Once I got the layout of this book figured out, I liked it much better and I really believe now that they have 100 designs packed in between the pages of this book. The subtitle is “Easy-to-Bead Necklaces, Bracelets, Brooches, and More,” and for the most part, the projects in this book were fairly easy, though there were a few more challenging projects such as “Lotus Flower” necklace and the “Springtime Blooms” necklace.
For the most part, this book speaks to bead weavers or what-to-be weavers. It includes instructions and projects for more than a dozen stitches, basic bead stringing techniques, fringe methods, and finishing techniques. Another oddity of this book, and this could be a good or not so good thing depending on how you look at it, is that the techniques and basic instructions are included in a section in the back versus putting it in the front of the book. For more experiences beaders, this is nice because you can right to the beading action. For beginners, at first glance, they may wonder what’s going on, even though the instructions do refer to this techniques section. Again: “When in doubt, read the directions."
On the other plus side, beginners will be happy to see that the technique section (once they find it) has full-color photographs for the steps of each stitch. This is nice because so many times seed bead books just provide a graph and don't actually show the weaving of each bead or even a few beads.
If you are a beading enthusiast or are especially interested in seed bead jewelry, then this book is definitely worth considering as an addition to your jewelry making library. It retails for $21.95 US ($29.95 Canada) and is published by Interweave Press.
