The Art of Beaded Beads: Exploring Design, Color & Technique

by Jean Campbell (Editor)

Beaders everywhere—from rank beginners to top-level artists—are discovering the extraordinary creative potential and pleasure of a seemingly simple making unique, one-of-a-kind beads from existing beads themselves. This lushly illustrated guide offers them a blast of inspiration, with 40 fabulous designs from some of today’s finest beadwork artists. Ranging from understated to pure dazzling glam, these projects showcase a range of innovative techniques. Among the a peyote-stitched Tetrahedron Beaded Bead that can be produced in varying sizes; a Peek-A-Boo Bead, using steel nuts from the hardware store; and a cylinder-shaped Piñata Bead, decorated with smaller beads resembling tiny, colorful party balloons. Detailed instructions and photos make the crafting easy, and there’s encouragement for readers eager to incorporate their own design ideas.

Genres: Crafts, Beading, Jewellery

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2006

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say I just love this book!! The instructions are very detailed with diagrams and the variations and embellishments are just endless. The designs cover a great variety of styles and if you are a seasoned beader this is a great way to learn new stitches without having to commit to weeks on a single project.

I often find myself working on a project that takes weeks to complete and this is awesome for something you can just sit down and finish for a good break. And these are just sooooo fun!!

Also, I've seen some reviews that fuss about the color choices in the book and while I agree they lack sophistication I'm glad they did it the way they did. I find it frustrating when choosing colors for a project if I have to try and figure out what color is going to go where in an example photo where it is hard to tell. This book makes it easy because the colors used are bright and contrasty so I can easily know what color is going to be where on my finished pieced.

I have made 2 pinata beads that are totally different using different sizes and crystals versus seeds. So get this book and just let your imagination run! Definitely worth the money!

[Lynne Favreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Can't wait to try making some of the beads. Will update after I've tried a few.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably clear tutorials, nicely photographed.