Author Karin Buckingham presents her five building blocks of jewelry design: plain loops, wrapped loops, jump rings, chains, and spacers. Each chapter focuses on one of these fundamentals, with projects that incorporate each element into fabulous jewelry designs - all created with easy-to-find materials and three basic tools. Once you've mastered these basics, you'll be creating your own trend-setting metal jewelry.

"The basics of great jewelry design are covered in a fine title that covers the basics of jewelry design: plain loops, jump rings, chains and spacers. With each basic joining concept receiving a chapter of coverage and projects to reinforce learning, paired with color photos, MOSTLY METALS is a much more accessible jewelry title than most and should be considered the foundation of any beginner's attempt. Libraries catering to crafters and jewelry makers will find it a popular lend."

"By the title and at first glance, Mostly Metals: A Beginner's Guide to Jewelry Design ... might appear to be a metalsmithing book. But, while you will find it loaded with metal components and supplies to use in jewelry making, you don't have to worry about having to pick up a torch or even a hammer. Instead the idea of metals revolves around the use of simple metal wire fabrication techniques, such as wrapped loops, and metal components, such as chains and metal beads. The designs in this book, then, offer you a way to incorporate metals into lots of different jewelry designs but in a way that most beginning jewelry makers can handle pretty easily. I counted 37 jewelry projects which are organized into five technique and materials groups: plain loops (aka unwrapped or simple loops), wrapped loops, jump rings, chain, and spacers. So the techniques you need to master are pretty minimal, but the author shows you can get a lot of bang for your buck just the same."