Book Review – Making Designers Jewelry from Hardware, Gems, and Beads

Making Designer Jewelry from Hardware, Gems, and Beads by Nicole Noelle Sherman.

After reading this book you’ll want to visit the quaintest, small town hardware store you can find to hunt for treasures for your next jewelry creation.

The 25 projects run from elegant to irreverent. Sherman has covered a wide range of styles in this book. A big plus is if you have guys or teens on your list there is definitely enough inspiration in these pages to help fill in some of your holiday gift list!

Fresh designs will appeal to those who love modern styles. I even see a hint of steampunk in a few of the projects. Quite of few of the bracelets and necklaces are bold and industrial and your guy would proudly wear them.

Along with the obvious nuts and bolts components, the designer shows us the possibilities with rubber, wire grid, light bulbs, pulley and much more. The book is filled with jewelry designer tips throughout the projects. Techniques cover stringing and wire-wrapping and some basic metal-smithing.

One of the surprises of this book is it’s focus on supporting local mom and pop hardware shops with highlights of some of this stores from across the country. It’s a step back in time to create jewelry that is edgy and modern.

A good book always pushes you to think past the projects included and spark your own creativity. This one did just that! Here are two designs I created using hardware retainer rings. Now if only I could find one of those fabled hardware stores in San Antonio!