Customer Reviews

Creating Lampwork Beads for Jewelry

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have enjoyed Karen Leonardo's beads when viewing them online. She is very experienced and well known. She creates lovely work! However, I had no idea she was multitalented and could write books!
Creating Lampwork Beads for Jewelry is a major and fascinating undertaking, and a great addition to anyone's lampwork and jewelry design library.There is so much packed into this book it is wonderful! Techniques, tips,all sorts of things, from basics to the most sophisticated.
After explaining the tools required to set up your own bead making studio, the author gathers together a collection of talented bead artists. They demonstrate, in individual projects, the techniques of creating beads with either soft or borosilicate glass. These projects by the bead artists progress from beginning ones, to more complicated, to most complicated. I would consider this "section one". It is a book in itself!
However, as if this weren't enough, there is a second, fabulous section to this book!
This section begins with a description of a studio for a jewelry designer and what is required, tool-wise, for working with beads and making your own jewelry. After that comes a full section where talented jewelry designers create art pieces with the beads shown in the first part of the book. This was particularly fascinating to me, as I am a jewelry designer and love to see what other people are making with cool beads (which these beads are!). They make some fantastic necklaces, bracelets, pins and wireworked items. Precious metal clay is used, and there is even a chain maille piece.
My favorite piece is the "Where's the Party necklace", designed by Cary K.Martin, using Cathy Lybarger's beads. I wish I owned it! I love it! It conveys exactly what the title says! Totally fun and colorful!

I also loved the chic piece using the author's own beads. This is a sultry number in black and silver designed by Karen herself.

As you can see, there is something for everyone.

The jewelry designers had different styles and so did the bead artists. How super and also educational to see what everyone came up with!

I found this book extremely inspirational. I do not make lampwork beads, but I do know a lot about them and I enjoyed reading the first part.

I collect lampwork to keep or to use in my designs, and she has some of the best bead artists in her book. Who isn't familiar with Cathy Lybarger, Kristen Child, Karen and her husband Bob of course, Lezlie Belanger, and more? It is delightful to see the process from initial glass to finished bead, and then the process from beginning of the jewelry design to finished beautiful jewlery piece! I totally recommend this book!

A book that is packed full of how-to information on soft glass bead making, step-by-step instructions and wonderful pictures! In addition to the step by step instructions for many different techniques in bead making there is a wealth of information covering many different jewelery making techniques, making it possible to create beautiful and unique jewelry designs.
Great information and inspiration for anyone interested in jewelry making, even if you never plan to create your own lampwork beads. and a valuable resource for the lampwork bead maker ...all for a very reasonable price!!

I preordered this book and have enjoyed looking through it. I love the lily pad bead and made a beautiful one on my 4th try. The book takes you step by step through each bead process and provides tips along the way. I haven't begun to explore all the ideas, but know already that it was a very smart purchase.

This is an excellent book loaded with the best artists sharing their "secrets" and wisdom. I finally understand the techniques that Sue Booth and others have tried to share with me through e-mail and am making real strides in my own bead making.

This is not just another bead book. It is inspirational and it's THE source for learning techniques that the "pros" use. If I could only have one bead book to use, this would be it!

I bought the book because I wanted to make glass beads for jewelry.
The chapters about making beads are very informing and original as well.
I am glad I bought the book.
How ever I was very surprised that part of the book is about actually making the jewelry, not about making the beads. I don't need a book about that topic so I was sory the space was not filled with bead making.

Ok I'm a real reader of books before I set up any hobby but I wish I'd got this one to start with.
The book takes you in a really readable manner from setting up a studio to making the beads to making the beads into jewellery.
There are a number of projects in here and eack bead is photographed in the stages of making and then in the final section made up into a final jewleery piece. It also deals with making a few components such as a toggle clasp and making a PMC bead too.
A nice list of supplies and toolbox equipment needed is useful and the level of expertise needed is helpful too.
It covers bead making in a project way and not the "here's how to make a round bead, now a flowerbead, now use frit..."
My favourite is the sheep bead project and the more complex "Autumn Glow" bead.
I'm happy to see the lack of history of glass beads and pleased to see the dive straight into the setting up the workshop.
16 different beads with different techniques are covered, I'm sure it will inspire many lampworkers.
Buy it then enjoy making beads...

This is a great beginner to intermeidiate book for setting up a new lampwork studio and making lampwork beads. It is filled with useful information a beginner will need. The pictures are very helpful clear close up shots. The instructions are well written with step by step pictures. It is filled with instructions from bead making to creating jewelry. It includes safety tips. I could have used this book when I was setting up my new lampwork studio, it answered many of the questions I had at that time, with the help of pictures.

I'm a glass beadmaker which means I use a torch to melt glass. I tend to call my glass, "flamework glass" but historically, melting glass with a torch has been called lampwork. Although modern lampwork artists sometimes prefer to describe what they do as "flamework glass" author Karen Leonardo calls it "lampwork" - it's all the same techniques and set up.

The book opens with setting up your studio. Kudos to Ms. Leonardo for writing the best set up chapter of any book I've seen on lampworking. Critical for any new flameworker is the set up of the torch. Leonardo includes pictures of how to safely connect the torch and propane tank. Once you've set up your torch you're ready to make your first bead in Chapter 2. Again, Leonardo has written a good chapter with fine basic steps. Various techniques from beginner to intermediate are included in Chapter 3. A sheep bead, a boro bead and the ever popular double helix reactive glass in fire and ice flow tab bead. The book transitions to making jewelry with the glass beads you've created in Chapters 2 and 3. First though, Chapter 4 introduces jewelry basics. Chapter 5 includes jewelry projects using the glass beads you've made in previous chapters. I like the Santorini Fossils Necklace using wire. The Deep Woods Wirewok Pin was nice too. I wonder if the silk cord in the Pond and Sea Necklace really holds the weight of the silver beads.

All in all, Karen Leonardo has written a lovely book marrying how to make glass beads with how to use glass beads in jewelry.

This book is excellent. I am a beginner at lampworking and this book has showed me different ways of making beads and the instructions are excellent. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to do lampworking.

As a lampworker, it always amazes me how different everyone's work is. This book amply illustrates that fact, and also that there is always more to learn! I particulary like to hear the different 'voices' of the artists explaining their work - easy to follow directions, too. The setting up the studio section was helpful, too - I wish my studio looked that good.

Moving from doing lampwork to incorporating beads into jewelry can be a difficult proposition, and I think that Leonardo's book does a very good job of illustrating a lot of different approaches and techniques. Again, by involving lots of different artists she covered a real range of projects. My favorite piece was the 'Casual Day Cuff'. Fabulous and unusual piece, that is unlike anything I have ever tried.

I think that this book is stylishly done, well written, and a good value for the price!