Customer Reviews

Beading with Right Angle Weave (Beadwork How-To)

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

 

 

This author does more with the right angle weave stitch than what you usually see in bead magazines or older crafts booklets. The photo showing some of the multiple-bead ladder variations on this stitch was a nice surprise, plus the beautiful "jabot" patterns that use some of these stitches. The chapters on cubes, tablets, and frames are unlike anything I've seen anywhere else. There are a lot of ideas here for further exploration. And it is the only book that actually tells you how to use two needles to do this stitch.

But, as another reviewer has pointed out, there are some artwork and editing issues. Sometimes cryptic instructions, illustrations out of sync with the text... And the artwork is certainly less helpful than it could be. I've gotten other patterns from this author off the Internet, so I happen to know that she uses PowerPoint for her diagrams. But apparently the publisher decided these were too techy-looking, and had an artist re-do them as hand-drawn sketches. But in screaming yellow and magenta? What's up with that? The section that another reviewer pointed out is a prime example of this collision of haphazard editing and an artist who evidently didn't bother to read the text she was illustrating. Yikes! However, seeing as how I could recognize these mistakes when I tripped over them, obviously the sketchy editing and artwork - while annoying - didn't prevent me from figuring out what was supposed to be going on.

I have to give the author credit for a clever solution to the problem of writing patterns for right angle weave, a stitch that can be done by two completely different methods. Rather than do duplicate instructions for every project - one with a single needle thread path, and another with two-needle paths - she labels the positions of the beads in each stitch instead: North, South, East, and West. So it doesn't matter whether you work a pattern using one needle or two, you just have to note what position the beads in each stitch lie in instead of following a thread path. The section titled "Read This First" describes this method of reading a pattern. However, it's so different from what you usually see in bead magazines that I can see how readers who skipped this section and went right into the projects might have run into trouble. It does take some thought and getting used to. I had to draw myself a little cross-shape with the arms labeled "East=Right" and "West=Left." But now that I get it, I find it a really helpful way of looking at other right angle weave patterns.

So I give this author high marks for innovative thinking and fun designs and techniques (love the layered frames and sugar cubes!), but knock off a point for the mangled editing and artwork that make getting through the instructions harder than it should be. If you're a beader looking for a challenge or something different, you'll like this book.

This book looked promising when I picked it up, but after struggling through the instructions I now regret buying it. I bought the book to learn right angle weave...but ended up looking up a free tutorial online instead because I could not figure out Christine Prussings instructions and examples. The right angle weave stitch itself is actually not that complicated...but Christine makes it seem extremely complicated. Unless you are really good with a compass I do not recommend this book. I started a beautiful project that she had on the front cover, but once you get done with the base of the piece...her instructions become unclear and confusing. Now, I have a beautiful unfinished necklace.

The instructions in this book are not clear, the pictures hard to understand, the final project looks good if somebody can do it. Very disappointed.

Thanks to Christine Prussing's book, I can now make jewellery using right angle weave, a stitch that has eluded me for years. There are a few typos but you can find the corrections. It's well worth the investment if you wish to make beautiful, unusual jewellery.
She covers both single needle and two needle right angle weave. I prefer the two needle method; it is faster and works up evenly.
Thank you Chris!!
Evalynne Tompkins

This book has beautiful pictures and some nice ideas and designs -- if you can figure out what the writer is talking about. Extremely confusing instructions and diagrams. I bought this book to learn the right angle weave, but it is useless for that purpose. Too bad, it had some real potential.

Unfortunately, this is a very poor introduction to a difficult but worthwhile stitch. I was tempted to give it two stars out of five because the project designs are mostly quite good (if you can figure them out): in fact the triangular RAW bangle is now one of my favourite patterns. But the frustration I felt while working out how to read the poorly conceived diagrams and obscure written instructions almost led me to toss this book against a wall (and I respect all books too much to do that often!) Beginners, stay away -- instead, buy Bead and Button magazine's 2008 special issue titled _Beading Basics: Right Angle Weave_, or Carol Cypher's Mastering Beadwork: A Comprehensive Guide to Off-loom Techniques. Better still, learn from a tutor and practice a lot. Then you may be able to overcome this book's serious flaws and enjoy what it has to offer.

Probably a problem of buying online as opposed to brick & morter where you can see any color defficiencies...
Pages 16 thru 18 , although written well the color for the how to instructions were faded or just not there...it was a huge guessing game and a test of nerves...without the basic needle methods it's just a book with a lot of pretty pictures that the reader can't make...
In addition to add to the confusion if you do finally get the colors right, with the aid of colored pencils, there is another huge mistake on page 17 under SINGLE NEEDLE COUNTERCLOCKWISE START Step 1, it should read String 1 green, 1 orange 1 PINK and 1Yellow....

I will never buy another how to book on line....It turned out to be a very frustrating experience and not worth the $$$$

I guess if I already knew the basics ( acording to this author )that were so confusing , I would have given it a higher score. I cannnot say that there are no more mistakes as I have not made much progress...and I am no stranger to the RAW....I have been beading for many years.

I also feel it is not the author at fault but the publisher and the proofreader.

I hope this helps save future beaders the time, grief and aggravation .
Lorna

I had to smile as I read some of the other reviews - which way is south? come on! How do you read a map? No, this book utilizes some good, sound language in its instructions like using terms such as north, south, east, west. The projects are quite beautiful. However, there are a few places where there does seem to be a bit of a gap or jump in the instructions. I'm an intermediate beader, and I can usually figure these things out,but the thing is we shouldn't have to that. Still, overall, this is a fairly good book if you're looking for something on RAW.