title: The Art of Making Jewelry
author:  Takashi Wada 
description: Dust jacket notes: "Often called Queen of the Crafts, jewelrymaking by hand is also defined as an art as well. Jewelry pieces so exquisitely created are things of beauty and a joy forever. In this handsome and practical book the gifted young Japanese artist Takashi Wada tells how it is done. The book is divided into five parts. A stunning color section at the beginning shows a glorious profusion of original Wada designs - 112 pieces in all. Materials and techniques used are named in each case. PRELIMINARIES TO THE ART OF MAKING JEWELRY comes next. This opens with helpful advice to the novice, followed by valuable illustrated information on the nature of metals and gems; the why, how, and wherefore of gem cutting; care and handling of gem jewelry; repairing gem jewelry; trading-in gems. A chart of gems appears in this section. Part three covers BASIC TECHNIQUES FOR BEGINNERS. Here, one step at a time, employing diagrams and photographs, the author carefully explains the fundamentals of the jeweler's art: how to use jewelers' tools, torches, soldering, ore melting and making silver balls, acid dipping, wire work, the art of chasing, how to make your owne gravers and resin bases, the lost wax process, how to set stones, how to finish your piece. Wada ends this part with an article on the principles of design, which will be inspirational to all jewelry craftsmen from tyro to professional. In the fourth part, CREATING JEWELRY, precise step-by-step instructions are given for making specific pieces - rings, brooches, earrings, pendants, necklaces and chains, clasps, cuff links, and more. The last part consists of an interesting account of the symbolism of rings in history....Although the text is keyed in large degree to the needs of beginners, everyone who responds to the indescribable beauty of jewelry lovingly made by hand will want this enlightening book by a master of The Art of Making Jewelry." Hardcover, 7.25 x 10.25 inches, 128 pages, Index.
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  [Contents](0743471717_toc.htm)
  
  # **Chapter Seventeen**
  
  The first thing anyone would notice was the poster. Mirina saw it on short-
  range screens before they had quite landed on the plain. Once she could
  examine it in detail, she was impressed.
  
  Painted or printed at the top of the huge, white signboard was a pair of
  silhouetted beings, species indeterminate, exchanging shapeless bundles.
  Beneath the image of the traders was depicted pictures of certain commodities
  in various recognizable forms that the trader would accept in exchange for his
  wares. The first line was an irregular lump of gold, half in and out of quartz
  matrix; the gold was shown next pressed into an ingot, then as the molecular
  diagram of the element, and weight at certain gravity, then as various
  artifacts into which gold could be shaped, such as cups, wire, circuit boards,
  statues, jewelry. He wishes, Mirina thought. Other lines showed crystals, from
  simple 