About this item
Create stunningly intricate jewelry using soutache - a form of ornate braid or tassel. Providing plenty of photographed step-by-step instructions as a guide, Amee K. Sweet-McNamara shows intermediate-to-advanced jewelers the various techniques needed to make bracelets, pins, necklaces, and earrings. From a richly hued Shimmering Sea Turtle Pendant to Crystal Coil Earrings and a Day of the Dead Bracelet, these 12 colorful pieces are magnificent.
About the Author
When people ask me, "Why is your art-business called 'Amee Runs with Scissors? '' I usually just laugh and say that it sounds a whole lot sexier than "Amee Eats Paste."
In truth, it has more to do with my creative process than I can usually articulate in a five-minute conversation without sounding like I might need a jacket that ties in the back. You see, in my day-to-day reality, I am actually a bit of a rule-follower ... a box-checking, i-dotting, t-crossing, ultra-responsible kind of girl. My creative spirit, however, seems to be about as predictable as a sugared up six-year-old. I know this because when I am truly immersed in something really creative, coming up with something wholly new, I become aware of strange, inexplicable sensation of surreptitiousness ... an "almost-guilt ... " like I'm getting away with something sort of mischievous and I might - at any moment - be ... caught! Doing what, you ask?
I have no idea.
But I have come to trust this feeling - to listen to this wild-eyed, slightly-manic inner-child who might whisper something as wacky as, "I wonder would happen if I mix Tang and chocolate milk," because she's just as likely to say, "Hey! Let's put some Ultra-suede in the Sizzix machine!"
I work out of my home in New Hampshire making one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable-art textile-jewelry. I teach private and group classes and my technique, Soutache-and-Bead Embroidery involves hand-stitching yards and yards of soutache braid and hundreds of tiny beads.
