ISBN 1-887374-16-7, Hardcover, 112 pages.

Cindy Jenkins has written a book on glass that all glass lovers will want to own. The last time I visited a local glassmaker he told me how informative this book is for new glassmakers but wondered if people other than glassmakers would be interested in the book. Is heat used in lampwork?!!! You bet beaders will want this book. Beaders have told me they bought the book and made notes next to beads that are like the ones they purchased from the same artists. Jenkins gives us the thrill of color in glass throughout the book. You find page after page of glass beads you did not even know existed! Once you are finally settled after eye saturation from all the glass art, you realize you can also learn the history of glass and and how to make beads. We learn what glass is, what it started as and how it developed. Jenkins lists all the tools and supplies required and then offers ideas for setting up a work station and the layout of a work bench. Setting up torches, safety tips, ventilation and hazards are discussed. Jenkins walks us through steps in making a bead and on the way we see more beautiful beads on every page. There are plenty of step-by-step photos showing the bead being made. Next we learn variations in making beads including cylinders, grooved, overwrap, multicolored and bicones. After learning all these techniques, you can go on to pull stringers, twist bands and dots, pinch chains, rake patterns and you are only halfway through the book. Taking the Next Step is another chapter of specialty techniques with more step-by-step photos and examples of finished work. This chapter includes ribbon cane, twisties, fancy stringers, Latticino, combing, feathering, side-shifting and furrowing. Glasswork has a language of it's own. You thought you heard it all but next is pinching, poking, snipping and plunging. You can add metal foil, Palladium leaf and metal tubing. How about powders? Mica, lusters and enamels are added for different effects. Millefiori is included with information about commercial canes and making your own millefiori canes, again with complete instructions. Dichroic glass is next followed by sculpted beads and shaping specialties such as creating vessels. The appendix includes basic information about stringing and materials, the nature of glass and troubleshooting. The last pages list contributing artists and acknowledgments. You do not have to be a glassmaker to enjoy this book. I am sure it will be on many a beader's bookshelf as well as glassmakers. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in the glass explosion happening today and making history during our lifetime. I have tremendous respect for glassmakers and love collecting their work and incorporating pieces into my artwork. Making Glass Beads is a book you will set next to The New Beadwork, Beaded Amulet Purses, Beads and Threads, The New Clay and other books with inspirational work that are timeless.