Twisted: Wire Jewellery Techniques and Projects

Shields explains how to create bracelets, pendants, and other jewelry from wire and gems in this gorgeous if challenging debut manual. The overview of tools notes that flat-nose pliers are well-suited for creating prongs, a butane torch is essential for soldering metals, and that texture hammers feature interchangeable heads with different patterns for giving metals extra flair. For materials, Shields reports that copper is her first choice for its malleability, but it can stain skin green or black, and that aluminum is easy to manipulate, but doesn’t hold its shape well. The projects make use of a variety of techniques. For the Khepri pendant, Shields shows how to create a sunburst wire weave around a large central bead, and for the “heady bracelet,” she details how to artfully coil wires of different gauges around each other. The hammered butterfly earrings require using fine-tipped pliers to bend shepherd’s hook ear wires into shape, and the “tama pendant” involves crafting numerous tiny prongs for a gallery wire stone setting. The intricate pieces are uniformly striking, characterized by delicate spiral coils and swooping wire flourishes, but even the “beginner” projects are dauntingly complicated, and the photos and written instructions leave readers to figure out some steps on their own. Experienced jewelers will get the most out of this. (May)