Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Easy to understand written instructions and excellent close-up photography clearly showing the thread paths. Kudos . . . innovative and highly effective use of thumbnail layouts that offers readers a condensed view of the construction process." Monsters and Critics.com
Review
"18 projects that push the borders of seed beading in new directions. Think layers, think 3-D, and think adding materials into your seed beads to stitch, wire, or weave contemporary edgy creations." Bead-Patterns the Magazine
Review
"If beadwork conjures up images of hippies and dangling, useless, crafts-market jewelry, Nelson-Smith will make all those nightmares vanish. The 18 designs are unveiled, each with plenty of instructions. Included in each is a listing of techniques, materials, tools, sizing/finished size; Whats the story, or her explanation of the pieces name and inspiration; directions with color photographs and illustrations inserted at appropriate steps; Nelson-Smiths tips (such as coat the thread with beeswax to maintain its tension); and At a Glance, a photographic depiction of the major activities within each item (for instance, bases, bumps, assembly, and so on). The last chapter covers all the basics, whether types of beads and the different tools to the how-tos of fasting and stitching. The jewelryearrings, necklaces, and bracelets of all sortscomes close to museum-quality manufacture, with three-dimensional effects adding to true statements of adornment."
Barbara Jacobs, Booklist"Easy to understand written instructions and excellent close-up photography clearly showing the thread paths. Kudos...innovative and highly effective use of thumbnail layouts that offers readers a condensed view of the construction process." Monsters and Critics.com
"18 projects that push the borders of seed beading in new directions. Think layers, think 3-D, and think adding materials into your seed beads to stitch, wire, or weave contemporary edgy creations." Bead-Patterns the Magazine
Review
"Easy to understand written instructions and excellent close-up photography clearly showing the thread paths. Kudos...innovative and highly effective use of thumbnail layouts that offers readers a condensed view of the construction process."
Monsters and Critics.com"18 projects that push the borders of seed beading in new directions. Think layers, think 3-D, and think adding materials into your seed beads to stitch, wire, or weave contemporary edgy creations." Bead-Patterns the Magazine
Synopsis
Featuring 18 exciting projects presented with detailed step-by-step photography, color variations, and practical illustrations, this fresh approach to seed bead jewelry teaches crafters how to combine materials, techniques, colors, inspiration, and design ideas for jewelry with a contemporary edge. Inspired by a wide range of sourcesfrom Indian Punjabi folk costumes to Native American beadingthe designs in this inventive resource fuse materials such as silver, copper wire, seed beads, Czech glass, and crystals into these traditional arts in order to achieve a unique outcome. All of the basic beadweaving stitches, wirework, and stringing techniques are explained and illustrated.
About the Author
Rachel Nelson-Smith is a teacher and a jewelry designer whose work has been displayed at the Milpitas Museum, Santa Cruz Metro Center, and other locations in the California Bay Area. A number of her original projects have appeared in
Bead and Button and
Bead Style. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.