Wire & Fire: Blend Wire Weaving and Torch Techniques for Beautiful Jewelry

Product Description

Wire & Fire, award-winning jewelry artisan Kaska Firor’s collaboration with her daughter, designer Katherine Firor Colque, is a collection of stunning wire and metal projects with an artisan flair! The book combines traditional wire-wrapping techniques like weaving and coiling with torch-based techniques, including forging, sawing, shaping and soldering wire, making a bezel, and creating wire prongs. Combining these styles opens up a world of design possibilities for sophisticated wire jewelry. The 15 earrings, pendants, rings, bracelets, and other projects are fresh, bold, contemporary, and totally unique. Wire & Fire is ideal for intermediate wireworkers who are familiar with wire-wrapping techniques and interested in using a torch with wire to create polished, intricate jewelry. The projects incorporate easy-to-find copper or silver wire with other elements. Each technique is explained with step-by-step instructions and photos, and the softcover book includes a gallery of gorgeous pieces for even more inspiration.

About the Author

Kaska graduated from University of Cincinnati with a BA in Interior Design in 1988. Over the years, her love of handicrafts led her to pursue other creative avenues, as well including clay sculpture, stained glass, sawing and eventually wire arts. She has been designing and crafting wire jewelry since the summer of 2000, when she took her first instruction in that medium. She spent several years working with traditional wire-wrapping techniques honing her skills and experimenting with various types of wires and tools. In the last few years, her focus has shifted to more innovating wire techniques, including those borrowed from basket weaving and textile arts. The intricate and visually complex patterns of the weaves were what originally attracted Kaska to wire weaving. Her fascination with the art continues to grow as she discovers more complex and challenging ways of combining and modifying different techniques and more inventive ways of incorporating stones, beads, and other elements into her woven designs. Kaska displays and sells her jewelry at art shows in the Midwest, where she has won numerous awards. Her work has been published in several trade magazines; most recently, her woven bracelet design was featured on the cover of March 2012 issue of Art Jewelry magazine. She teaches jewelry classes locally at her studio in Cincinnati, Ohio as well as nationally. She believes that strong foundations are the key to successful design. In her classes she emphasizes proper technique and attention to detail and challenges her students with projects designed to increase their skill level.

Katherine Firor Colque is a lifelong jewelry designer with a cum laude degree from Columbus College of Art and Design. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.