This month’s whiplash them is fibre & mixed media inspired jewellery – to find out more about how to enter – go to the whiplash page - to post your link go this forum thread and also see and comment on the other entries.

We are offering some prizes for this months Whiplash (last day to enter is NOV 15) one copy of French inspired jewelry: creating with vintage beads, buttons & baubles by Kaari Meng, Published by Lark Books and kindly donated for this whiplash series by the author Kaari Meng and to go with the book a really beautiful bracelet kit from Kaari’s store at french general.

I am really excited that Kaari Meng has generously agreed to give one of our whiplash entrants one of these books and this is what inspired the current whiplash theme. Mixed media jewelry, found jewelry, fibre and textured and free form jewelry. I love all that – so get your thinking caps on and let your creative juices flow to be in the running to get your hands on this great book.

Kaari has a store in Hollywood, where she sells vintage buttons and notions, French fabrics and linens and textiles as well as bath products and other romantic and vintage inspired homewares. Her shop, books and style have been featured in Martha Stewart Magazine, on Oprah and she has designed jewelry for Anthropologie. Has anyone been to her store – it looks just wonderful and her online site is pretty too.

This first image is a page layout from this new book French inspired jewelry (the last three photos are taken from the jewelry kits on the website but the first two of these are also in the book), while Kaari does not live in France (she lives in California) she travels a great deal and picks up wonderful finds from flea markets and out of the way village stores in France – what a wonderful lifestyle that would be. And this book reflects that romance and mystery and history of Europe. In the very last chapter of this book Kaari says that when in France she visits lots of churchyards and is inspired by the feeling of history in these places, the churches often have collections of old handwork and she is interested in the women and their quiet industrious lives from times gone past. This last chapter was inspired by recollections of these women with jewelry using religious iconography, mother of pearl, vintage beads, lace and old photographs. I really love the page layout of these pages too, with the jewelry and beads and buttons photographed with paper ephemera, textured linens and fading photographs.

Other chapters focus on flowers, gardens, vineyard, fancy court ladies, the orchard and the flea market. One of the other chapters though that really captured my imagination was Le Circe (the circus), with the page layouts consisting of various old circus memorabilia like magic cards, and tickets and advertising postcards, as well as the amazing array of fancy buttons and beads with comedic and colourful combinations. Most of the jewelry in this section is centred on the eclectic menagerie of the charm bracelet.

Technically speaking the instructions are pretty clear. Even for a jewelry gumby like me, no experience needed, just a keen eye for detail and a steady hand. There are lots of technical instructions in the front of the book, as well as explanations of all the materials needed – what sort of adhesives and stringing materials, advice on design, beads, findings and tools to use.