Earrings, Earrings, and More Earrings

Let’s face it. You can never have enough earrings in your jewelry wardrobe. Plus, earrings are usually one of the less time-consuming jewelry projects you can make, so there’s no reason not to make lots of them. That’s probably what Interweave Press was thinking when it came out with its book, Beadwork Creates Earrings, edited by Jean Campbell ($16.95 US; $22.95 Canada). And that’s pretty much what you’ll find in this slim volume: earrings, earrings, and more earrings to make. Many projects include seed beads, not surprisingly since Beadwork magazine is known for lots of bead weaving projects. However, there is a little wire here and there and regular bead stringing techniques as well.

Of the 30 projects included, most require beginning to intermediate level jewelry making skills, but there are also a few that are a little more advanced, such as “Shooting Stars” by Betcey Ventrella and “Seed Pods” by Dulcey Heller. I’d say one of the best things about this book is that if you’ve wanted to try to learn a little bead weaving but didn’t want to take on a huge project, there are plenty of fairly easy designs in this book to help you practice, and the result, of course, are some cool earrings for you to enjoy.