Research on Jewelry Making Books - Revised Part Deux

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi again everyone. From the feedback I’ve gotten so far, I think I
need to be a little more descriptive about my project.

I’m co-authoring a jewelry making book and am hoping I can get some
feedback from people who read and/or buy jewelry making books. This
book is the first of a proposed series of books. The primary focus
is teaching jewelry techniques through the use of projects. So I
suppose you could say that this is a “how-to” book. The projects will
be presented in depth and will build on one another. The projects
will encompass everything from wire wrapping to use of the rolling
mill to soldering, plus some surprises. Hopefully, you should reach
the end of the book with a solid grounding in jewelry making plus
knowledge of some very original and exotic techniques you may not have
ever seen before. With the above description in mind (or not!), I
would appreciate the following

1)What would you like to see covered in a jewelry making book?

2)What do you like most about the existing books on the market?

3)What do you like least about the existing books on the market?

4)Are there any subjects in jewelry making books that are, in your
opinion, under or over covered?

5)Does anyone know of a web site that covers the demographics of
buying habits of jewelry makers? An example would be Rio Grande. What
percentage of catalog recepients are professionals? hobbyists? small
business owners?

6)Any other comments or opinions would be most welcome. I’m not
looking for negative or positive comments about specific books,
simply a general overview of opinions. Thanks very much in
advance for your comments and suggestions. Christine Ritchey

2

Dear Christine.

I Have found over the years that there are a lot of people out there
that do not read books for and learning. To this I say,
BOOKS ARE CHEAP, IGNORANCE IS EXPENSIVE. Please and I will repeat
Please put as much in your book as possible, even if you
think the is very basic, there are some of us out there
that may have been asleep when, The Basic Information 101 Course was
Given.

Use plenty of illustrations and use timeless pieces as examples,
Timeless pieces are in essence, some of the George Jenson designs
which were manufactured in the early 1900’s and when viewed today
seem as though they were made early this morning. In Murray Bovin’s
books, which, Please don’t get me wrong, (and I have three of his
books, which indeed are very good text books), but the books seem
dated purely because of the designs chosen.

Select the type of book you wish to produce, ie pure text,
Inspirational, hobby or trade. And stick to it.

When you finnish your draft of the book I would Love to read it.

Best Wishes

Michael W Kohlleppel.
Chief Metallurgist / Owner
Art Tech Castings Australia
@MWKohlleppel