Customer Reviews

A Bead in Time: 35 Jewelry Projects Inspired by Slices of Life

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you've just started jewelry-making and need instructions and inspiration, this is the book for you. If you want to learn how to use budget-friendly and available tools and materials from national-chain craft supply stores, this is the book for you. The author gets high marks for heart-felt enthusiasm. I'm glad she has fun with jewelry and wants others to have fun too.

The lower rating is for originality and creativity. I've seen these designs in magazines and books and even at the jewelry counter, well before I started beading myself. So in the interest of my wallet, I'm returning this book to buy more beads :) But like I said above, this book would be really great for the beginner. Unfortunately there isn't a way to split the rating...

What a beautiful book. The concept of being able to create a piece of jewelry that reflects something from your life is a totally new idea in beading for me. I loved the dandelion piece and may even try it. A cool one to wear in the spring and summer. The whimsical gnomes are so cute. I really liked all the jewelry and cant wait to get started making some of them. Her instructions are without a doubt the easiest to understand of any I have seen. I just saw again the colored pencil pendant and that may have to be my first attempt. Lisa is so creative, and I also hope to make something that will mirror my life. Actually I may have to do the Caribbean Cruise bracelet and hope to go one one soon. What a wonderful, new concept.

I've been beading as a hobby for a little more than five years. I got my book a few days ago and I really am looking forward to trying out some of the projects in this book. The author takes her inspiration from bits of every day life and applies those "inspirations" into creating unique jewelry. I really liked the "dandelion" bracelet project as its a creative way to use seed beads and re-purposing a brooch form and also the "Summer Salad" project. There are lots of good ideas in this one! I also like the book because it has a variety of techniques for many different experience levels. Its very inspirational and creative types will look at everyday objects in new ways, not only for ways to use those objects, but to create projects using their impressions of things and experiences as a motivation.

What a wonderful collection of unusual jewelry projects by a woman who greets life with her arms open!
Ah! The "Dandelion" bracelet...a cuff like seed beaded swash of yellow and green grassy color I would love to wear every day!
And ooo! The "Festive Package" earrings, whuich could make perfect gifts for friends, teachers, or YOU!, to get you in the mood for the holiday season!
Or how about "Niagara Falls"? A lovely icy pour of beads for your wrist?
Lisa Crone has created a very large collection of beautiful projects, each of which demonstrates her talents in so many different ways. She has used stringing, wire wrapping, peyote stitch, memory wire, and a number of other techniques to show you how you can get inspired and create your own, wonderful jewelry pieces.
Her first chapter is called "Metro Mixes" and is full of sophisticated, stylish and never seen before jewelry pieces designed by Lisa in colorways which really make you think about what you are creating. I enjoyed that chapter particularly! Say "Frank Lloyd Wright" to me and my head swivels all the way around in delight, so Lisa had me at hello with that project!
Chapter Two is called "Outdoor Ideas" and you will fall for any of the projects which are nature related which are introduced here. The cover project is in this chapter and is truly lovely.
Chapter Three, "Life's Pleasures" really gets down to what makes us love life as humans. Admittedly, it is initially a surprise to see a project called "Hug a Dolphin", but once you realize that Lisa got the chance to do just that, and you take a look at the delightful ocean spray of silvery pearls she has used to express her memory of the sweet delight of that experience, you will understand.
The final chapter is chapter four, "Funky Finds". It rounds out the flavors the author has offered by investigating all sorts of styles and colors previously touched upon in her book. The necklace in this chapter which I really enjoyed was the "Gnome Chain" necklace, as Jim and I love gnomes. You will love it too, I bet, even if you never noticed a gnome before as you have gone along your merry way. It is truly cheering to be alive!, Lisa seems to say.
If you do not feel lifted up by Lisa Crone, and she doesn't touch you in in some deep way, human to human, I would be very surprised. I believe that is a subconscious intention of hers: to give to her readers something to think about and to hold in their hearts the way they hold this book in their hands. A very thoughtful designer, she enjoys what she does to the ultimate degree, yet is not overly dramatic, just perfectly balanced. I give this book an A+! Thank you Lisa, for a wonderful and different jewelry design book!

The first part of the book is a basic introduction the materials and tools and well photographed and explained techniques. It's fairly short, most of the 125 page book is the projects.
The projects are lovely and casual. Easy projects with a lot of large full color photographs and explanations that cover several basic beading techniques. I think this book is an excellent book for someone just getting started in beading. The projects are mostly stringing and wire work, but there are some seed beading techniques that are worked in big enough beads to be non-intimidating to novices at beadweaving.
The first chapter which gets it's inspiration from architecture has a striking necklace called City Style that's done in a combination of stringing techniques with square stitch. I also love the geometry of the cross woven Colored Pencil Art necklace.
Chapter 2 is Outdoor Ideas and it has some very pretty strung pieces, a micro-macramé bracelet, and my favorite from that chapter is the Dandelion bracelet which is bright yellow seed beads wired to a base. It's so much fun. After that, the delicate wire worked Icicles Necklace is something I'd happily make with my daughter so we could have matching necklaces.
Chapter 3, Life's Pleasures has my favorite project in the whole book. Summer Salad- a bracelet wire worked over a shaped fork. It's inspiring so many other ideas for me. Another favorite is the multi-strand strung Box of Chocolates Bracelet which combines shapes into a dramatic bracelet that would work with jeans or when you're dressing up.
The final chapter, Funky Finds shows ideas for things you find for other crafts. Maybe ribbon, or a pretty button you've had in your button box for years as well as a few holiday inspired ideas. My favorite project in that chapter is the Rock Star Iron-On bracelet made with denim iron on patches, simple bead embroidery and hemp cord. It's a very fun casual piece with a lot of potential.

Book Review
A Bead in Time by Lisa Crone
North Light Books
January 2010

Lisa Crone has written an absolutely charming book for the novice beader in search of inspiration. With a decidedly clever window to design, she focuses on the personal and that's the perfect way to entice readers to move beyond the copycat phase of jewelry making into exploring their own design eye. Through inspirational photographs and objects from mined from the experiences of her daily life, she shows the reader how to explore color, texture, pattern and motif. This approach to design is right up my alley, my second book explored a similar concept using a variety of inspiration images and objects to guide the new designer into new pathways of creativity. What I love about Lisa's approach to the topic, is the personal, memory inspired, storytelling focus. In fact, I think it really quite brilliant.

Even if you're a seasoned designer, this book will offer you a fresh set of ideas to mine in your work. The designs are all pretty, wearable jewelry and not so artsy that they'll overwhelm the wearer. This is jewelry you'll reach for over and over again. It's the kind of jewelry that garners compliments because it compliments you so completely.

The photographs do a wonderful job of illustrating the concept and you can really see the jewelry which is important if you're trying to figure out how to reproduce it. The photo stylist and book designer did a wonderful job of letting Lisa's work shine. There are a surprisingly wide variety of techniques explored in the book and a wonderful cross section of materials. Lisa dabbles in a little bit of everything here from basic stringing, to wire work, to macrame, to bead weaving, to exposed wire concepts and even a little taste of mixed media. It's fresh and cheerful and a wonderful addition to any jewelry designer's library and I guarantee you'll be inspired and delighted.

Margot Potter
Author The Impatient Beader Series, Bead and Wire Jewelry Exposed and Beyond the Bead

I was really looking forward to receiving this book, but now that I have, I am truly disappointed.

If I were a novice, this book might offer some techniques I could use, however, as a professional, I cannot find even once piece of inspiration. To me, it looks like many of the projects are quite similar in nature, and very basic (boring) designs, nothing advanced or original, nothing to make me say "wow."

I hate to be so critical, but I bought this book largely because of the rave reviews, and I sincerely cannot see why it got such high marks.

Maybe I can pass it along to someone just starting out. Otherwise, it's of no use to me.

I received my copy of "A Bead in time" about a week ago and I absolutely love it! This is an excellent book for beaders like me who have a difficult time getting inspiration for making a piece of beaded jewelry. Who knew the inspiration was all around us if we just open our eyes. I'm amazed by how much the finished pieces resemble the photos. Even the cute and adorable doggies look terrific made into a bracelet. There are three projects in this book that are at the top of my list to tackle and they are "Dandelion", "Spring Blossoms" and "Caribbean Cruise". These projects remind we of a warm Spring or Summer day. The book has tons of fun and inspiring projects and this author is fearless when it comes to designing a project and selecting materials. I give this book and the author a BIG A+ as it's a must have for every beader!

First, If you are new at jewerly making this book can help you get started. What I loved about it was the interpretation and incredible imagination it took to turn every day things and places into really fun pieces of jewery. You can take these "feel good" moments with you into whatever places you have to go in a given day. When the moment is inspired, the memory will be too...and nobody can touch beautiful memories.