Bead Love: Simply Fabulous Jewelry with Big Beautiful Beads

by Terry Taylor, Jane LaFerla

For the true aficionado, nothing’s more exciting than a one-of-a-kind, beautiful bead?be it a flameworked glass orb or a glistening cut gemstone. But what can the obsessed beader do with all those amazing collectables that never fail to catch the eye? They can make these 30 spectacular pieces of jewelry, all dedicated to showcasing the most exquisite beads available! Even newcomers can achieve success, thanks to a thorough basics section with enough hand-holding for the most intimidated beginner. The instructions cover it all, from fashioning a simple ear wire to enlarging the bead’s hole. Create a lariat with one large, stunning bead on each end. Coil silver wire around a purchased chain, and add carved wooden beads. Loop candy-colored resin beads onto stretchy elastic cords for bold, slip-on bangles. They’re fun to make and to wear! A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club.

Genres: Jewellery, Crafts

128 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Terry Taylor was the young lover of Ida Kar, whose National Portrait Gallery collection includes many images of the author. His exploits inspired the classic London novel Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes, and a life in which hallucogenic drugs featured large. He spent time in Goa and hung out with William Burroughs in Tangier before spending the 90s running a successful sandwich shop in Rhyl. His 1961 book "Baron's Court, All Change" is about drug dealing and youth culture, and was the first British novel to mention LSD.

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm reading this almost 15 years after publication and it seems dated. There is a brief introduction on tools and materials. There was a three-page spread on bead shapes but, strangely, not all the shapes had accompanying photos. What a missed opportunity! The projects have a wide range of sophistication but the focus on each project is on the large bead(s), so if you don't have that, you're piece won't measure up. That said, several projects seem very 1990s to me. Maybe it was just the photo styling, I'm not sure. Use this book more for inspiration.

[Cami · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had a lot of fun ideas, but most of the beads are huge! Too big for my taste, anyway. I did like the tools and materials section, stuff like that.
My biggest problem: When things are this large, I think you should have models wearing all the pieces to show scale, but this book was lacking a lot of that.

[Lee Koopman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the book, but unless you have a lot of focal beads or similar beads to the ones she uses in the designs, then you won't be making most of the projects.