The desire to adorn ourselves with beautiful objects goes back to the beginning of mankind. Even before our ancestors could speak or write, they were making jewelry. As long ago as the Middle Stone Age, about 100,000 years ago, cavemen were stringing beads together. In fact, a British archaeologist named Archibald Carlyle says, "The first spiritual want of a barbarous man is decoration."
With this book, you and I will explore decorations--for yourself, your friends, your home, your yard. Together, we'll go through the process of making jewelry. I suspect you will grow to love it as much as I do.
You don't have to be an artist or a wealthy person to make jewelry. Just as the Native American used materials that were part of their environment (beads, turquoise, porcupine quills, shells, silver, amber, and other stones), you can use many different materials to express your self, to capture a creative thought and fashion it into a beautiful object.