Behind the Brooch: The Book !

I started a wonderful project last year about collecting images of brooches from the side we rarely see, the back side. It was such a wonderful experience to see how different artists approached the back look and mechanism of their brooches.
I started looking around for more pictures, and although it was not an easy task I managed to create a wonderful board on Pinterest named, of course, Behind the Brooch.
One morning while talking with the wonderful Brigitte Martin in the chat room at Crafthaus I mentioned to her about what I was doing on my Pinterest board and how I felt this topic was obscure. She asked me if I would be interested in making an online exhibition about it and I told her that it sounded like a great idea!!
I started organizing the online exhibition and at the same time thanks to my talk with Brigitte, I was also moving forward with a new project; A BOOK!
Brigitte was such a wonderful and positive person and gave me the push I needed to send my proposal to a publisher about my idea, and in less than a week I received a call from Schiffer Publising. They would be happy to publish  my book.
Meanwhile I was already selecting the artists that I will feature in my Behind the Brooch online exhibition at Crafthaus. The exhibition was a great opportunity to show a little sample of what my book would be about.

Come and take a look at it if you have not visited yet! Behind the Brooch exhibition at Crafthaus.

It took me almost a whole year to make this great book, it was the most challenging and wonderful experience I have had in my life as an artist. Having to invite every artist to submit images of their work and having the fantastic opportunity to meet so many incredible artists from around the world and see what they are creating is just something I will never forget.
I want to thank every single one of them for taking their time to submit images and for being so patient with me during this whole journey. I worked many nights all through the morning hours, sending emails, editing and writing all the images' information. It was hard work but I enjoyed every second of it!!!
I can not wait for all of you to see the book and the incredible work I have managed to collect for the project. Every artist brings their own voice and story in each of their pieces you will see throughout the book. I am sure you'll get much inspiration from the images you will see of work from artists making pieces with different materials, not just metals.
This has been a wonderful journey into the stories and ways every artist approaches the making of the back of a brooch as important as the front, and in some cases making the back view the more interesting side to see and discover.

I am happy to present my book to you!

Behind The Brooch: A closer look at backs, catches and pin stems

Color, Texture & Casting for Jewelers by Carles Codina

I was so HAPPY when I got this wonderful book in the mail. Carles Codina has been one of my favorite artists since I started taking metal smithing classes, his books are in my bookshelf and I always go and look back at them all the time. One of my first books I got was The Complete Book of Jewelry Making and I knew Carles Codina is not only an amazing artists but an incredible teacher and book author.
Color, Textures & Casting for Jewelers is published by Lark Jewelry & Beading (Sterling publisher) and it is a book that covers wonderful ancient techniques as keum boo, mokume gane and granulation.
As Carles Codina says in his book, the truly best way to learn and understand jewelry making is to practice it directly in the workbench. This is why I think this book is going to be a great source to have in any studio because it shows hands-on demonstrations and ways to put all the techniques covered in the book into practice.
The book has beautiful pictures which makes it easier to understand every technique covered in it. 

Mokume Gane involves creating a block made up of different sheets of metal without using solder. This has been a technique I have always admired and Carles Codina explains and shows every step of the process to create it in this book. The images are very clear and I am sure you will be eager to try it just by looking at the pictures and the wonderful gallery images.

Granulation is a technique that involves joining small granules or balls of silver or gold together or on a precious metal surface. I have seen so many wonderful pieces made with this great ancient technique and the book demonstrates very clearly how to be able to do it.  


A big part of the book is dedicated to modeling and casting, which is one of my favorite things to do and learn.
I have done lost wax, sand, cuttlebone, water and tufa stone castings but this book covers much more than that.

You will learn about modeling, microcasting, working with waxes, ceramic coatings, bronze casting, mold making, casting in a closed crucible and much more.


This book is a source of great information with incredible images that will make any jeweler eager to get into the studio and start working and practicing. I know this because that is the way I felt when I finished reading the book.


Great book to have !!