Customer Reviews

Creating Glamorous Jewelry with Swarovski Elements: Classic Hollywood Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pros:
Features 26 projects, and GLAMOROUS is right! Be prepared for oooo's and aaah's!

You get a little history and nostalgia with your projects! Features just as many great photos of actresses with snippets about them and whatever old movie they're shown in. It got an "Awwwww..." out of me because Tony Curtis recently passed away, and he's on pg 66 with Natalie Wood (sporting a gorgeous bracelet that inspired the project) in an image from The Great Race - a favorite movie of mine growing up. :)

You get to see the designer's inspiration AND the finished project. I really liked seeing the original piece the actress wore in the left-hand page photo, then looking at the beaded project piece on the right-hand page photo. Very cool too see the transition from the designer's interpretation and creation of the piece like that!

The instructions seem thorough enough for a determined amateur, more than enough if you have some experience with beadweaving.

Cons:
The price tag to make most of these projects is pretty staggering if you buy the listed supplies. You could substitute away from the crystal and go with glass and stone to make it less expensive and over-the-top... but that wasn't the point of the book now was it?! ;-)

As a previously noted, there's something wrong with the swarovski color chart!! A disservice bordering on sabotage to readers who would place an expensive order expecting one color, and end up recieving something else. Verify your colors online before ordering if you don't have them memorized.

Wearability - it's all gorgeous, but not for everyday wear unless you don't mind funny looks...

Overrall:
I won't refer to it often or make many of these projects, but I am glad I bought it! I would recommend it as a collector's item to experienced beaders or to a bridal party looking to go custom and glamorous for the wedding.

I adored this book and immediately tore through it, adoring the eye candy and well designed projects. If you love crystal and glamour I heartily recommend it. The only small error was in the back when photos of the different colors of Swarovski beads were paired with their color names. For some reason a lot of these were mixed up, so if you want to be really sure of your colors download this PDF file:
[...]
Again, if you love Swarovski and especially love old-style Hollywood you'll love this book!

Having a bad day? Just bring out this book. I don't care if I never make a single one of these projects. They are beautiful and inspiring. Just looking through this book will improve your mood. I just LOVE it that this book is really so much more than beading. It is romance and history and stories. The designs are fabulous, and Jean Campbell shows a great talent for taking a picture of a piece of jewelry and creating a beaded interpretation of it. Even the instructional illustrations are pretty! This is a must have book.

As the title suggests, these are projects suitable for wearing with evening gowns rather than casual-wear. It is fun to see how the author re-created the vintage pieces using present-day materials. If you are adept at reworking patterns, many of these can be made into pieces more suitable for everyday wear by substituting materials and simplifying them a bit. I liked about a half dozen projects well enough to adapt or (less often) make as-is.

Don't pass up this book! Honestly! You will be sorry! I'm a relatively "new" bead weaver, fairly good with needle and thread... With that said, the projects in this book are easier than they look! The directions are amazingly easy to follow... although I LOVE Swarovski elements, I can't totally afford them... so, I "watered down" some of the projects with semi-precious stones... perhaps not as "glamorous," but certainly every bit as beautiful in a more "grounded" sort of way. BUT... even more than the eye-popping "reproductions" beautifully detail-photographed, I enjoyed the stories! I never knew Carmen Miranda was born in Portugal and started out entertaining her co-workers in a hat shop in Brazil... Did that catch your attention? Read the history of Daniel Swarovski, pick up your needle and thread, ask which one of those dazzling beauties in your bead collection wants to become the next Haute Couture... move over Coco Chanel, here you come! Have fun!

Absolutely stunning projects in this book. I own lots of beading books and this is my new fav. Jean Campbell is one talented bead artist, and she has put together some truly scrumptious designs. Swarovski Elements are pricey beads, and if you stick to the supply lists, the finished pieces will be a bit dear--but you get what you pay for. Illustrated with superb photographs and some decent graphics, which clearly indicate the bead paths for the various projects. Even if you just buy it for the eye candy, with the Amazon price, this is a great buy.

Jean Campbell hits it out of the park again with a fabulous book. The photos of the pieces are amazing and detailed instructions perfect; the photographs of the movie stars with the jewelry that is being replicated are wonderful. Want more! Would love to see another such book with more movie stars! Definitely a must have if you're in to BLING!!!

Ms. Campbell has taken archive photos of famous Hollywood starlets wearing jewelry from their foremost movie and interpreted them into further pieces of art and bling using a variety of jewelry making techniques including seed beads, off loom stitches, chain, wire work, and the inclusion of fabulous Swarovski Elements. There is something for everyone in this book and the results do not disappoint. Wonderful black and white head shots of the beautiful starlets, fully illustrated and described instructions, and a complete list of materials, resources, wire and off loom stitch information are present within. There is also a short introduction on Swarovski's influence in the fashion industry.

Beautiful book. Wonderful pictures and the jewelry is gorgeous. Jean Campbell has once again given us a book that we beaders can create from. Well written with easy patterns to follow. I love the little blurbs and stories for each actress. This book has my imagination going 1000 miles an hour. I highly recommend this book for every beader out there. What a beautiful way to use your Swarovski beads.

I gave myself an early Valentine's Day gift (you should too!) and steeped myself in old Hollywood uberglamour as I studied the incredible offerings which Jean Campbell has designed for us in Creating Glamorous Jewelry with Swarovski Elements. It is such a pleasure to take one's time pouring over the photographs which the author has chosen of the famous coquettes and grand dames of Hollywood's heigh (hay?) day. If the reader has a favorite star, you can bet she will be in here. Mine is Vivien Leigh, who makes an appearance twice, once in costume as Cleo, and once in a full on glamour shot, as simply, Vivien. The author makes a point that these illustrious stars were usually known just by their first names. That is how famous they were, and how famous they remain in our pantheon of Hollywood greats. I have adored all of Jean Campbell's books, but there are three reasons I find this one particularly outstanding. The first reason is that her articulate yet easygoing writing skills are perfectly matched to the task of setting the scene for each star she is addressing. Jean Campbell knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING (she is a great researcher and this is evident in all of her books). Due to this, she is able to distill, in a paragraph or two, just what it is about a particular Hollywood icon which made her so unique. Therefore, due to the author's own abilities at portraying a mood or a time period, as well as her own insight into a personality, you learn more about Marilyn Monroe, Liz Taylor, Dorothy Dandridge, Natalie Wood, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and so many other great actresses that this book is priceless for movie star buffs in that way alone. And who doesn't adore the cinema, as it was called!
I was intrigued as well by the history of the symbiotic relationship between the Swarovski family, starting with Daniel Swarovski I, the Hollywood clientele, and the great fashion houses of the times. I didn't know, for example, that the AB, [Aurora Borealis], finish was created by Swarovski initially for Christian Dior by Daniel Swarovski's grandson after World War II. The AB finish was then and ever after embraced by Hollywood and all of us too! It is the perfect incredible addition to the clear sparkle of the world's most perfect crystal.
The second reason I adore this jewelry design book is that the author has taken actual photos of each star and slightly blurred them, so that you can see the jewelry being worn, yet not clearly enough to note any specifics. These sorts of photos, in black and white, suit the dreamy style of the times, and also give the author freedom to create her own designs inspired by what she sees, as translated through her own extremely talented artistic eye.
There is not a bad piece among the collection in this super fabulous book! I don't know what Jean Campbell's favorite color is, but she certainly knows how to use all of them in amazing and incredible ways when she designs jewelry which you and I will want to make, not for the vintage feel of it, but for the sheer beauty of it. Her pieces are glorious and charming.
I especially liked Mae West's flowered reversible necklace (I love anything reversible! So much more potential) and "Lucky Strike" earrings, Vivien Leigh's "Cleo" earrings, of which there is a version which is easier/faster to make, as well, and Natalie Wood's sensuous and fascinating vinyl cuff with its crystal rivets and the bouquet of Swarovski crystal pearls at the center.

It is difficult to describe the concoction of crystals by Swarovski, the occasional use of chain, the seed beads and end results (for example, Zsa Zsa's incredible necklace, in tones of gold, topaz, and greens, accented with violets and blues, without the use of photos. And the 250 photos and illustrations fill Creating Glamorous Jewelry with Swarovski Elements with information. So many of the photos of the jewelry are as breathtakingly lovely as the stars who inspired them. There is just no limit to what the author has done here. I cannot believe anyone else could have done this book better.
This leads me to the third reason this book is so great.
Reason number three: THE DIRECTIONS FOR HOW TO MAKE EACH JEWELRY PIECE are very clear. That is correct! Even a boob [note: this is an old term: look it up] like me can understand them. If I can understand them, anyone who can read can understand them. I am quite famously hopeless with seed beads (although I certainly know my way around Swarovski crystals and always adore them!).
At any rate, now I have hope again. Seed beading, one more try! Why? Because these jewelry designs are so very worth it! From concept to end result, the reader gets to relive beloved film star memories, and learn new techniques for creating beautiful jewelry for herself. Yes, you too can be a movie star! And you don't have to hang around in a soda shop back in the fifties to get discovered. Discover for yourself what true Hollywood glamour is about by giving yourself, and all your best friends as well, this completely entrancing book which teaches, entertains, and calls to you at every turn. Thank you, Jean Campbell. I had a great time reading Creating Glamorous Jewelry with Swarovski Elements. I know I shall return to it again and again!