What beautiful, showpiece necklaces you can make following the instructions in this book - wearable art in the most exciting sense. The materials and tools needed are inexpensive and readily available, the work portable, the results striking. When you wear the necklaces you make, they elicit admiration and praise. The book opens with an exciting gallery of the work done by Helen Banes and many of her students. Once your appetite is whetted by what you have seen, then Diane Fitzgerald explains how the neckpieces are made and presents you with 19 projects for making your own. Each project is shown with a full page color photograph of the completed piece and a working diagram for it. Profusely illustrated in color.
As someone once said, "Everyone needs their spot." My spot to bead is on the couch, with good light and a good TV program. Old movies and Law and Order are among my favorites. I usually bead in the morning and evening and spend the middle part of the day writing, editing and illustrating the instructions for what I've created. I love to do all three of these tasks, but editing is the hardest for me, so often I depend on "guinea pig" classes to check things and make suggestions.
One weekend a month I usually am "on the road" teaching somewhere in the U.S. Seeing the pleasure a student gets when they make something appealing (no matter how small)makes me feel great.
