The techniques of creating jewelry are pretty simple, but the artistry involved requires an understanding of design basics in order to be successful. Taking a course in jewelry design at a local art school or continuing ed program is great, but if that's not possible, or if you want to expand your understanding of jewelry design beyond your instructor's approach, then one or more of these books will give you a great start.

Author Elizabeth Olver takes both the subject of jewelry design and her readers seriously in her book The Art of Jewelry Design: From Idea to Reality (North Light Books, 2002). The book combines detailed hand-drawn illustrations and dramatic full-color photographs with solid content covering essential design tools, stages of the design process, the various elements of jewelry design and creative concepts involved in successful jewelry design. Creative concepts, as defined by Olver and enumerated in the book's table of contents, include "organic, geometric, abstract, figurative, narrative, symbolic, icons, fashion, fine, series," and "sculptural." This book will help you find your own unique style of jewelry making based on a solid understanding of design.

If your taste in jewelry runs to beads, The Book of Beads: A Practical and Inspirational Guide to Beads and Jewelry Making, by authors Janet Coles and Robert Budwig (Simon & Schuster, 1990), covers the basics of designing jewelry with beads and then presents detailed instructions for a variety of projects. The book also contains many photos and descriptions of a multitude of beads and covers the process involved in creating earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and decorative brooches.

More basic but a lot of fun, The Art of Making Jewelry, by Deborah Krupenia, Tammy Powley, and Jessica Wrobel (Thunder Bay Press, 2005), covers the tools and materials used in jewelry making, including standard glass, metal, and ceramic supplies as well as more unusual materials such as paper and papier mache. The book offers specific instructions for a wide range of projects using a variety of techniques, and profiles twenty well-known jewelry artists and their work.

Each book illustrates basic techniques but then takes them into very different directions, resulting in a wide range of artistic styles that can act as inspiration to the fledgling jewelry designer. Each one individually offers a solid technical understanding of jewelry-making; together they provide an excellent introduction to the creative range available in this unique art form.