Beads: Make Your Own Unique Jewelery [Paperback]

Stefany Tomalin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

This guide to identifying and making beads includes a range of projects, shows how to identify junk-shop jewellery, explains how to tell the difference between gem-stones and their common substitutes, and discusses beads made from glass, metal, wood, pottery, and animal and vegetable substances. Readers can learn how to make their own beads at home and how to turn them into personal jewellery collections. The relevant techniques are explained by means of illustrated instructions, from simple threading to classic knotting, wire techniques, and even beadwork for textiles.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: David & Charles (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0715398385
• ISBN-13: 978-0715398388
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,983,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice projects for the advanced beader. Lacks editing., April 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beads: Make Your Own Unique Jewelery (Paperback)

Ms. Tomalin provides some beautiful projects to complete for the more advanced beader. However, there are several technical flaws in the book worth mentioning because they can confuse the reader. There are typographical errors, British- English terms (which might be foreign to the American-English reader), and references that appear in the text but do not appear in the illustrations. In several instances Ms. Tomalin refers the reader in the text to see illustrations labelled "(a)", "(b)", "(c)", etc. but the illustrations are not labeled as such so the reader does not know which one is "(a)", "(b)" or "(c)", etc. I also found the instructions for the knotting projects fairly difficult to follow. (I read one set of instructions several times and could not understand them). Bead thread measurements specified for certain projects are incorrect or disproportionate to the finished project. In one project Ms. Tomalin instructs the reader to use 6 strands (3 doubled stands) of 60" thread for a knotted choker measuring 18" when completed. That's 5 feet of thread for a 18" knotted choker! Had this book been properly edited, it could have been a 5-star book!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beads!, April 21, 2000

By 

Christine Saalbach (San Antonio TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beads: Make Your Own Unique Jewelery (Paperback)

My sister Pamela, who was living in Singapore at the time, gave me this book for Christmas soon after my daughter Maggie and I started our beaded jewelry business. Not knowing that much about jewelry construction at the time, this book became my primer for techniques and ideas. Over the years, I have returned to Beads! for a refresher anytime that my ideas start to run out.

Stefany has a keen sensitivity toward bead history and craftsmanship. She includes interesting photographs of ancient beads and contemporary beads and jewelry. One photo of English lace-bobbin spangle beads is worth at least an hour's study time. The variety of glasswork is so amazing on these bobbin beads which helped lace weavers to remember the order of their threads.

I have Stefany to thank for two awards I won for two necklaces, both made with beads I crafted using the papier roule' technique she shows on page 73. A long, narrow triangle of paper is rolled with glue with the long point on the outside of the bead and the short base on the inside. Using interesting paper for your papier roule' results in a very pretty bead.

The detailed glossary, bead history timeline, and appendices are worth the price of this book.

1.0 out of 5 stars Beads, January 6, 2011

By 

A. Bishop "grace07" (NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beads: Make Your Own Unique Jewelery (Paperback)

The patterns were not well done, you need to really look at the pattern. Of course the book is outdated but the style can be updated by choosing 'newer' style beads and colors.