Making Beautiful Bead and Wire Jewelry by Linda Jones

Making Beautiful Bead and Wire Jewelry: 30 Step-by-Step Projects from Materials Old and New by Linda Jones (Cico Books $19.95 US) takes another approach from her previous bead and wire books (such as The Complete Guide to Wire and Beaded Jewelry). Along with showing the basics of making bead and wire jewelry, the author shares tips and ideas for saving money as a way to make jewelry making a little more affordable.

The introductory section of the book talks about the focus of the book, mainly to show how to incorporate inexpensive materials in with wire and beads, and then moves on to cover tools and supplies and techniques used throughout the book. Some of the supplies the author suggests that can cut down on costs include using chain, cords, ribbon, buttons, chip stones, washers, and found objects, and she touches on these in the materials section.

There is also some mention of wire, though just colored wire; this I found to be a little confusing since some of the projects use silver (not sure if it was fine, sterling, or colored in some cases), copper, and gold plated. It would have been helpful to have this explained a little more either in this part of the book or later in the projects that used silver wire. I think sterling silver was used, but this wasn't mentioned in the material section which makes me wonder if it was colored silver wire in some cases.

The techniques area has a good amount of full-color photographs to go wit the step-by-step instructions. It covers the usual like wrapped loops, clasps, and some nice additional methods like making a toggle clasp with wire, work hardening wire, and making coiled ends to use on cord.

The projects are broken up in different chapters by the type of jewelry made: bangles, rings, earrings, chains, necklaces, and accessories. My favorite chapter was the bangle one, in particular two projects really stood out: "Ribbon-Weave Bangle" and "Balcony Bangle." Both use wire to make a bangle frame. Then the ribbon bangle project has you weave a thick piece of ribbon through the frame, really stunning affect! The other frame-style bangle includes eye-pin type twisted wire components that you make and alter with silver beads.

As far as the jewelry styles and level of difficulty, I think there is a little something here for anyone who like bead and wire jewelry in general. Many of the project looks accessible. Even the more involved jewelry designs - such as the "Chain Reaction" chain that includes a heart-shaped wire components and lots of curly connections to make up the chain - aren't necessarily difficult, just time consuming.

If you already make wire and bead jewelry and want to expand on some methods or if you have very little experience and want to try to learn to make, this book is one to consider. As I said previously, I felt the wire selection process could have been explained a little better, but that is probably a minor issue compared to the assortment of projects in this book. The bangle chapter and earrings chapter especially stand out, both in unique designs and just plain pretty to have jewelry pieces.

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