Fabulous Fabric Beads

Fabulous Fabric Beads: Create Custom Beads and Art Jewelry by Kristal Wick published by Interweave Press ($22.95 US) focuses on using fabric to create as well as decorate beads. It is actually surprising how many different types of beads you can make with fabric as either the primary material, from simple roll and glue fabric beads to more involved cross stitch beads and even mini-quilt beads. So, this book is really a techniques type of book as Wick demonstrates how to create 30 different types of fabric beads. The boiled down version of her technique is rolling fabric, and at first that can seem pretty basic, but she manages to include so many different variations on this basic form, that her beads end up being anything but basic looking. Additional crafting techniques she applies includes painting, stamping, stenciling, and dyeing. As someone who loves fibers enjoys dabbling in a variety of crafts, this combination of various craft techniques mixed with fabric really appealed to me, more so than I would have thought.

Along with how to create lots of beads, the book also includes a baker's dozen of jewelry projects and an additional gallery section. For totally newbies, the jewelry instructions may not be detailed enough, but I don't get the feeling this text really was designed primarily for inexperienced jewelry makers. I would say it is more for someone who has the basics down but is looking to expand into more techniques that aren't necessarily advanced but can still help create some unique components for his/her jewelry needs.