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 - Jewelry Designs with Knitted Wire by Nealay Patel

We take a look at Nealay Patel’s latest book

If you were a regular reader of Beads & Beyond magazine you are probably familiar with jewellery artist, Nealay Patel. His sculptural pieces take small beads, beading wire and both hollow and flat knitted wire to new heights and he is always finding new ways to use components to great effect.

This book focuses on the design opportunities afforded by four key products from SilverSilk — hollow knitted wire, capture knitted wire, flat knitted wire, and leather knitted wire. Take a look at the SilverSilkwebsite for more detail on these.

You may already have used SilverSilk products as a luxurious stringing option for your jewellery but Nealay shows how versatile they can be acting as a stitchable framework for more extravagant pieces.

The book begins with an in-depth introduction to all the techniques tools and materials required to complete the 32 projects contained in its pages. This includes a summary of all the different bead types used and an introduction to the SilverSilk line of products.

The projects are all decadent and dramatic designs (as we come to expect from Nealay!) and each is beautifully and colourfully photographed to showcase the beads and knitted wire. The comprehensive materials list appears in the right hand margin along with a techniques reference which is really useful. For each piece, page numbers are listed where you will find more detail on the techniques required.

Whilst the project instructions do not have photographs for each and every step, there are images that accompany the more complicated aspects of the project and, as previously mentioned, references to the introduction for further instruction on specific techniques.

There is a wonderful mix of pieces from statement earrings to beautiful bracelets and both long and short necklaces. We particularly liked the Orange Spice earrings pictured with their fruity colour tones and great use of long magatama beads. The Aquarian necklace is mixes metal finishes with Silversilk Capture in Pearlesque Silver and long drop beads in matte yellow gold. The use of beads in each project is delightful and the combination of colours teamed with varied finishes of knitted wire make for some original and striking designs. 
Whilst many look extremely intricate and difficult to achieve, Nealay succeeds in showing how a wire jig and some simple stitching techniques can be used to create them with ease.

If you are looking for opportunities to extend your bead stitching skills and broaden your horizons in terms of the bead shapes you use in your pieces, then this is the book for you. My only criticisms of the book would be that a list of suppliers for the materials and tools used would have been useful, perhaps at the back. I also would have liked to see a few more projects using the flat knitted wire (there are only four in the book).

Jewelry Designs with Knitted Wire is published by Kalmbach Books and is available from Amazon, priced at £13.48
ISBN 978-1-62700-235-6

Find out more about Nealay on his website.

We have a copy of Nealay’s book to give away. 

Comment on this blog post and you could be in with a chance of winning!

Comment on our competition post pinned on our Facebook page and you can get a second entry!

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!