Jewelry Concepts & Technology (Oppi Untracht)

At over 800 pages on instruction and photography, it is fair to call this book a definitive book on jewelry. The price makes it prohibitive for anyone not devoted to the craft, but the book rewards those who spend the money. This book would make an exceptional gift for the metal-smith or jewelry designer in your life. I won't try to explain each chapter, but here are the highlights: An entire chapter is devoted to metals, including ferrous as well as non-ferrous metal. This is also one of the few books I've read that goes into working with gold. Another chapter is devoted to sheet metal and included forming, shaping, finishing, stamping, and more. The next chapter is over 100 pages of wire instruction. This is almost a book in itself. It ranges from filigree work to chain maille, from basic shaping techniques to forging. My favorite chapter is 50 pages dedicated to affecting surface appearance with the use of heat. Among the other chapters are one on casting, one on ... Read more

An excellent reference covering every phase of making jewelry, with plenty of illustrations and photos

This book is amazing - I only wish I had found it a few years ago when I was in school! I want to scream at my metals instructor for not having it as a required textbook, or at least SHOWING it to us!! It's on my Christmas list this year, tho, so better late than never! This book has information about pretty much any jewelry metalsmithing technique you could want to know about.

It's hard to justify $85 for a jewelry book, but this combines history, technique and art in one book. If you intend to work with jewelry professionally, or are a very serious jewelry student, it's wise to get this book. You won't get the step-by-step techniques, but you'll get enough background technique you'll be able to wing it, usually sucessfully. He covers the international world of jewelry, so it has everything from ethnic tribal to Danish contemporary, and all the stuff inbetween. I sit down with this book periodically to just enjoy the book, and I always find something 'new' I want to try. Many times I use it a reference for finding the basis of a technique, or a particular table that has the info I require. Whatever it is that I need, I can find it in this book. It's worth the $85 and you won't regret the decision.

This one expands on were he stopped with the first book. 19 chapter headings with a multitude of sub headings. * The Message of Jewelry, why we wear ornaments * The Means to Creation: working environment, facilities and implements * Metal, the Jewel's Raw Material: Its origin, quality control and variety * Basic Techniques: processing sheet metal without deformation * Sheet Metal: Forming by deformation techniques * Wire: The uses of drawn or extruded flexible filaments * Tubing: The use of Fistular Forms * Surface ornament with out heat: Metal removal techniques * Surface ornament with heat: Metal fusion techniques * Fabrication: Building fragments into units * Casting: Methods of giving form to molten metal * Natural Materials in Jewelry: Using natures valued nonmetals * Stones and their setting: Inorganic minerals employed in jewelry * Metal Finishing: Achieving desired surface appearance * Metallic Coating... Read more