Today's blog comes from Candace Weir, Central Library staff:

Sometimes it is fun to revisit the shelves in the hopes of snagging a couple of interesting browses. Since I like to make things, the books that get my attention are often about methods of making. Spanish jeweler, Carles Codina, has three books in our collection that fit this criterion:

Complete Book on Jewelry Making,

Goldsmithing & Silver Work and

The New Jewelry.

His books cover a wide range of techniques; articles range from how to make a North African bracelet to an article on the specific properties of gems. As a novice jewelry maker and fiddle-around type, I found them packed with information, full of things to try or to dream about trying.

Codina’s books are refreshing in that the esthetic offered is quite different from much of the jewelry I have seen in Calgary – although the market appears to be changing. Witness Nikola, a shop in Inglewood where the proprietor sells jewelry that is bold and unusual, made by local and Western-Canadian artists.

Building on the bold-and-unusual-jewelry theme, another book from our collection, 500 Silver Jewelry Designs, contains a plethora of great images, most of which are terrific fun to look at.

Who knows what an inspired, jewelry-making dabbler might come up with after combining ideas from these lovely books?

-Candace