Customer Reviews

Cube Bead Stitching: Contemporary Jewelry Designs You Can Make

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

 

 

What a pleasant surprise to receive this book! I had to go immediately and buy the 1.5mm small cube beads from Toho which are used here. All the main stitches are explained, but the author says she prefers the St. Petersburg stitch with this bead and she has lots of variations some of her own. There are necklaces, bracelets, rings, pendants, and earrings. The explanations are very good and the author writes well and in a very friendly way which I like. She says the book is geared to beginners to intermediate beaders and that sounds about right but it's also good for anyone wanting to use these particular beads as a jumping off point for exploration. The book seems well produced with good photos and also an index. Recommended.

Lots of ideas to make or build from using cubes to make jewelry. The directions are clear and the projects varied. Good photos and basic information about sizes and shapes that cubes come in.

Beautiful and interesting projects, the only thing is that the cubes 1.5 and 1.8 (almost all the projects are made with that cube size) are hard to find...

Author Virginia Jensen did a splendid job writing this book. She includes right-angle weave, ladder, herringbone, peyote, brick stitch, as well as St. Petersburg with her own personal spin. I found the patterns delightful and elegant with clear instructions. Her patterns are very good and include bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings. There are several I would like to make for gifts. I've ordered the cube beads to make the checkered collar which I can hardly wait to stitch. Virginia also includes the different sizes of seed beads or cube beads and how many # grams will fit in a teaspoon. Plus how many beads are in "one gram" broken down by the different sizes. This information is definitely a good tidbit that I'll most likely use when weaving in the future. Recommend this book for your library.

I bought this book because a) I love cube beads; b) I love the St. Petersburg stitch; and, c) the cover necklace is wonderful. While I still enjoyed the book, I was dismayed to find that most of the projects use a two-needle weaving method, and that's just not my cup of tea. As I've not been beading long, it will take me a while to figure these projects out using one needle. I do wish the illustrations, coupled with the written directions, had been a little clearer, too. At any rate, the projects are very nice, and I will be using the book soon.

This book has very easy instructions and lots of pictures to help any level of beader. I was very happy with this book.

I just finished the cover necklace as a gift for a friend. It turned out fabulous. The instructions are very well written and easy to follow. I used both cube and hex beads with a wonderful result.

this is a very well written book of patterns. I have made almost every one of the items in the book and have loved them all.

Any book like this has my definite approval!!! Most times you buy a magazine or new beading book, it's mostly about stringing beads. Any book which is about "bead weaving" or sewing together of beads is to me a great gift for instuction and new ideas. Sliding beads on wire or string does not seem to meet my challenge of creativity. Thumbs up!!!

I have really enjoyed making several projects from this book. The focus on cube beads is fresh and fun, and the author has a great eye for design. She really explores St. Petersburg chain, too. There are both single and double variations. This is a great example of how a single beadweaving stitch can develop in many ways.

There are some errors in the instructions that make this harder to follow than it had to be. In a number of projects, the number of beads needed is off. I found one project particularly frustrating. It's important when doing St. Petersburg chain to keep track of the difference between "go through again" and "go back through" so I was put off stride when the China Princess ring starts with recommending a "go back through" to make a loop instead of a "go through again." It also instructs you to go through 3 beads at a point when you need to go through five, and in a couple other places, the directions were unclear. Also, there are references to picking up an 11/0 -- none of which were listed in the materials -- and I had to guess whether that was a misprint or an omission from the materials list.

Fortunately, the photos are very good. By looking at them, and comparing the stitches with what I'd learned from other projects, I was able to complete the ring, and it looks very good. Still, one more careful round of testing and editing could have made this a five star book. So I would give this 5 stars for design and beauty, and only 3 stars for quality of instructions.