Laura McCabe's Embellished Beadweaving: Jewelry Lavished with Fringe, Fronds, Lacework, and More published by Lark Books (hardcover $24.95 US; $31.95 CAN) focuses on beadweaving embellishment techniques that take seed bead jewelry to extreme artistic levels. McCabe's jewelry style is layered and structural, and through this text she demonstrates how you can achieve some of these same affects in your own seed bead jewelry.
Basics and Techniques
The first few chapters cover some of the typical basic information you would expect and an interesting bead history section as well. Along with tools and supplies needed, there is a stitching section which includes instructions and diagrams for the following bead weaving stitches: flat even-count, flat odd-count, and tubular even-count peyote; basic spiral rope; Ndebele or herringbone; and lacy stitch. This section also has instructions for weaving a toggle bead clasp.
Chapter four is when you get the real details about the methods that McCabe uses in the book. She breaks down various types of embellishments such as a simple bud or flower cluster, and explains how each is constructed. These are in preparation for the projects, of course. I counted 23 of these, and most are inspired by nature, allowing you to make leaves and blossoms. The instructions are a combination of text, illustrations, and photographs of the finished embellishment.
Before the projects start up, there is a short section on color and design. Here is where the author explains how she is inspired and how you can use some of these same methods for collecting design inspiration.
The Projects
There are 18 projects, all jewelry, a combination of rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. While a few of these didn't look too intimidating (like the "Grape Leaf Earrings" and "Lilac Earrings" projects), most are pretty involved. Given the author's style and the large number of embellishment techniques provided in chapter 4, this is not really a surprise.
Like the embellishment instructions, the projects include a combination of step-by-step written instructions, graph-style illustrations, and photographs. I especially like that often the front and back of pieces where shown, which I would find to be very helpful when trying to construct a duplicate piece.
Sprinkled throughout the projects are other finished pieces, most by McCabe, and then there is a gallery section after this that has some amazing beaded artwork by some heavy hitters like Carol Wilcox Wells and Cynthia Rutledge.
Final Thoughts
To say that Laura McCabe put in a monumental amount of work into this text is a major understatement. While there is some basic information provided in the beginning of the book, beginners would probably be overwhelmed, though they may find this to be a wonderful inspirational book. It is obvious from the introduction of the book and other content that the author intends for this to be a place for those with a handle on the basics to take off from as a way to bring their beadweaving to another level, a big plus considering that intermediate to advanced jewelry makers are not often considered in many jewelry books. For this group, I think her instructions are do-able, and while they too will find lots of design inspiration, they will also be able to find some practical application as well.
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