Wire Jewelry Workshop: Techniques for Working with Wire and Beads by Susan Ray published by Krause Publications (US $19.99; CAN $21.99) packs a lot of wire information into its 128 pages, starting with some wire history and progressing through lots of techniques and projects. As the subtitle explains, this is mainly about wire, but it also shows how to incorporate beads with lots of the wire designs.

And, how doesn't love the combination of wire and beads?!
Ray does not present her workshop alone, either. She has a lot of help, especially from vendors who are known for their wire expertise like Gary Helwig from WigJig.com. As she explains various technique, many of these are also illustrated directly afterwards with projects to show how to incorporate the technique into a finished piece of jewelry. Some of my favorite projects include "Aquarius Necklace" designed by Sherri Chapin for Blue Moon. It is a relatively simple design but her use of materials and technique still made it stand out to me. "Cherry Cordial Cuff" designed by Cas Webber for Beadazzled was also a great project because, though it is listed an an intermediate level project, it had enough going on that I felt even more advanced wire workers would find it a little fun and challenging too. So while this book focuses mainly on the beginner, there is still something for those who have worked with wire to consider.

The only issue I felt I should caution anyone about, and this may not be an issue for some readers, is that there are a number of commercial products used in the text.

Ray does provide lots of great information on using basic hand tools like wire cutters and ring mandrels, but there are also commercial tools like the Coiling Gizmo and various production jigs used as well. There is nothing wrong with using these tools. They were designed to make life easier for jewelry designers, which is great, and there is lots of "real" hand-work demonstrated, such as the "Pearly Swirly Bracelet," which combines a lot of hand-crafted loops and "S" connectors. But, for those absolute wire purists, I felt I should point this out.