Making Bead & Wire Jewelry: Simple Techniques, Stunning Designs [Hardcover]

Dawn Cusick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2000

This volume offers 75 pieces of jewellery, made of beads and wire, requiring only a few simple tools and easy-to-learn techniques. The projects include: earrings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, a contemporary eyeglass chain, hair clip, filigree choker, finger rings, pins and an eyeglass cord. There are complete instructions on bead and wire crafting basics; materials, tips and techniques, tools and work spaces.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dawn Cusick lives and works in Asheville, North Carolina as an editor.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (June 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579901484
• ISBN-13: 978-1579901486
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,672 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent ideas, not as good for beginners, July 9, 2000

By 

jaedworks - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Bead & Wire Jewelry: Simple Techniques, Stunning Designs (Hardcover)

Gorgeous projects, but as another reviewer noted, some of them are not long on detailed instructions. The instructions are there...but you sometimes need to fill in the gaps yourself, and there are few diagrams to follow. An intermediate wireworker will be able to get through these gaps with only minimal frustration, but a beginner will be stopped on some of them.

However, I'd recommend this to anyone beyond the very beginning level, as a source of inspiration and ideas. You'll find techniques and designs in here unlike those in any other wirework book I have.

A couple of additional notes: Don't start this book from the beginning if you are inexperienced, because unlike most instructional books, it doesn't take you from the simplest to the most complex projects. (The second project is difficult.) Look through the book and find a simple project to start with. And don't be discouraged if you don't have the specific brand of jig, "Wigjig", mentioned in some of the projects - the patterns can be made on any standard brand of adjustable jig, or you can make your own jig by driving small nails into a board in the pattern shown.

114 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars beautiful photos but not much help, May 21, 2000

By 

Suzanne (suburban Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Bead & Wire Jewelry: Simple Techniques, Stunning Designs (Hardcover)

I am a beginning beader and I was struck by the beautiful necklace design on the front of this book. But when I got it home I found the instructions were not precise step by step, rather, they show only the materials list and the finished project. And the projects rely on the use of an additional piece of equipment, the WigJig, which I don't own. I returned this book as I didn't feel it would add anything to my bead reference library. For non-bead focused wire jewelry projects with excellent step by step instructions, see Great Wire Jewelry by Peterson or Making Wire Jewelry by Clegg and Larom.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I'd hoped for, August 5, 2002

By 

"daylily61" (Dresden, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making Bead & Wire Jewelry: Simple Techniques, Stunning Designs (Hardcover)

Not having done wire work before, I was eager to learn basic wire jewelry techniques. While this book is beautifully illustrated with project ideas, it lacks the specifics a beginner needs to know.

Also, most of the projects included require a wire jig, but nowhere in the book is there instruction on how to wrap the wire on a jig. There are jig patterns in the back of the book, but no instruction on how to carry them out. Frankly, I was disappointed. I'd probably like this book a lot if I'd had prior wire working experience, but it was little help to a beginner.