A Book ... When a Dream Becomes a Reality!

When I saw Tonia Davenport's email with a subject line of "Happy Friday!" I knew it had happened ... that North Light had accepted my book proposal.  Tonia, an Editor for North Light Books, and I had been communicating since mid-December on a proposal for a book on torch-fired enamel.  There are nods to torch-firing in outstanding enameling books, such as that by Linda Darty, but nothing comes close to exploring the technique as fully as it could be.

It started quite simply with a statement from Maire Dodd, who is definitely getting a t-shirt and matching cheerleading skirt, that went like this, "You should write a book."  The next statement, from me, was equally surprising, "You think so?"  And, then, I remembered a blog post from jewelry/mixed media artist, June Roman.  I am a follower of June's blog and I adore her work ... some of the finest out there.  She had written on her blog that her book proposal had been accepted.  In fact, June's book will be released in June.

June and I both had work featured in the Winter 2010 Issue of BAJ and we were breaking our arms patting ourselves on the back ... silly girls!  So, I told June that I wanted to write a book and was being encouraged by blogging friends to do it.  I said that any information she would care to share with me would be very much appreciated.  June was so forthcoming and the essence of the conversation went like this:  you should do it!   your work is great!  and not only should you do it, you need to get in touch with my editor, Tonia Davenport!  Tonia is great to work with!  When you're ready, let me know so I can put in a good word for you with Tonia."  

A week later I'm contacting June saying, "You remember when you said .....   Well, I'm ready."  There you have it in a nutshell.  There were many more emails between Tonia and me ... but now I'm ready to get started.  

The book will focus exclusively on torch-fired enamel .... and all of its virtues.  Each chapter will introduce a new technique.  Jewelry will be made from the items that I enamel. 

I'll be busy, but I welcome it.  If you've never tried torch-firing, I hope to be able to do some hand-holding through this book.  If you've tried torch firing and have questions or want a little more, I hope you'll find it in the book.  And when all is said and done, I hope you'll find inspiration in Painting with Fire!