Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Beading Techniques: 30 Decorative Projects (Beadwork Books)

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

 

 

The beautiful beadwork on this book's cover alone will demand that you explore the contents, but the title of the book is somewhat misleading. "Complete" refers only to seed bead techniques, not to all beading techniques. The Beader's Companion (Interweave Press) is a far better book for "complete beading techniques." For working with seed beads, though, this book does provide instructions that are fairly easy to follow.

Jane allots a chapter for each technique: loomwork and stitches including square, brick and ladder, peyote, netting, herringbone, right-angle weave, and knitting.

The 30 projects provided may scare or discourage a beginner. For many seed bead projects to have a successful outcome, much depends upon consistent thread tension. Beginners must practice thread tension on simpler projects than Jane gives us, although her suggested sampler gives some practice. The projects are absolutely stunning, so this book would be the cat's pajamas for someone already-skilled in working with seed beads who is looking for a challenge.

Interspersed with the diagrams and text are examples of finished work, both antique and new, serving to inspire the bead artist. Blank pages that can be copied for graphing a design in various bead stitches are a handy addition.

For the person who loves working with seed beads in close, detailed hand work, there are a lot of techniques to try in this book. Most of the projects involve some type of sewing beads together to create beautiful tapestries for home decoration. There are pieces to be framed and hung, coasters, small bead weavings for decorating other surfaces, such as small boxes. There are projects for decorating lamps with beads and accessories such as small purses and a scissors case. Some projects require you to knit with very small knitting needles, incorporating the beads into the knitting. One project escapes from seed beads momentarily to show how to do wirework to make jewelry items.

There are quite a few stitching techniques used, such as brick, square, ladder, and peyote stitch. The instructions are very good, with large drawings showing the beads and the direction of thread passed through them. One nice touch is that instructions are provided for a small practice piece for some of the techniques.

The projects are beautiful and delicate pieces of art for patient crafters, and for those who have never done this type of work before, there's a lot to learn.

with this book, the beader gets basic instructions for a dozen different techniques, one of which i have seen nowhere else (beading with tambour work). given the number of techniques covered, the instructions are limited to the absolute basics, but the beader has the chance to at least try a technique to see if she likes it enough to go beyond the basics.

there is also an impressive amount of information about beads, beading tools, thread, etc. the large projects are very good (the netting project is gorgeous), and, for those who just want a practice piece, there are small projects are both quick and attractive. there are also some stunning examples of beadwork for inspiration. the photos are first rate.

AND, there are blank GRAPHS!!! this is one of the best parts of the book--graphs for single and double peyote and brick stitch, for loom and square stitch, are fairly easy to find, but this book has, in addition to all these, graphs for netting, right-angle weave and knitting! and the graphs are full page size, which makes designing easier. the graphs alone are reason enough to buy this book.

the only thing i didn't absolutely love about this book, and the reason for the four stars instead of five, is the illustrations of the techniques. i found them hard to follow, and the square stitch technique is not the best example of this stitch. i have one or two other books with better illustrations, but they are limited in the number of techniques and quality of projects.

however, that is a minor drawback compared to what this book offers. it definitely belongs in the library of any beader.

This is the most complete guide to beading techniques I've ever seen. It covers everything you could possibly want to do with beads, especially seed beads. It covers everything from beadweaving (peyote, brick, herringbone, netting, etc. stitches) to knitting, crocheting, and tatting with beads, to wire work, to bead embroidery. The instructions are wonderfully clear and well-illustrated. There are 2-3 projects to make with each technique, including a small sampler project to get your feet wet. The book is also an invaluable resource for tips and tricks and information on beads and beading.

This is not a very good book for the rawest beginner, nor does it cover the basics of actual knitting or crocheting (but you can easily find basic knitting and crochet stitch directions online or in other books). But if you've had some experience with beading, this book is great, and it will take you to the most advanced beading stages. I'm an intermediate/advanced beader, and am constantly finding new information in this book.

The book is wonderful. The illustrations on how to do the various stitches are enlarged enough to easily see what's going on. You don't need to puzzle out stuff. Besides the size of the illustrations, they are clear cut with each step having its own picture along with clear written out instructions.

As the title said, its complete. All of the techniques I could think of are in there, plus some I never heard about.

With all of the techniques shown, there are very well written and diagramed instructions, a sample to do to try the technique, and a project that uses that techniqe. There is even a sampler project using all of the samples of each technique at the end.

The photographs are beautiful. The projects they depict are bold, vibrant, and useful at the same time. The pictures of bead crafts that are show as examples of what can be done with beads are stunning.

Besides all this, the section where the tools and wares of beading are mentioned is good. This section also has a how to do basic beading stitches section as well - including the looom.

Personally I found this book rather dissapointing. The instructions are very perfunctory and often incomplete. Better instructions on most of the included tecjniques are available free on the web with a bit of searching. It is an interesting book to read but don't expect too much practical help.

I found this book to be very helpfull. I am a beader and it was helpfull to go back and review techniques and ro learn some new ones. I think this book will be very helpfull to new beaders and other beaders.

I purchased this book because of it's cover. The projects on the cover are in the book and I can hardly wait to try them out. There are also many photos of projects that are not in the book. And, there are some pictures of historical items that are pretty incredible.

The beginning of the book has some great basic beading information concerning the materials needed for beadwork. The book focuses on seed beads. There is a nice listing of the types of beads you may purchase, an explanation of how they differ from each other, and pictures of the various beads. There is also an excellent section on on threading materials. Since threads used for beading can range from very fine for the smallest beads to heavier threads for knitting and crocheting, the descriptions given can be very helpful. The end of the book has a glossary of beading terms, which could be quite helpful.

I believe that this book falls short when it comes to explaining beading techniques. I do not think that the book would be the best one for a person new to using seed beads and to beadweaving. The instructions do not have much detailed information. I prefer the book Creative Bead Weaving: A Contemporary Guide To Classic Off-Loom Stitches by Carol Wilcox Wells. I think it has better diagrams for some of the techniques. I would also recommend Findings & Finishings: A Beadwork How-To Book (Beadwork How-To series). Sharon Bateman has some excellent basic stitch information at the end of the book. Both of these books also have information on the materials used in beadweaving.

My only other concern is that some of the patterns, and particularly the graphs, go too far into the binding to make it easy to use the pattern from the book. Some charts may need to be enlarged to make them user friendly for me and I fear I may need to cut some of the larger charts out of the book to use them.

All in all, I like most of the patterns in the book. I think a beader with some experience would find the book most useful.

After reading other reviews I couldn't wait to receive this book and try some new techniques. I was VERY disappointed with the instructions -- there is no way I could complete even an "easy" sample project. The instructions were sooooo basic that they were incomplete. This is definitely NOT a book for beginners.

This book is beautiful, easy to understand, and includes beading techniques for the beginner up to the most experienced beader. A great source book for beading projects and information.