Beadwork Creates Beaded Beads
edited by Jean Campbell Beaded Beads is the newest in a series of Interweave beading books that are 10” long x 4 ¼ ” wide. This is an easy size to carry in a tote bag but difficult to see on shelves at bookstores. The short width tends to push the book back out of sight. So far, Beaded Beads is my favorite of the series. There are 30 projects and each bead is unique and easy to make. Various beading stitches are used to make the beads including brick stitch, netting, right angle weave, peyote, square stitch, bead stringing, spiraling, herringbone and wirework. The last pages of the book include tips and the basic stitches. If you have beaded before, you will have no problem making these beads. If you have never beaded before, you may want to purchase The Beader’s Companion, an Interweave Press, to learn the basics of beading. I was immediately drawn to the Turquoise Elegance by Janie Warnick. I look forward to making one. You could use any favorite gemstone chips to make this winning bead. Barbara Granger’s Ruffled Net bead is a delight. You can follow the pattern or experiment and with a few variations of increases, make additional designs. Star Flower by Diane Fitzgerald is a lovely romantic bead and I can see making these floral delights and interspersing them between bead crochet. Jeanette Cook’s Fantango tube beads are wild and funky, with tubes and bead sticking out among the main tube shapes Theresa Barrett has some yummy Carnival Tubes on page 99; they look good enough to eat. You can make her tubes with a look of elegance or go all out and embellish them to your heart’s desire. Carole Horn has a cute pinwheel design and just one bead would look wonderful hanging from a piece of yarn. Beaded Beaded Beads by Nikia Angel are really fun worked in peyote stitch in the round for an appearance much like a spinning top. I just wish there had been a website or phone number for purchasing the bead caps on each end of the bead since the bead caps make a dramatic finish to the bead. The bead caps were not listed in the supplies, or instructions included for them. You will need to check your bead suppliers for bead caps. Since Nikia manages a bead store in Albuquerque, it would have been nice if a contact number had been included. Nikia’s famous Sparkly Wheels using crystals and Delicas are also in this book. There are too many wonderful beads, all created by well-known beading artists, to mention them all. The diversity of designs, bead shapes and bead material will keep you busy for months. Many of these beads can be added to quilts, wearables such as hats and scarves, and added to sculptures. If you use smaller beads to make the same designs again, you will have miniature beads. Beaded Beads is not only a good project book, but also a good reference guide for beaded bead techniques. Beadwrangler Note: I loved Diane Fitzgerald’s multiple strand necklace with gem stone chips at the bottom; the bronze beads looked like a waterfall dropping into the garnet chips! The necklace by Pat Mayer with Nakia Angel’s Sparkly Wheel as the center piece creates a stunning finish. I do have a grump regarding the bead crochet instructions at the back of the book. Instructions for bead crochet in rows is provided, however, I did not find a project for bead crochet in rows. It states you must cut the thread at the end of each row for bead crochet in continuous rows. This is not true! You can work continuous bead crochet rows using a bead reverse single crochet stitch and there is more than one method. Interweave continues to use canned instructions for new books with bead crochet included instead of updating their information. Since Beadwork Magazine just published my bead crochet samplers in the Aug/Sep 2002 issue for continuous bead crochet rows, it does not make sense to make this mistake since it is a Beadwork/Interweave publication. You may ask what is the big deal since there are no projects for bead crochet in rows? I am a bead crochet educator and it bugs me, I beadjest you not, that publishers do not check with a bead crocheter prior to publishing so those new to bead crochet will have the correct information. By the way, I did like the combination of bead slip stitch rope and a peyote bail used together by Sylvia Sur. The rope worked in size 11/0 or hex beads and 8/0 matte beads made the larger beads pop out in the pattern with a pleasing finish. I find the book shape strange. Although it looks cute, because it is thick and long rather than a larger size and not so thick, it is difficult to keep each page flat to work. Once those pages are pushed down flat by force so you can work, the book pages no longer close back together and the cover sticks up. I recently stopped at a book store and the Beadwork Creates books could not even be seen on the book shelf; they were pushed back so you could not see them or the titles. People may miss the books because they do not see them unless they are displayed separately in a display rack. |
