Art of Seed Beading

• Publisher:   Sterling
• Number Of Pages:   128
• Publication Date:   2001-12-31
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0806978295
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780806978291

Beading books tend to concentrate on one technique and ignore or only briefly mention other ones. Here, three very new authors combine their talents to present a wealth of methodologies and an abundance of projects. For each project, instructions come first. And after breezing through a history and overview of equipment, the authors emphasize the how-to in such stitches as peyote and herringbone and such elaborate processes as tubular beaded crochet. Every one of the more than 25 projects focuses on a specific tool or technique, complete with color graphs, a list of materials, size and measurements, a color photo, and diagrams. Glossary appended.

This book is your standard seed bead how-to fare. First you learn the stitches, followed by projects using the stitches. The trouble with this book is that the projects are far beyond beginner level. If you are just starting out with seed beads, their size alone is daunting, so look for a book with easier projects.

I was disappointed not to find more jewelry patterns in this book. The first chapters have very helpful and enlightening descriptions about types of seed beads and how they are made. The instructions on basic stitches are well-described, also; however, I found many of the projects themselves to be of little general interest given what one finds in most other beading books. (I realize that this could be my own bias!) With a title as general as "the Art of Seed Beading," I thought there would be more instructions on how to alter basic techniques such as peyote or netting to create unique pieces. I did like a couple of the projects, though, and I found the opening chapters very helpful and useful.

I bought this book for the patterns... especially a wonderful elephant necklace... and they are great. Unfortionately, I also bought this book to learn from and ended up with alot of trial and error time before I understood the directions. She doesn't explain how to hold the work in order to maintain tension only mentions that it is important. The pictures of techniques are misleading but if you ignore them and read the instructions only it makes alot more sense. Good point though... the projects are not as hard as they look and come out wonderfully. All in all this book was well work the money.

Tired of amulet bags? This book does not contain a single one. Instead there are needle-cases,a necklace depicting elephants, and teeny-tiny cups and loaves of bread. Maybe a bit precious, but certainly not run-off-the-mill. But a word to all authors and editors of beadwork: Photographs (and, similarly, scans) of size 11 beads printed at 100% are too small for a beader to understand what's going on. And when the beads and thread are both dark, it's futile to try to understand the thread path. If you want a book for inspiration, this one is nice. If you want a book for instruction, go to one of the lovely books that has clear diagrams, Carol Wilcox Wells's books, for example.

This book offers one of the widest ranges of projects in any beading book I've seen, considering that it deals exclusively with seed beads. The first part contains an interesting description of how seed beads are made, and then the obligatory descriptions of findings, thread, etc., that seem to be part of every beading book.

Next come descriptions of various stitches and techniques. I didn't find these particularly helpful because I am one of those people who need extensive diagrams to figure out new beading stitches (but if you work well from just text then you will be all right here). I would say that if you are just starting out and don't already know peyote and brick stitch and how to weave on a loom, you should probably learn these elsewhere (there are a lot of places on the web that give great tutorials).

For the most part, the photography in the book is excellent. (I say "for the most part" because there are some photographs in with the stitch tutorials but you can't really see what's going on in them.) The pictures of beadwork are pretty good, albeit rather small.

A few final cautions and then on to the praise. =) First, the pattern graphs may be a little hard to read (and because the book is so nice looking, you feel like you shouldn't write in it). Second, the materials needed for many of the projects are pretty specific and you can't always substitute something you already have on hand (in other words, you may need to go shopping for large numbers of Delicas). Third, surprisingly few of the projects in the book are jewelry, so if you're only looking to make necklaces or earrings (as opposed to wall-hangings, scissors cases, and miniature bead sculptures), you should probably look elsewhere. Finally, while there is an inspirational beadwork gallery in the back, many of the pieces are done in the tambour stitch, which is not covered in the book.

With these things in mind, the book is actually quite good. If you already have a handle on basic seed beading techniques, and if you are interested in things you can make OTHER than jewelry, this book is definitely for you. Before picking up "The Art of Seed Beading," I had never thought of making a clock face or a 3-dimensional picnic scene out of beads. And if you already know how to knit or crochet, the projects that add beads to these two techniques are fairly easy to understand.

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