Creative Metal Clay Jewelry: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration Review

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(More customer reviews)This book includes some good how to projects, general information, specific working problems w/silver clay & some gorgeous as well as creative examples of what can be done with precious metal clay. The projects & techniques are easy enough for beginners, but give "artists" who want to try this stuff technical meat to apply to more advanced projects. Many of the pieces that she includes in the book as examples of what can be done are very inspirational & get one's creative juices flowing. I highly recommend this book. I keep coming back to it for inspiration, information & frankly can't wait to get back into the studio after flipping through it.

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Imagine a material that looks and feels like clay and yet, when fired, becomes pure, solid gold and silver! That's metal clay, and here are the fabulous techniques and instructions, lavish photos and projects that will open up endless creative possibilities to every crafter. With this versatile product, metalwork becomes easier and faster, and it's simple to create meaningful gifts or add techniques to the forms you've already mastered. Combine the clay with lampworked and fused dichroic glass, enamel, and beads. Make exquisite jewelry, sculpture, carvings, and more. Try a great new liquid gold for coating silver objects. Among the glittering, gorgeous projects: an African Mask Pin, Groovy Flower Earrings and Ring, Puzzle Piece Bracelet, and a Twig and Leaf Condiment Spoon.

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Technology in Action) Review

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(More customer reviews)This well organized book on customizing the Lego NXT Robotic System serves several hobbyist and educational goals in an outstanding fashion. It is a full introduction to sensors, actuators, and microcontroller-based robotics in the context of the Lego NXT System. In the process of describing the sensors, customization of NXT parts and support chips and electronics it provides an excellent introduction to hobbyist electronic construction. Finally, together with David Cook's excellent "Robot Building for Beginners", also in the excellent Apress Series, it provides a though introduction to the parts and techniques for constructing and debugging all types of hobbyist robotics and electro-mechanical systems. The differences from the previous excellent edition of "Extreme NXT" are subtle yet important: improved illustrations of construction technique are provided throughout the book; exciting additional projects on GSR (skin resistance measurement) and interfacing the NXT brick with a keyboard interface liven this edition, additonal explanatory material is included in the chapter on I2C interfaces and in Appendix A on electronic construction techniques.
I would recommend this excellently presented and illustrated book as a well organized tutorial in many aspects of robotics and electronic construction.
--Ira Laefsky
MSE/MBA

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Extreme NXT: Extending the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT to the Next Level (Second Edition) is updated for established users of NXT who would like to advance their capabilities by learning the electronics that can open up new possibilities to their NXT projects.Bring all kinds of amazing sensors to your NXT creations! This book introduces you to projects with contact sensors, resistive sensors, potentiometer sensors, voltage sensors, NXT Motor Interfaces and beyond, to I2C Bus Communication and the cool combinations available in your own projects! You'll also learn breadboard construction technique along the way.With more than 15 cool sensor projects that are all explained and well-illustrated with step-by-step instructions, this book also offers a great reference for the NXT hardware interfaces, and examples come complete with multiple, alternative NXT languages.The authors are leading experts in Lego MINDSTORMS hardware who are ready to take your NXT projects to the next level. But you will not need any prior experience with electronics to enjoy this book and create NXT projects with amazing sensors!

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