Customer Reviews

Fun with Beads: Ancient Egypt

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

 

 

This is a good piece to start with if your interested learning about Ancient Egyptian bead and necklace making. The pieces are mock ups of the real thing and suffer from size distorsions, but other than that a nobel attempt to duplicate in its own way the items of Ancient Egypt. A small booklet that comes with it is packed full of information and the how-tos.

I don't know what they're talking about either! This is a great kit, (and not just for kids). It's just plain fun as well educational. Hats off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This book is great. I made all of the projects and had plenty of beads to spare, so I don't know what these other folks are talking about. The projects are definitely challenging, however, and you may need to invest in a good set of jewelry-making pliers. Not a book for someone who isn't fairly conceptual and good with his/her hands.

This beading book was wonderful! I don't know what those peole were talking about when they said that there wern't enough beads to finish the project because I finished it with beads left over. This is a wonderful book that teaches you to make authentic egyptian jewelry that looks really nice. I got it for christmas and loved it. It's the best!!!

I have to agree with one of the other reviewers, there were definitely not enough beads in the kit. I also only attempted the big 'lotus bud' necklace and I ran out of beads early enough that I started substituting red for blue and green. I really think that if a company is going to sell a bead book/kit combo, they need to put EXTRA beads, and enough to make ALL the projects.

The book (more like a booklet) that goes with it is decent enough, but it was a bit suprising to end up with a black and white book for making a colored bead project. It would have been easier to follow if it had been in color.

The concept and the booklet are good, but the bead issue makes it lose major stars in my opinion.

While the instructions and stuff are good, and the box construction and all that is also well-done, I was enormously peeved to discover that there aren't enough beads to complete the necklace prominently displayed on the cover. And I don't mean just not enough for that and other things; I tried to make JUST that big blue and gold necklace, and ran out of beads. I emailled the publisher to complain, and got the response back that I could buy additional bead sets for something like US$11, plus S+H. Yeah, right! What a scam! I told them they oughta be ashamed of themselves, especially since this is supposed to be a kids' book. I can just imagine how heartbroken a kid would be, working so hard to make the most prominently displayed example on the cover, just to find out that it's impossible to finish.

That means this would be a lousy gift for your child, and if you are a kid looking at it, be prepared to ask mom or dad for extra money. The beads are unique enough that I have not been able to find a similar replacement elsewhere, including craft stores and bead specialty stores, both online and in person. And I live in the Southwest, where those kinds of beads are somewhat indigenous.

And this is in spite of the fact that it says "...everything else you need to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and more..." on the cover. They worded that carefully, because it doesn't say to make the "pictured" necklaces.

So don't buy this book unless you're more interested in the historical aspect, or making some of the smaller projects.