This week begins an ongoing series of magazine reviews on the Jewelry Making site.

The first takes a look at Lapidary Journal:

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Bead and Button has been my favorite for many years. I went to their first Bead and Button convention in Austin, TX years ago.

They have really built up their magazine over the years. The articles are great and they also have a great website.

I subscribe to Lapidary Journal, and I too find myself skipping over articles in gem cutting and lamp work. When they do have an article on fabrication, which is where my interests lie, I enjoy it. I also subscribe to Art Jewelry, which comes less often, but has more on what I'm interested in. They also cover polymer clay, wire wrapping, and PMC which I may decide to play with in the future. I sometimes pick up Metalsmith Magazine, but their concentration seems to be more on Art pieces (with a capital A) and silverware. There are also a whole slew of beading magazines, that I sometimes pick up for fun, like Bead and Button. I often find myself looking for more in a magazine. If anyone knows of any others, please let me know!

-Nina Gibson
www.ninadesigns.etsy.com

I also like Bead & Button, and I subscribe to it too - even though I'm mainly doing fabrication these days myself.

I also get Art Jewelry, even though I don't work much with polymer clay or metal clay, and it does seem to have a lot of that. Of course, I'm still interested in those things so I can write about them here - so that's helpful!

I'll be writing reviews of both of those and some others that are out there.

I suspect it's a challenge for publishers to keep specialty magazines going while trying to keep all the readers happy. It's got to be expensive to print and mail all those issues, plus pay a lot of staff to get things done properly. I think that's probably why they tend to target broader audiences; so that they can achieve a larger subscription base. The downside is that no one is interested in every topic in a given issue.

Anyway, I'll be working on those other reviews over the next few months.

Thanks for posting, you guys!

Chris

Art Jewelry Magazine is my favorite because they often showcase PMC but Lapidary Journal is a close second. Just ordered a trial subscr. of Ornament. It looks to be very artsy and less technical. I happen to have a background in art rather than jewelry making so I struggle sometimes in transferring my designs to jewelry. Living 3 hrs. from a large city, classes are not readily available so I really appreciate the information offered in these magazines. I also subscribe to Accessories to keep an eye on the marketing end.

Patsy Oxley
www.oxalisjewelart.com

I love Lapidary Journal's yearly bead issue. It's terrific!

Ornament has some great inspirational photos and articles. I used to take it.

When I lived in San Diego I took classes at a place called The Shephardess and the owner was in Ornament a couple of times for her work with beaded pine needle baskets.

Does anyone here like Joyce Scott and her freeform peyote? She inspired me to do lots of free form stuff. I don't care for patterns that much-too strenuous. I do bead work for relaxation so like to just go with it.