Monday, March 1, 2010

From the Book Shelves - Sherri Haab Book Review


When folks ask me, from time to time, questions about using and creating with resin, I recommend Sherri Haab's book, "The Art of Resin Jewelry" as a resource.

One of the reasons, and there are many, why I do mixed media is that I enjoy working with many different materials, like an artistic collage.

If you are the same way, you will enjoy Sherri Haab's new book. It's titled "Jewelry Inspirations - Techniques and Designs from the Artist's Studio" and I just got a copy of it today in advance of its March 9 release, a generous 160 pages. The title is telling - it is more than just a step-by-step how to book, it provides a window into her creative process and studio.

Many times I see books published that provide instructions on particular projects, but this book gives you the start of the idea so you can begin with your own inspiration and work to something that's creatively new and your own.


There's a little something for everyone in this book, whether you're interested in polymer clay, resin, making molds or wire working, she has a section on them and the photographs are just beautiful.

There's a lot of synchronicity in this book for me, as she has portions of the book that talk about spool knitting with wire and viking knitting, two things I've been doing myself lately. It facinates me how creative people sometimes seem to be listening to the same wavelengths and getting inspired by similar things, yet the things we create with them can be so totally different and unique.

If there's one special take away from this book for me, it's the encouragement to all for it to be the starting point of a personal journey, to work through the projects but make them one's own rather than doing just what Sherri did. If you sometimes take a class just to see how the instructor thinks their way through a solution, you can have that same feeling from this book.

This book would make a creative complement to a workshop as a sort of inspirational textbook, to provide a new series of things to try as a group or on your own, to challenge yourself. I do that sometimes and I'm sure most creative people do, too.


She has Chapters titled "Memories", "Seasons", "Collections" and "Hobbies" - all aimed at starting the creative juices flowing. There's an interview on Crafter News where she talks about the book.

If you've wondered about torch firing metal clay, wire wrapping a briolette drop or off-loom weaving a cuff bracelet, you'll find all of those in this book, and she talks about them on her website, too.

If you want details and multiple projects on one specific media or technique this book may not go deeply enough in any one thing for you - but what fun would that be, I ask you?

It will be fun to pick it up from time to time and read something from anywhere in the book for any of the 25 projects, just for inspiration. For someone like me who usually has several, okay numerous, things going at once, this book is just like my style of creating, and maybe it will be yours, too.

If this review has intrigued you - Check it out! And let me know how it inspired you ...

2 comments:

ClickNCamera said...

I'm excited to learn about this book! I look forward to using resin one day and need ALL the help I can get. Thank you for sharing!

LLYYNN - Lynn Davis said...

Millie, it's really a lovely and generous book, I think you'd enjoy it a lot.