Jewelry & Beading

Must Have Book for Metal & Wire Jewelry Makers

by Tammy Powley on May 19th, 2005

I should probably have stock in the book entitled Complete Metalsmith written by Tim McCreight because I’m always telling jewelry makers to buy it, and here I am again doing just that.

I bought a copy of this well over 10 years ago when my husband, Michael, and I signed up for our first jewelry making class at our local adult education center. It was one of the required items for our tool box along with a torch tip, files, saw blades, rawhide hammer, and so on.

Back then, there weren’t that many large bookstore companies or web bookstores, so I had to special order it through a privately own jewelry store. At the time, I had no clue about what was in this book or why my jewelry instructor required each of her students to have a copy. However, it didn’t take long before both Michael and I found ourselves constantly referring to it, so much so that we would argue over who could keep the book on his or her work jewelry area.

I still have this book, and though it’s worn and tattered, I continue to refer to it often because it’s packed full of wonderful metal and wire jewelry related information. While it is primarily geared toward those who want to “metalsmith” (or silversmith or goldsmith depending on who you ask), wire workers and wire wrappers will find a ton of valuable information between its pages.

I guess I’m not the only one who has found this book super helpful. Over the years, Tim McCreight has sold so many copies that this book is in multiple editions, from the regular version you’ll find at most bookstores, to a special edition for students that’s been repacked slimmed down so it fits in your tool box.

For more details, I’ve got a review about this book posted here, but after reading what I have to say, I urge anyone that wants to learn to work with metal to review a copy for yourself. You’ll find it available at most brick and mortar and Internet booksellers.

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POSTED IN: Wire