One of the best parts about being an editor is we often get our own "personal workshops" from our authors when they come to Cincinnati for their step-by-step photo shoots. Last week I had that experience with the very talented and well known artist, Robert Dancik.

Robert is currently working on his book, Amulets and Talismans, which will be out around this time next year. (It typically takes about a year to create a quality book.) This guy is a power-house of information and has a plethora of cool techniques up his sleeve, and yes, he even taught me some new techniques for using Plexiglas.

Some of the projects in Robert's book use a non-toxic PVC material he developed called Faux Bone. If you've never worked with this stuff before, and you love making jewelry, you have to give this a try. It comes in 12" x 12" (30cm x 30cm) sheets and thicknesses ranging from 1/16" to 1/2" (2mm to 13mm) and there's even a cool shaping tool you can buy to make carving easier. This stuff cuts super easily with a jeweler's saw, it can be drilled into, textured, colored and polished.

Just a few of the other things I learned this week:

• A triangular scraper can be used on a hole to make a blind rivet

• It's possible to create your own texture hammer

• Wet sanding works better on plastic than dry

I'm sorry the publication date for Robert's book is still a bit out there, but in the meantime, check out his Web sites and start playing with something new this week.