CHAINED Media Release
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Contact: Geraldine Conrad
773-404-9842
JEWELRY GURU REVEALS TECHNIQUE SECRETS, SPURS INNOVATION IN REVOLUTIONARY NEW BOOK FOR FELLOW ARTISTS, CRAFTERS
Leading Specialty Product Supplier/Pioneering Artist To Release Chained: Create Gorgeous Chain Mail Jewelry One Ring at a Time November 30
Chicago — With sales of craft-related merchandise up as much as 97 -164% in some retailer categories, and consumer interest in do-it-yourself projects and home-made gifts exploding, a new book by a leading jewelry artist offers a powerful creativity tool for beginning and advanced artisans.
Rebeca Mojica’s work appeared in local galleries before her business became one of the world’s leading jewelry product suppliers in its niche. She is also one of her industry’s only experts, and the pre-eminent chainmaille instructor in the region, arguably driving international fascination with the art, with her distinct designs and easy-to-follow project instructions.
Mojica’s firm, Blue Buddha Boutique (BlueBuddhaBoutique.com) sells finished jewelry, supplies and instructional materials to customers in all 50 states and 40 countries worldwide.
Chainmaille is made of weaves of tiny metal rings like those used in medieval armor.
Chained: Create Gorgeous Chain Mail Jewelry One Ring at A Time (North Light Books) provides comprehensive instructions and illustrations for 22 spectacular chainmaille projects, and extensive guidance on technique as well as how to vary each project–based on skill level and interest–so readers may express their own artistic personality and creativity with each. For example, the basic byzantine weave, an excellent pattern for beginners, is easily turned into the elegant and impressive Olivia bracelet (see graphic below) by creating small segments of basic byzantine and connecting them sideways. Beginners can also use different size rings to create the X-lock variation–it looks so different from basic byzantine, but the only real change is the ring sizes! As students gain experience, they can use smaller rings and add beads to create the Floating Bead Pendant, an elegant and delicate byzantine design. No other book gives readers such precise tools for learning how to create infinite variations from very basic patterns.
Click to Download High-Res version of CHAINED variations image
With 1000 hours as an instructor, artist/entrepreneur Mojica, who has taught at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago, the locally renowned Lillstreet Art Center, and bead stores, had been approached by four publishers to develop her own book.
No previous book devotes so much focus on expert technique, offers so many weaves used in so many ways, promotes innovation for each pattern with ways to vary projects according to skill or personal taste, or has been targeted to advanced practitioners.
Chained: Create Gorgeous Chain Mail Jewelry One Ring at A Time (North Light Books) is a true labor of love, featuring:
- Clear, detailed step-by-step photos that will take you from opening and closing jump rings to finishing your first (or fiftieth!) project
- Easy-to-navigate “Weave in a Nutshell” options for many weaves that will show advanced chain mail weavers the weave of a project in just a few steps
- 22 beautiful projects plus dozens of variations, including earrings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants, each with its own skill level and time investment rating
- Endless options: choose your favorite colors, your favorite metals, customize the size of your project, and find inspiration to add your own unique stamp to any piece of chain mail jewelry
Mojica invites the reader to join her in releasing the artist within.
“Technically, this book contains more than twenty patterns plus many variations,” she writes. “But I’d rather you think of it as a doorway to an infinite number of patterns, a celebration… The creative chainmaille artist is analogous to a master chef—using a recipe only as a base from which to experiment…I hope that by showing you how easy it is to manipulate jump ring patterns to customize your pieces, your chainmaille spark will be ignited. Erase your preconceived notions of this ancient craft and join me in pushing the boundaries of what is considered chainmaille.”
“Many customers have said that Blue Buddha Boutique instructions were the only ones they could follow,” Mojica noted. “They reported that they had tried following two or three other sets of instructions for the same pattern and just couldn’t get it. But when they tried our instructions, they got the patterns right away.”
Trained as a journalist, Mojica admired chainmaille belts while traveling in Germany in her mid-twenties. Not finding anyone who sold them, she purchased some rings over the Internet and taught herself the ancient craft, finding it both soothing and rewarding. She transformed the hobby she loved into a business when she founded Blue Buddha Boutique in 2003.
Originally specializing in creating moderately-priced, beautiful, innovative chainmaille jewelry, Blue Buddha changed its business model as interest in the craft skyrocketed, and Mojica and her students had difficulty finding high-quality supplies. The company began focusing on providing precision-sized rings and meticulous, step-by-step pattern instructions and quickly grew to become the Midwest’s largest product and training supplier for amateur chainmaille jewelry makers.
Mojica and her award-winning work have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune and her projects have been published in numerous books and industry articles.
Chained may be pre-ordered now and will ship on or before November 30. Order on Amazon.com or through the BlueBuddhaBoutique.com web site. Those who order through the firm web site can opt to pay slightly more for a signed copy; a portion of sales will be donated to the Franklin Fine Arts Center, the elementary magnet public school Mojica attended.
Find out more at http://www.chainedbook.com/or visit BlueBuddhaBoutique.com. The Blue Buddha Boutique studio is located at 4533 N. Kedzie Ave. in Chicago, IL 60625, and is open to the public by appointment only. For more information, contact Geraldine Conrad at 773-404-9842.
For more information:
http://www.bluebuddhaboutique.com
