Point taken and clarified, thanks. And, you’re right about jewelry
seemingly the only art form polarized by medium. I’m a glass artist
by background, and you never see glass art designated “Bullseye
glass” or “Uroboros glass.” Or furnace versus glory hole when
displaying a paperweight. I don’t understand this obsession with
cast versus fabrication versus metal clay versus whatever. Shouldn’t
we be focusing on quality, pushing the envelope with new techniques
and making sure that the jewelry craft itself survives?
On another, more philosophical note, I’ve observed that when society
in general feels insecure or threatened, either physically (as in
9/11) or financially (as in the current economic crunch) people want
to do more things themselves. They take fewer vacations, spend less
on finished goods and want to feel like they’re more in control of
the things they CAN control. The craft industry has been known to do
better in these times, and I think we’re seeing it filter into the
jewelry making industry as well. There will always be those with the
financial freedom to buy finished jewelry, but more of us are
looking to create, whether for ourselves or posterity.
(and Gen Xers, and whatever they call "kids" these days)
Generation NeXt, if you can believe that (note the caps). I know this
because my husband, a professor, was recently supposed to attend a
seminar on their general behavior and how to go about teaching them.
(He skipped it. Can you blame him?)
On a totally unrelated subject (but one closer to the original
thread):
Especially the latest one that's been going on building some
tricycle thing.. I'm not sure what the >point is other than
exercising skills. It's not something that can be worn.
Unless I misunderstood the article, the tricycle was intended to
function as a sculptural stand for a suite of jewelry (earrings,
pendant, etc.), so it was built around wearables. I’ve seen several
variations on this idea, and the concept itself (of jewelry that can
be displayed as objets d’art when not worn) is really neat - but I
wasn’t particularly fond of the tricycle either, to be honest. It
tried way too hard to be cute.
I’ll still choose Lapidary Journal over Metalsmith any day - there
is some impressive, innovative work in the latter mag, but until
they ditch their fondness for overwrought, highfalutin, pompous,
puffed-up “artspeak,” I’ll remain a bookstore-only browser.
Here is the company that publishes both LJ and Colored Stone. You
really have to dig to find both, though–click on “businesses”
(where you will note that many other magazines are mentioned by
name), then “enthusiast media.” Scroll down to “Gems” (Step-by-Step
Beads is listed under “Crafts”).
If people want to complain about LJ, these would be the people to
complain to. However, we’d have to convince them that we have as
many “enthusiasts” in our camp as, say, snowboarders or wild west
buffs, or our complaints would probably end up in the trash.
Perhaps when LJ was the magazine that everyone loved, it owned
itself. But, as we all know, capitalism rules, and the big fish
gobble up the little fish.
Lisa Orlando
Aphrodite’s Ornaments
PS: If you go to the Kalmbach Publishing site, however, http://corporate.kalmbach.com/ you will notice that Bead & Button,
Bead Style, and Art Jewelry are all featured on the front page. I
take this as a sign… of something, anyway.
Sorry if I implied a “business” connection between B&B and LJ–I do
know they aren’t connected, and that Art Jewelry is a spin-off of
B&B. An excellent spin-off, in my book. Thanks for your work on
that. The September issue is wonderful (including the
definitely-not-dumbed- down metal clay projects).
However, for the sake of clarity, both the Step-By-Step magazines and Colored Stone are spin-offs of LJ. Check out the links on the
web site: http://www.lapidaryjournal.com/
I’m not a fan of step by step, it doesn’t give you enough pictures or
instructions.
I like the step by step for the pure availability of knowledge and
ideas that I can pass onto my students. I hold onto them, punch
holes in them and put them into a binder for my students to review.
I use my knowledge to fill in the gaps.
It’s hard for students to decide what to do first. The step by step
shows them the logical order of working. It also lists the supplies
and equipment needed which I think I talk about incessantly to them.
I’ve just looked thru the July and August issues. Having taken part
of this thread one would think there’s noting but beads and metal
clay in there. Not so, there are interesting articles within the
scope of the name Lapidary Journal.
July, 96 pages:
Photograph your stuff and "sharpen " the result. Part II
(Everybody needs to learn!!!)
Toolarticles, tweezers and My favorite tool. Could have been more
in depth.
Tucson review (Couldn’t go myself so, yes iti is interesting)
Step-by-step:
Make a lathe (Good idea, if you can’t buy it-build it. I did with
my vulcanizer)
Make a hammer (another tool)
Forge a piece of jewelry (using your new hammer)
Facet a stone (fairly selfexplanatory)
August, 82 pages:
Lapidary education (and a tidbit on the Vargas)
Quartz article (it’s a mineral)
Lightning (a tool as part of your workshop)
Step-by-Step
Facet a stone
Finish building your lathe.
Metal Clay pendant. (Yes, I confess. Metal clay but only one of
several items)
A funny trinket- The Tricycle! At first I belittled it as silly
but since it has been mentioned in this thread I took a closer look.
This project does utilize more techniques than at first apparent and
should be considered a challenge, making bezels, tubing, weaving
wire, fabicating metal parts, soldering and setting stones. This is
a level 4 project. Cut the stones yourselves and it will be level 5.
I will never spend time on this project but must regard it as a
perfect challenge for anyone with time on their hands. It certainly
execises your skill!
On top of this LJ has regular items such as Rock Corner, reviews,
product news and other bits of
As a minor note LJ also consists of about 1/3 ads. I know this is
common in American mags but living overseas, Europe, I’m more used
to 20-25 %, GZ and other local publications.
This does NOT mean LJ is without flaws but please give credit where
credit is due. I’ve subscribed since 2003 and and renewed last
spring for another two years. We also read Goldschmiede Zeitung and
if we’re talking about changing the concept… well, I’ve made my
opinion known to them several times and will not renew that
subscription.
I liked the new issue. The past couple issues, not as much, but I
liked this one. Arline Fisch is one of my favorite jewelers, so I
enjoyed reading an article about her, and I actually read one or two
of the other feature articles as well, start to finish. I wasn’t
inspired by the step by step projects, but that’s normal for me. I
realize this doesn’t sound like a glowing review, but it’s been a
while since I’ve actually sat down and read more than one full
article in any magazine.