Bead & Button Magazine - April 2011 - by Tea Benduhn

If you like the fabric-like feel of chain mail, and you're looking for a new challenge with fresh designs, this book delivers. Plumlee takes the combination of beads and chain to a new level of design. Page after page, I found myself saying, "I never would have thought of that!" The basics are as detailed and thorough as Plumlee's projects, and the background is so well thought out that there is an entry point for jewlery makers of every skill level. - Tea

Step By Step Wire Jewelry Magazine - Feb-March 2011 - by Sara Richardson

Scott David Plumlee’s third book strongly emphasizes the importance of geometric designs in chain maille patterns, not only with jump rings, but also when incorporating beads into these beautiful pieces.

The book starts with chain and bead basics, clearly explaining the differences in wire, gemstone beads, mandrels, tools, and finishing processes. It also includes a metric conversion chart and tips for keeping a jeweler’s journal when designing. This section is great for those artists just beginning to explore chain maille or wire jewelry making in general.

Plumlee includes essential techniques, including jump ring theory, jump ring gauges, aspect ratio, and wrapping and cutting your own jump rings. He includes aspect ratios for the chain patterns he uses in his projects, with clear photos of each weave. To help you get used to making chain, this section goes right into a project, which gives you practice in the proper way to open and close jump rings, and how to spiral rings. Other wire techniques covered include making clasps, wrapping beads, and how add ear wires.

The next section features beautiful Byzantine chain maille projects, and also shows (with photos) common Byzantine mistakes. After projects featuring how to make a simple pair of earrings and bracelet using the weave, more intricate designs are gradually introduced. The next chapters follow a similar format, covering Tripoli, triangle, quatrefoil, trapezoid, pentagon, and even organic formations.

While the designs featured seem advanced at first glance, if you start from the very beginning, you should be able to design this gorgeous jewelry with ease. Whether you’re just beginning or are already experienced in chain maille, you’ll appreciate this book. The step photos are excellent, and the text is written in a clear down–to–earth manner.

Review by Sara Richardson, associate editor at Step-by-Step Wire Jewelry magazine.

Read All About It:: Chain and Bead Jewelry: Geometric Connections by Erin Prais-Hintz

"Welcome to a new plateau of creativity, where shiny metal jump rings and yummy gemstone beads are combined in endless possibilities..." So begins the Preface from author and chain jewelry expert Scott David Plumlee in his third book Chain and Bead Jewelry: Geometric Connections.

The book is broken down into 8 sections. You definitely want to start at the beginning with "Chain & Bead Basics" and move into "Essential Techniques." These two chapters are like having Scott as your own personal chain-making instructor. I will warn you... there is a lot of math, which I loathe. But this sort of chain pattern requires precise measurements. I will admit that all the talk of calculating aspect ratios makes my eyes glaze over, but it is apparent that David really knows his stuff. And if you are going to take off with doing chain-making on your own, without the benefit of pre-made rings, then you need this knowledge.

I think that these are really great opening chapters because there is a wealth of knowledge on things like forging an s-clasp, making matching earring wires, and the proper way to work with jump rings. I have to say that I learned a lot in these tips with the great photography clearly showing each step. I will come back to these again even if I am not creating my own chains. {I have to tell you that my favorite thing to do is take jump rings and make them into a flower formation. It bulks them up, adds texture and strength and is a simple way to add your own spacers with an inexpensive material.}

I was going to attempt to make my own jump rings {you can stop laughing right now!}, but there was that whole pesky math thing. Not to mention my fundamental lack of time. Plus I didn't have the right wire to do that sort of thing, and I have never taken my jump ring maker {essentially different sized rods} out of the package. I really hate getting out my jeweler's saw, and then there is that whole kerfless thing {to kerf or not to kerf, that is the question!}. Lucky for me there is a great resource page in the back with suppliers of jump rings and so I proceeded to look them up. But trying to get the right number of rings in the right gauge for the pattern proved a bit daunting to me. Hey, wait a minute! It was then that I noticed that David offers complete kits for many of the projects in this book. Hooray! So I went right out and bought four kits all in brass just to give myself a kickstart: beaded Romanov bracelet and earrings; serrated Byzantine bracelet and earrings. I decided to start with the earrings figuring if I can get that pattern down I can finish the rest.

These earrings took me less than an hour to make each pair, and that was with me being sick on the couch that day. So if I can do this using David's clear instructions when I am sicker than a dog, without the proper light, on a co-opted lunch room tray and squinting because I obviously need glasses, then you can do it, too. I wasn't sure that I had all the same tools that David recommends so I punted a little bit, but I think that they turned out great. I can see the potential for this design with different beads and alternate metal options, especially mixing metals which I love to do. {My tip to you: open all your jump rings the same way before you start. Saves a lot of time and futzing.}

Having tried a few projects in the book, I can honestly say that this is a book I am proud to own. I would love to work my way up into some more complicated designs like the Incan Triangle necklace, the Japanese Rose necklace or the Trapezoid bracelet. And David has laid it out in such a way that builds on the previous projects and I do believe that I would be successful with any of these projects. I would recommend the book Chain and Bead Jewelry: Geometric Connections by Scott David Plumlee to anyone that is curious about adding chain that they fabricate to their designs, and likes the possibility of combining that with gemstones. Oh, and anyone who likes math. ;-)

Review by Erin Prais-Hintz --- Tesori Trovati Jewelry - Treasures Found --- www.tesoritrovati.com

Read the full book review at: http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/2011/02/read-all-about-it-chain-and-bead.html

My recommendations:

If you are a chain maille enthusiast -- buy this book. It's a must-have. It will excite your imagination and give you options like you won't believe.

If you've never tried chain maille -- buy it, make the byzantine bracelet in the first project a few times, then dive in. Once you master some of the easier pieces, try out the rest of the projects. Some are definitely easier than others, and you can usually tell by looking at them which are the toughies. But once you get a few under your belt, you'll be fine. And you'll WANT to try these projects once you see them! Enjoy!

Written by Lori Anderson, posted on her Pretty Things Blog, and also published as a contributer to Art Bead Scene.

Chain and Bead Jewelry Geometric Connections:
A New Angle on Creating Dimensional Earrings, Bracelets, and Necklaces

Great book for a new jewelery artist! My daughters and I are excited to make a few projects out of this book! I went online to his website and ordered the kits for earrings and a braclet set for one of the projects and am looking forward to completing them! I have not seen his first two books, but I can still complete the simplier designs in this book - just fine!! The book has a lot of step-by-step pictures for each project and goes into details about how he shines up his finished projects! We are looking forward to wearing our jewelery as soon as we make the earrings and bracelet! I would recommend this book to everyone! - By Abstract Artist (via Amazon.com)

Excellent reading material

This book is an excellent resource and teaching guide. The ideas and the descriptions given are clear and easy to understand. I bought the first book Scott David Plumlee wrote and was so pleased and excited about the ideas, new projects and gaining new information that prior to finishing the "Handcrafting Chain and Bead Jewelry" I went on line and ordered the next set of books and again was not disappointed. He work is worth every dime. I have been making jewelry for many years and just became intrigued with Chain Mail in the past year. I have spent a great deal of time researching Chain Maille on line, at shows, reading jewelry magazines and buying books and normally I have been disappointed with the information provided or have found that the information has been lacking. You will find that Scott David Plumlee book's are clear and he is very generous with information, ideas and patterns. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have. - By Jo (via Amazon.com)

Remarkable New Way of Learning to Create Stunning Bead and Chain Jewelry, Taught by a Master

This very elegant jewelry book, authored by Scott David Plumlee, goes way beyond what the beginner or intermediate chain maker is trying out and creates a brand new generation of designer jewelry out of jump rings and beads. However, do not misunderstand me. Excitingly, you CAN be a beginner and easily use this book! To illustrate what I mean about progressing beyond classic chain maille, take a look at the breathtaking bracelet on the cover. Plumlee has designed something strikingly bold and appealing. The bracelet is both sinuous and elegant. Composed of jump rings of two colors and a number of shapes and sizes of beads of semiprecious gemstone and art glass, it handily demonstrates the good reason for this unusual jewelry design book's title: CHAIN and BEADED JEWELRY GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS, A New Angle on Creating Dimensional Earrings, Bracelets, and Necklaces by Scott David Plumlee - It truly IS so new!

It is evolved jump ring chain and beaded jewelry of the most sophisticated sort. It is as if you were seeing these projects showcased in a fine store on Fifth Avenue in New York. However, wonderfully, you will be able to make these stunning projects yourself! What does the term "geometric connections" mean, and why should it be so important that it is included in the title? To paraphrase from the preface, the author explains that in this, his third book, he continues to explore geometry, a part of nature's beauty, in order to follow designs which can be seen in everything growing and in all things beautiful, beginning with the simpler designs of the Byzantine to the more complex designs found later in the book: the Trifoil and the Quatrefoil, to the mindblowingly lovely "Organic designs" created by Plumlee himself, which are unforgettable: both playful and fancy simultaneously. I found every design in this book fascinating and amazing.

Additionally, although I am sufficiently familiar with chain maille (or chain mail if you prefer) to be considered to have a fair knowledge of it, I know what to look for which might be confusing to a newcomer. I remember very clearly which aspects of making this sort of jewelry can be overwhelming when you are just starting out, especially as I am ambidextrous and don't know my left hand from my right. Therefore, it is great that the author gives you really good step-out photos in the beginning to show you the proper way to join your jump rings, and to do many of the other things which will be required in the projects. He also uses the great technique of colored graphic designs for your rings whenever necessary (to be found at the back of the book as well), so that when you weave your chain you will easily see which ring goes where, and which ring goes first, and so on.

I love the beginning of this book! Plumlee has a great tool section (he had a hand in developing one of the tools himself, and it is so cool!), a lushly photographed gemstone section, an excellent technique section, and a wonderful list of chains and aspect ratios. It may not seem easy to gracefully weave a focal into a bracelet, but looking at the Jens Pinds Tripoli Bracelet, the reader will see how worthwhile and lovely this style of jewelry designing can be. The Beaded Quatrefoil Bracelet has two choices of ways to connect it to show off the shape in two different manners, and both are very pretty. The Flower Quatrefoil Earrings is a project which is one of my favorites. I very much like the gem color used in the earrings (Lapis!), and the beautiful shape of those regal earrings.

Even if you don't have tons of money to make jewelry at the moment, I suggest you get this book and, possibly start small. Try one of the author's key fobs. That, or go for one of the earrings projects, which are exquisite. Either choice is just as fine as his larger pieces of work. You will learn a great deal from his organic shapes, such as the fish, which come toward the end of the book. This is where the author really stands out from the crowd in the sense that his exuberance and high sense of style mesh and he takes off into jaw dropping climes. His other organic shapes, such as the cross, the snowflake and the butterfly, make my heart soar.

I love this book. As a designer, it is a pleasure and an honor to have it in my library. I have already learned so much from it, as to where you can go with chain as you progress in your studies of weaving, and your designing just for the joy of it, and even in my new found interest in geometry, I would truly like to thank the author, Scott David Plumlee, for writing this fabulous jewelry design book, CHAIN and BEADED JEWELRY GEOMETRIC CONNECTIONS.

I am now a total fan! This is truly a very exciting book!

Witten by Jean Yates, published on her blog: prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspont.com, and Amazon.com

Another remarkable book by a remarkable author and craftsman

Scott Plumlee's writing style gives you the feeling he is in the room with you. Directions are exceptionally clear and concise, including superb pictures and illustrations. Whenever, I have question about wirework or chainmaille techniques, I go to Scott's book. Definitely a book to add to your beading and wirework library because it covers the basics and makes the more advanced techniques clear enough for beginners to follow. - By Chris (via Amazon.com)

Chain and Bead Jewelry

This is a wonderful book. Scott has detailed instructions for making everything and for basic techniques and tools as well. I found this book wonderful with very easy to understand directions! - By Carmen Martinez (via Amazon.com)

Wonderful Chain Maille Book

David has once again used his creative talent to produce another fabulous book. I own his two other books and this book also has tons of information on chain maille with clear instructions and color pictures of each of the steps. Highly recommened for those who want to take their chain maille to the next level! By The ChainMaille Lady (via Amazon.com)

Beautifully Illustrated

This book shows in clear step by step instructions how to make gorgeous chainmaille jewelry. I have all of Scott's books and they are all very nice with clear instructions. He has beautiful designs in all of his books. One of my favorites is his Chaos link which he has in his 2nd book, Chain and Bead Jewelry Creative Connections. What I like most about Scott's designs is that he adds beads to a lot them, adding another layer of interest to the design. I will be looking forward to his next book and the ones after that. Thanks Scott. By Susan (via Amazon.com)

Making Connections with Chain and Beads

I am delighted to have my own copy of Chain And Beaded Jewelry Geometric Connections. I have one other Plumlee book and both are gorgeously photographed and painstakingly detailed primers on creating dazzling designs with simple materials.I have always been impressed with the detail that Mr Plumlee puts into his instructions. The opening chapters on wire gauges and tools and tips and techniques alone are certainly worth the purchase.

I took a class with another artist at the Bead & Button show with whom I was not entirely happy. I basically taught myself how to make the Byzantine chain using the written instructions provided and was not given much guidance. And then I met Mr Plumlee. I wished that I had taken his course instead. And if you couldn't take his course in person, his books are the next best thing.

What I like about this book is the way that the addition of the beads really enhance the chain. The cover piece is especially stunning in that it looks so fluid and random, but is really well proportioned and thought out.

I read the review that indicated that there was nothing new here. As someone who only dabbles in this, but admires it greatly, I would say that this is all new to me, so maybe that reviewer should move on to other resources or is so beyond needing that support. I do have a basic understanding of the Byzantine which I am sure will serve me well once I start delving into the book. I plan a more extensive review once I have tried some of the projects.

As for the comment that Byzantine is boring, I quite disagree. There is a reason that this is a foundational chain design that you learn. There are so many brilliant variations of this. I am confident that there will be designs in this book that I will want to make again and again, as well as riffing on my own to find my own personal style.

I do believe that there are a lot of forums out there that can support someone interested in chain making or any jewelry related questions. But I quite prefer having a gorgeous reference on my shelf that I can page through and discover anew each time. If you are interested in ways to enliven your jewelry-making with the addition of hand made chain, this book is a perfect place to start. - Book Review by Erin L. Prais-hitnz (Tesori Trovati Jewelry Collection).