Marthe Le Van

Industrial? Maybe. Steampunk? No.

I suspect that the title of this book was chosen by someone at Dover, not by Ms Le Van herself. The original title "Modern Jewelry from Modular Parts" is much more accurate.

Ms Le Van is a well known book editor who guided over 60 manuscripts to publication as Senior Editor at Lark. This book was first published by Lark in 2007 and features metal jewelry made from prefab parts. In my mind the designs are more punk chic than industrial and they are certainly not cyberpunk.

The first third or so of the book is background info on the tools and equipment you need to make metal jewelry. Ms Le Van interlaces photos of pieces she likes from various artists. The next 70 pages are instructions on how to make individual pieces. The end of the book is technical information on working with metal, bios of the contributing artists, and an index.

I find very few of these designs interesting. If you see this book on a shelf, flip through it, but I think that a competent jewelry maker would find more inspiration out in the world.

I received a review copy of "Nuts & Bolts: Industrial Jewelry in the Steampunk Style" by Marthe Le Van (Dover) through NetGalley.com. It was originally published by Lark Books in 2007 as "Modern Jewelry from Modular Parts: Easy Projects Using Readymade Components."… (más)

For my purposes, this book is definitely the best of the three. This book is pure eye candy. Thanks to Ray at Lark for sending me this book for free!

The foreword and juror statements are a little bit strangely formatted. The designer of the book used different sizes within the same sentences, which makes parts of the text jump out at' me when I read. I wonder if I just read the larger text if there would be some kind of subliminal message? I didn't take the time to try that.

Starting on page 12, there is very little text - just artists' names and the names of pieces as well as size and materials used. The major part of the book is all about inspiration. Most of these pieces are art and could not really be worn anywhere where you had to get in a car or pick up a drink much less to work or to pick up the kids at daycare. The Puddle Series Bracelet is one such piece. It doesn't matter, though, because these one of a kind (presumably) pieces are gorgeous to look at

These pieces are also not the thrown together pieces that can be made in a few hours. The shapes and forms are, in many cases, organic and curvilinear. The colors are also, mostly, neutrals and golds. There are a few pieces with other colors and they really shine. Most of the pieces are metal, but I saw a few fiber pieces. One of my favorite pieces is I Long for Your Touch (pg. 99) by Roberta and David Williamson. I like the face and leaf shapes.

It is not clear to me what type of jewelry many of the pieces are intended to be. I am not bothered by this, because I won't be buying or wearing these pieces and can be inspired from bracelets and broaches. If you need to rev up your creativity, take a look at this book, regardless of your medium.… (más)