Rustic Wrappings PRE-ORDER Now!!

I can not begin to tell you how excited I am to finally be sharing this post with you. After more than a year and a half of prep, design, writing, editing, photographing, and then some, it is finally time to share with you all the details of my latest book, Rustic Wrappings: Exploring Patina in Metal, Wire, & Glass Jewelry.

The process of pitching this book began in the Spring of 2010. The idea for what I wanted to do for the follow up to my first, um, oh-my-gawd AWARD WINNING, book (Totally Twisted: Innovative Wire Work + Art Glass Jewelry) began well before Totally Twisted was even released. I knew that after months of working with my favorite bright and bold colors, I wanted to show people how to create beautiful, rustic jewelry that was still just as colorful and just as inspiring. I worked for several months with Interweave to craft a proposal that would give readers a wealth of new information in the form of awesome new techniques as well as stay true to my unique design style.

In the early stages, we talked a lot about depth and layers and the feel it would have throughout the pages. All throughout 2011, as I designed the projects and wrote the words, I pushed myself in ways creatively that I didn't know I could. The result is a book that I am so incredibly proud to share with you.

And now... drumroll, please...

It is officially available for PRE-ORDER on my website!! YOO HOOOO!!!

I was going to tell you all these details when I got back from Bead Cruise, but just yesterday I saw the first 50 pages of what will be sent to print in just a couple of weeks and I decided I couldn't wait another day. The first 50 pages have me absolutely busting at the seams with excitement and I can not wait for you to see this book and be inspired by the projects.

Here are a few of the things that you'll be finding in the pages of Rustic Wrappings:

* Basic Techniques - Get a refresher lesson in the basics. Wrapped loops, chunky wrapped loops, handmade headpins, and fabricated findings are just a few of these topics covered.

* Patina Recipes - Detailed step by step instructions are shared for creating colorful surface effects with traditional liver of sulfur, heat, ammonia, vinegar, and other handy household chemicals.

* Rustic Color - Learn to take emotions, places, seasons and the elements from your everyday life and translate them into beautiful color combinations that are care worn and aged yet modern and fresh.

* Wire Embroidery - I share an innovative new technique created just for Rustic Wrappings that shows you step by step how to stitch unqiue designes onto metal blanks with wire.

* 25 All New Projects to Inspire

* Meet a collection of wonderfully talented lampwork glass bead artist creating incredibly beautiful beads to be used in the projects shown and more.


That last bit about the artists whose beads I had the pleasure of working with just has me grinning from ear to ear. I wrote up a dream list of contributors and sent out emails and to my delight every single one of them said YES! The cover project shows Kelley Wenzel's ever popular egg beads and inside you'll see beads by Mika Collins, JC Herrell, Yee Kwan, Anne Lichtenstien, Claudia Pagel, Melissa Rediger, Ali VandeDrift, and Aja Vaz. I could not have asked for a more willing and able group of contributors. Their beads second to none!

Below you can see the BLAD ( Book Layout & Design) that shares a sneak peek of a few of the projects that I show step by step instructions on how to create. Take a look:

Rustic_Wrappings_BLAD_web

My editor tells me I'll have copies of the book to ship to all you eager readers in mid-July. So just 4 short months from now you can have this newbie from me in your mailbox. As usual, you can find pre-orders on Amazon.com and Interweave.com as well as any of your other favorite online retails. If you want a signed copy from me though, I'll have to get it on my website!

(Pre-ordering gives me the best idea of how many copies to order, so best get your orders in early. Last time around I didn't have enough to fill demand and I had to reorder leaving people hanging for a couple extra weeks.)

If you want to share my excitement, I would love for you to share this news on Twitter and Facebook! THANKS!