Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet by Mary Hettmansberger is a great jewelry making book that explains how to use a lot of creative cold connections in metal and fiber jewelry work.

If you like rustic looking jewelry, you’ll love this book. The projects all have that handmade look, and the author encourages experimenting.

I love cold connections, which is probably evident when you look at my jewelry – lots of wire wrapping, and in my metalwork I often use variations on rivet techniques to hold things together while allowing for some movement – as in this pendant.

Once you master a few easy techniques for connecting metal parts without soldering, you start to get lots of design ideas, and can create pieces that look and feel more complex than what you can do without these connections. I like to use a combination of torchwork, wirework, and cold connections in my work.

If you like using fiber in your jewelry, or fiber techniques, you’ll appreciate a few sections of the book that deal with things like weaving wire. Weaving with thin-gauge wire enables a designer to create very intricate, details pieces – without needing a lot of expensive metalworking tools.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a beginning metalworker wanting to learn some cold connections, or anyone who loves handmade jewelry with a rustic feel – plenty of inspiration for these kinds of designs.