Customer Reviews

Back to beadin': Elegant amulet purses & jewelry using delica & seed beads

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the easy to follow graphs and instructions, Back to Beadin' is the perfect book for all beaders from beginning to advanced levels. The excellent color charts allow you to easily make bead substitutions, if you so prefer. I have made several of the projects from this book and found that the graphs and instructions were very clear and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to make an exceptional piece of beadwork.

Back to Beadin' contains so much more than delightful new designs for amulet bags and earrings woven with the brick stitch. You'll find interesting fringe treatments, different neckpieces, instructions for crocheting cords and herringbone and right-angle weaves, as well as a discussion of various beads and tools. A wonderful place for a beginner to dive into beading, as well as new water for those of us who weave our bags with peyote stitch.

This slim,80-page, 5" X 8" paperback carries a big punch. It doesn't waste space, it's well organized, the finished bags are shown in detail in a color section. Instead of the popular peytote stitch, these bags are worked in brick stitch, a technique that creates a comfortable, flexible weave. Elbe doesn't leave you hanging for details. The instructions include fringe and strap directions, too. The book is mainly about bags, but it does include earrings, ornaments and bracelets.

In today's world where "intuitive" is often overused and overrated, Elbe delivers a traditional table of contents. It's clear and concise. The TOC is followed by a list of material, complete with illustrations.

In addition to basic brick stitch, Elbe also shows herringbone weave, right-angle weave and bead crochet. The diagrams are exceptionally clear. When the going gets rough Elbe makes suggestions how to get through the difficult section. Even experienced beaders need that kind of help.

Elbe shows how to decrease herringbone weave, but not how to increase. She does the same for right-angle weave. It's not clear why increasing is left out.

On the technical side, the instructions are in black and white. Each pattern is shown twice: once to show the shape and entire fringe and once to show the body of the purse in detail. Different colors of beads are represented by black and white patterns. Some of the patterns are hard to distinguish, even in the larger detail drawing. It's a hard problem to solve in black and white. It may have been easier to code using letters or numbers instead of small-scale patterns.

The book is a strong addition to any beading library..

I love Elbe's books, they are very easy to follow and contain many patterns for the money. This book has some wonderful hummingbird patterns for brick stitch pouches as well as fringe ideas. It contains 10 different pouches and other interesting things.

The artist of this book,Barbara Elbe, takes you into that dimmension of Beadwork that you wanted to go to and couldn't find before. Easy to follow instructions ,graphs and photos. Each amulet bag pattern was pure heaven to create and appreciated by the beader, the wearer, and the observer.Also,the many diversified stitches for the different patterns taught me what I would have never learned from just one small book. This is a must have for anyone who loves beads, espescially Delicas! I would buy any following book of hers sight unseen. I see Ms.Elbe as my bead mentor. An Artist with incredible insight for detail, and exhibits her love for birds,and animals as well as scenery such as 'The Village'.

I love this book; the patterns cover a variety of nature from hummingbirds to geese and even a mountain. There's something for everyone and Barbara rates the patterns for difficulty. Her instructions are plain; her patterns are beautiful. I can't wait for the sequel. She just keeps getting better and is accessible by e-mail. I asked a question and she answered promptly. It doesn't get better than that.

Not only are the designs beautiful, the instructions are adequate for a beginning beader. I bought this book, having never made anything with beads before, and made five purses from this book, bought another one of Ms. Elbe's books and am currently working on one of those. Ms. Elbe's method for crafting amulet purses using peyote stitch result in a very strong purse that will last forever. Not only is attention paid to the purse design, but the fringe and strap are also designed beautifully.

Highly recommend any of Ms. Elbe's books for beading.

With easy to follow graphs and color charts this book is a must in a beaders collection of refrence. I have made several projects from the book with no trouble and I find that even substitution of colors is easy because of the good graphs and color pictures.

Love this book! I was looking everywhere for a pattern
with geese and the amulet bag on the cover is perfect.
The instructions are easy to follow and I'd recommend this
book to any other beginner beader such as myself.
Plenty of projects to keep a person busy in this book.