Beautiful Bracelets by Hand

December 1, 2014

Gedeon founded her jewelry company, We Dream in Color, as a means of downsizing her personal collection of handmade jewelry. Her business has grown substantially, and her creations are now sold in a variety of boutiques. The methods she uses are basic--think simple wirework and metalwork, creative stringing, and wise use of focal beads or found objects--but the designs are often classic. As with any collection this size, some of the projects are more successful than others. The most attractive designs tend to be Gedeon's delicate, minimalist inventions featuring hammered metals, small beads, and classic shapes. When she strays too far from this formula, things go a bit off the rails, as illustrated by a cuff based on a crocheted doily that looks like a wad of misshapen tinfoil wrapped around a woman's wrist. Also, several projects seem to be fillers to get the count up to 75 unique bracelets, but these are few and far between. VERDICT The majority of the bracelets in this book are so simple and easy to make that absolute beginners can duplicate them successfully. Much of the writing reads like corny catalog copy, but there's enough Gedeon to make this a worthwhile purchase, especially where beginners' jewelry-making titles are popular.

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