solutions I try to explain to them on my own. (And of course, I'll learn a whole bunch of new stuff myself!!)

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  30. This book is a wonderful resource. I would love to win it, I think it would be very useful while working on jewellery pieces. Thank you!
    joanie_99@hotmail.com

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  31. Sounds like a "Must-Have" valuable reference resource! I would give this book a good home. sarrge@care.com

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  32. Interesting book I would like to have. pacw808@gmail.com

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  33. As a new jewelry designer, I can see this book would be a wonderful resource amd well used. It looks to be well laid out and easy to follow. Thank you for the opportunity to win this giveaway!

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  34. I've had a bunch of those "trouble". This book will benefit me tremendously!

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  35. I am very interested in Trouble Shooting For Jewelers. I am just learning to work with creating jewelry with metals. A lot of what was presented are issues that have been mentioned and there is additional metal work I will want to learn about and written about in this Troubleshooting For Jewelers Book. Thank you for the opportunity. Marianne@mariannescreativedesigns.com

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  36. I know there is a lot I don't know about making jewelry and I'm learning a lot just from your site so I would love to win this to learn more thanks for the chance!
    sally0630@frontiernet.net

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  37. I'm an email subscriber
    sally0630@frontiernet.net
    Pinterest
    pinterest.com/sally0630

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  38. I shared on Twitter
    https://mobile.twitter.com/sally06301/status/754177848538230784

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  39. I would love this book. I have so many questions and though the net has many answers it takes time and has distractions. Books tend to be more straight forward.
    Terri
    missile102@gmail.com

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  40. This is one book I could wear out! ;-) Thanks for the giveaway.
    Deb Collyar at Creations@collyar.net.
    collyarpics.smugmug.com/CollyarCreations

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  41. Very helpful post!
    As I am a jewelry designer, I can see this book would be a great resource for jewellry designers. Thank you for sharing this book with us. I will definitely buy this.

    Designer handmade jewellery:
    http://www.kayajewellery.co.uk/mother-daughter-jewellery/mother-and-daughter-necklaces-silver/

    ReplyDelete

You're AWESOME! Thanks for the comment and feedback. You do make a difference on my blog!

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