Book review: Bead pendants and necklaces by Susan Beal

Happy New Year!

We took a well-deserved break from the beads over Christmas at The Beading Library and I have to admit that I struggled this new year to find my creativity. I think focusing on decorating the house and other craft projects in the lead up to Christmas gave my beading mojo a bit of a knock. 

If you sometimes find it hard to get started on something new, it's often a good idea to turn to your beading book library. Look for a nice simple project where you have all the beads and findings you need and that will give you a quick finished piece. The process of making will kickstart your creativity but without the stress of having to come up with a design yourself.

This pamphlet (rather than book) from Susan Beal is a new publication of selected designs from her previous book 'Bead Simple: Essential Techniques for Making Jewelry Just the Way You Want it'. It includes 20 quick and easy projects from Susan and a few other designers, all for necklaces and pendants. Whilst accomplished jewellery makers will find the tutorials rather straightforward, those new to the hobby will appreciate the simplicity and clarity of the projects. Materials are all easily sourced or substituted for something similar and the main photographs of the pieces are beautifully clear (you could almost make most pieces from the image alone!).

Aside from the wide variety of styles in the projects, there is also a comprehensive section at the back with all the techniques and skills you will need to complete the pieces. These are all clearly written with nice illustrated steps. 












As you know, I always like to try out a project from the books I review. This time, I was pleased to be able to pick something really easy and quick to make. It felt good to finish my first piece of the year! I chose the 'Smooth and Jagged Necklace' but gave the design a colour boost with some Sea Bamboo and Magnesite to complement the neutral Jasper.

I was tickled to also spot that the colours were a good match to the Pantone Colors of Flame, Island Sky and Hazlenut!

Bead Pendants and Necklaces 20 Beautiful Jewelry Designs is available from GMC Publications, priced £5.99

GIVEAWAY

We have a copy to give away. Leave a comment on this blog post to be in the draw. Winner will be picked at random after midday (GMT) 31st January 2017.

  

Book review - Button Lover's Jewelry from Leisure Arts

I have bought and reviewed many of the Leisure Arts booklets over the years and when I found this one, I was keen to get my hands on it!

This publisher specialises in craft techniques and you can choose from a variety of titles covering everything from crochet to quilting. Many contain projects written by a single designer whilst others (like this one) are a collection of tutorials from several designers.

This is classed as a booklet rather than a book as at 32 pages, it is quite thin! However, packed into the pages are 16 different projects to make from rings to earrings, bracelets and necklaces.

The first page is a visual reference to the tutorials (as is usual in these booklets) and is a quick indication of the variety of designs and styles you can choose from.

One of the first projects to catch my eye was a denim cuff that uses buttons to both fasten and embellish. I love to find designs that allow me to combine different crafting mediums and also opportunities to recycle and re-use materials. I am not accomplished at sewing but I do like to incorporate fabric into jewellery as it is a wonderful source of texture and is so comfortable to wear.  

There are several projects in this booklet that require a small amount of sewing or that add ribbon to the mix.

Looking through the designs included in this collection, I started to think about how easy the projects are (and how inexpensive to make!). I think this book would make a lovely gift for a novice jewellery maker (I know my thirteen year old niece would love it!), especially if you included a bag of beautiful buttons to get them started.

Just look how easy this sparkly button bracelet is!

By the time I reached the last pages of the booklet, I was already planning my own button bracelet. I knew I had some of the pewter coloured buttons used in this design that also uses leather thong for a rustic look. 

When I looked in my stash, I found a range of metallic buttons that I remember buying from Totally Beads at the Hobbycrafts show a few years ago. However, I also found some rather lovely vintage beads that I'd forgotten all about. I bought them in a charity shop (always check the button basket in your local thrift stores!) a long time ago just because they were so pretty. Teamed with some brown toned simple buttons, I love how my design turned out!

Button Lover's Jewelry is published by LeisureArts and is priced at just £5.99 (that's less than 40p a project!). It's available to buy from GMC Publications.

Book Review - Timeless Beadwork Designs by Cynthia Rutledge

We asked Vicky Pritchard, a regular designer for Beads & Beyond magazine and member of the Spellbound Bead Co team to review this new title for bead stitchers...

It is hard to believe that this is Cynthia Rutledge’s first book, as she has been a name in the beading world for many years. This book, aimed at intermediate to advanced beaders, is most definitely worth the wait. With inspiration taken from beautiful historical paintings, the fifteen projects in this book have a classic timelessness that will appeal to a wide range of beaders.

The designs in the book use a combination of seed beads, cylinder beads and pearls alongside faceted beads and crystal rondelles. 

The Cubic Zirconia stones and settings that are used are a little harder to come by, but are available directly from Cynthia Rutledge’s website. 

A web search reveals that a limited number of stones are available from UK suppliers too.

'Time in motion' ring project

The projects use a variety of stitches, including Herringbone, Netting, Right Angle Weave and Peyote Stitch. For the ring band on the project I tried, the Time in Motion ring, Cynthia describes a modified thread path for odd count peyote stitch that I will most definitely be using in the future, as it eliminates the stiffened edge of the beadwork
 that you normally find with a traditional odd count peyote turn.

Clear diagrams and instructions for all projects

I found the instructions and diagrams for the projects to be very clear, with every step well described and illustrated. I did find the working sequence to be slightly out of order to the way I would have done the piece, as at one point I had three half finished components on my beadmat, with all of the associated thread tails. By altering the order in which the components of the ring were made, you could have worked the pieces and finished them off as you were going along.

Vicky's version of the 'Time in motion' ring

I did substitute the CZ stone in the ring for a 10mm rivoli that I had in my stash, and it seems to work as well as a CZ for this design. I’m not sure if it would work as well for the other designs - but I can’t wait to find out!

Timeless Beadwork Designs is published in hardback by Lark Books and is available from Amazon, priced £16.58

ISBN: 978-1454708759

Book Review - Metal Clay Animal Jewellery by Natalia Colman

Cute and quirky metal clay projects for animal lovers!

This is the latest book on Metal Clay from Natalia, author of 'Silver Clay with Style' (2012) and 'Metal Clay Jewellery' (2014). It contains 20 projects, each with an animal theme and the designs are as cute and quirky as you have come to expect from Natalia! 

'Perfect Pets' - delightful designs for all

The book is divided into five chapters, including ‘In the Jungle’, ‘Feathered Friends’ and ‘Beneath the Ocean Waves’. We particularly love the ‘Perfect Pets’ section with tutorials to make a Scottie Dog ring or Sausage Dog pendant (for the dog lovers) or a sleek, stylised cat necklace (for the fans of felines) amongst others. The cute little mouse charms are a particularly good beginner project as they don’t use a lot of clay (depending on how many you make!) and the silver version can be fired on the hob or using a torch.

The book includes a comprehensive ‘basic techniques’ section which would act as a great refresher to those already familiar with metal clay jewellery (perhaps from Natalia’s previous book!). However, the projects incorporate several more advanced techniques, which, whilst accurately and clearly described, may be a little daunting to beginners. It should also be noted that many of the projects will require access to a kiln for firing, particularly those using copper and bronze clay. We certainly think that those new to this medium, would be advised to read Natalia’s Metal Clay Jewellery Book before embarking on the projects in this one, particularly as some require quite large amounts of metal clay to complete.

Clear and detailed step by step instructions

This being said, the book is beautifully photographed and very clearly laid out, with detailed step by step photographs and easy-to-understand written instructions. The reference section at the back is particularly useful with a firing guide for a large range of gemstones plus a quick look up for the firing requirements for each project.

Learn new techniques!

Overall this is a fantastic book for those who already have some experience with Metal Clay and who are looking to learn new techniques to complement this exciting medium. Additional skills you will learn in the projects include making clay rope, stone setting, mixing metals, adding colour and mould making.

Metal Clay Animal Jewellery is published by Search Press and is available from Amazon,
priced at £14.99

ISBN 978-1-78221-077-1

GIVEAWAY - We have a copy of Natalia's book to give away. Look out on our Facebook page for a competition post this week!