Heat, Color, Set & Fire - Surface Effects for Metal Jewelry

Etched Copper Neckpiece. Image courtesy Lark Crafts.

I just took a class at home called 'Heat, Color, Set and Fire' and is suspiciously the same name as the title by author and jewelry artist Mary Hettmansperger. Actually, just reading Heat, Color, Set and Fire: Surface Effects for Metal Jewelry
is like taking a metal jewelry surface effects class at home and Hettmansperger does a superb job at breaking down both the intricate and simple elements of decorating metal jewelry.

I always have to give credit to the photographer when the images are an important element of the book, and the author and photographer team of Hettmansperger and Steve Mann clearly present the techniques step by step and show the tools being used. This is especially important when materials that may be new to the reader are being used, which makes this book useful for both the advanced metal jeweler and the beginner. Illustrations throughout the book are done by the author herself.

21 jewelry projects are finished: necklaces, lockets, rings, bracelets, chokers and other neckpieces, pendants and brooches. A wide range of finishes are presented in those projects: enameling, different patinas, keum boo, etching, embossing, embellishing, fusing, and texturing, among many others. The projects are not too difficult to where even the absolute beginners couldn't try many of them. In fact, in the introduction, Hettmansperger makes it a point to talk about her 'low-tech approaches to working with metal.'

If you'd like to check out some of the projects in the book, below are links from Lark Crafts that the author has shared. All are pdf links.

• Etched Copper Neckpiece (shown in the image above)
• Liquid Enamel Necklace

Book Information:

• Heat, Color, Set and Fire: Surface Effects for Metal Jewelry; by Mary Hettmansperger
• Lark Crafts; 2012
• ISBN13: 9781454700166
• Hardbound, 128 pages, full color

Renee Shelton.