Customer Reviews

Bead Crochet (Beadwork How-To)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Amazon keeps recommending this book to me based on what else I have purchased, most irritating and inappropriate.

I usually say nothing if I cannot say something nice. And I cannot say anything nice about this book. It is uninformative, and is not appealing to my taste.

You want to learn beaded rope crochet?

Buy Judith Bertoglio Griffin's Bead Crochet book instead, or use the wonderful bead crochet chapter in the Art and Elegance of Beadweaving book of Carol Wilcox Wells.

I own several of the books in the Beadwork "How-To" series and have found them consistently well-written and full of projects that inspire my own work. Given my prior success with learning techniques from this series, and my great desire to learn bead crochet (and, particularly, ropes or tubular crochet), I was literally counting down the days until the release of this book. Unfortunately, this book fell short in several key areas. As the book is primarily intended to instruct, it was upsetting to see the instructions for techniques were neither clearly described nor well-illustrated. In reviewing the projects, whose purpose is to provide opportunities to explore the techniques, several deficits existed. First, each project required that the reader back to the less-than-stellar instructions to which I previously referred. In addition, the projects were more focused on crochet and less on the addition of beads to the process. Finally, the projects presented by the author, quite frankly, were both bulky in size and gaudy in style. While jewelry and/or fiberarts of the style presented are considered "art jewelry", the chaotic and hefty pieces presented seem to appeal to only a small population (including this reviewer). In summary, this book was neither a how-to, nor were the works provided a means of stimulating my creativity.

i taught myself tubular bead crochet in order to take a class at this year's bead and button bash. my teacher was linda lehman, who has published an excellent book on tubular bead crochet. i've crocheted for decades, i loved the beaded lariat i made, and i am interested in seeing what else can be done with beaded crochet.

when this book arrived, i started with the gallery, since the gallery is generally the best part of the beadwork instruction books (most of which i own). ho hum. how limited, how unappealing, how lacking in inspiration. how ugly. oops, those were the author's contributions--some of the rest are quite attractive, especially griffin's lariats.

then i read the 'history of bead crochet.' yikes.

to begin with, the author on whom barry seems to have based far too much of her intro has been pretty thoroughly discredited as an historian. anyone with knowledge of textile history knows that it is not safe to rely on the records of, say, the sixteenth century, since their terms were, to put it mildly, elastic in meaning--for instance, lace could mean a tie for a stocking or an open work fabric, so accepting the idea of irish nuns making crochet lace in the 16th century is overly trusting, since no examples have come down to us. (and does this woman have any idea of the conditions in ireland in the 1500's?) also, the continual references to christianity, probably thanks to her source, were off-putting, as well as inaccurate.

okay, i'll stop the historical criticism, and get to the bits beadworkers want to hear about. no, one more comment--crochet did not generate income during the famine in ireland, since england didn't allow ireland a cash economy until later in the century. irish style crochet was a LATE 19th century development. i really will stop now, there are far to many other inaccuracies to tackle individually.

another reviewer has mentioned the really poor directions. one example not mentioned specifically, tubular bead crochet, is not explained sufficiently in the opening chapters--in fact, not until the SECOND project is there any explanation of the massively important technique for keeping the bead on the outside of the tube. if anyone gets past the first tubular project, it will be only with incredible luck. this is inexcusable, as 'beadwork' magazine has published better directions for tubular crochet in more than one issue. i know this, since i used these articles to teach myself beaded tubular crochet.

i objected to the inclusion of so many other techniques. the directions for peyote, etc., are fine if you already know what you're doing, but less than sketchy for new beaders. but, since this is supposed to be a book about bead crochet, why are other techniques incorporated?

i, too, think the author's designs are unattractive. in fact, i think most of them are revolting.

the best part of the book is the pictures of antique bead crochet items. now, these are inspiring! these are beautiful. these are varied. they are the only reason i will keep this book in my library.

I bought this book to learn how to crochet with beads. It is not really a "how to" book, as it is advertised. It has a section on basic crochet stitches (without the beads), but I have been unable to incorporate beads. I will buy another book, learn how to bead crochet, and return to this one when I get some experience.

I greatly enjoy crocheting and was looking to expand beyond the typical granny square afghan. I have successfully crocheted projects labelled "for advanced crocheters only." So, why couldn't I get my bead projects to turn out properly?

I picked up the book almost entirely based on the picture on the cover. I know enough to expect that the nicest looking project is usually on the cover, and that it's usually the most difficult.

I started with the easier projects, but found the instructions hard to follow. The author states up front that it's not an introductory crochet book and that if you want to learn to crochet basic stitches look elsewhere. However, she spends a lot more time explaining how to do generic crochet than how to work with beads.

I believe this book has reasonably interesting projects if you already know how to crochet with beads. What I found so difficult -- the openendedness of the directions -- would probably appeal to a more experienced and artistic bead crocheter. My primary objection to this book is that it calls itself a "how-to" book, and then doesn't give you specifics "how."

I am new to bead crocheting, although I have been crocheting with yarn for many many years. In an attempt to "expand my horizons" I bought this book after glancing through it at the library. Well, when it came time to make something "simple," I struggled and struggled with the instructions (as did my daughter H), but got nowhere..the bead pattern indicated in the picture simply didn't materialize. In another review posted here someone indicated that critical information about the positioning of the bead was lacking from the instructions! Good thing I read the review (although it was AFTER I'd bought the book)! Now I realize why I got nowhere...the instructions are VERY poor...don't bother with this one...I'm going to try another 1 or 2 recommended by other reviewers...

I finally set down and read the book. First of all, when I learned bead crochet initally, it was by some one who did not know how to crochet. So, the only method she taught was using the slip stitch. I consider myself to be a novice crocheter. I was finally able to bead crochet using single crochet with Ms. Barry's book. which is a much better stitch to use and more secure. You do need to know something about crochet before tackling some of the projects. I disagree with some of the comments, on the focus on bead stringing. I absolutely love glass, and this is the book to get. I recently completed one of the projects, and I am so satisfied. Some of us like using various sizes of beads and textures to their jewelry, some may not. But, the point that some of the readers did not get, is that it is mainly a guideline. You decide what size beads etc. This book is exactly what I have been looking for.

Title of the book should have been something like "Bead Stringing plus Crochet" . The book has a few good things but not a complete book for bead crochet. I'm very disappointed.

I taught myself to bead crochet and have almost every recent--and some not so recent book published including both books by Judith Bertoglio-Giffin (wonderful! except I get the feeling she thinks she invented bead crochet) and one by Kate Coburn (I think there's at least one I can't find).

When I first bought Bethany Barry's book I was disappointed. Mainly, because it wasn't strictly tubular bead crochet and wasn't much help in learning it. Although, I have to admit that every book helped a little.

Now that I'm experienced with bead crochet I find her book refreshing because it's a little different. Crocheting spiral tubes has become a little confining for me and her book opens up some new worlds.

I don't understand her use of a mandrel for working an entire tubular piece. Although, I find a wooden skewer, stiff shoelace, or other item placed in the center of the beginning chain a big help. And, you have to have a very large and varied bead inventory to make her jewelry.

Still, if you want to expand your bead crochet horizons, this is a very useful book.

This is a worthwhile book to buy - it covers the supplies needed (and specifically what kind), gives the basics to start and projects that are easily done. The author, Bethany Barry has done a good job in covering alot of areas I would not have guessed I would need. I think the variety of ideas presented in terms of the supplies you can use makes for a good basis for one's creativity, therefore making this book worthwhile.