Customer Reviews

Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're seeking an introduction to making jewelry using your favorite beads and simple wire fastenings, you've found it! The jewelry projects offered here are professional and stylish, yet easy to make with just a few tools and techniques provided by the author.
One of my favorites is Tammy's Cubism Earrings, which are made with clever triple-loop ear hooks, crystals, silver spacers, and metal links cut from a commercial chain. Brilliant! She also offers clasps, a figure-8 chain, jump rings, and more in this beautifully photographed text.
The author's instructions are complemented by line-art diagrams in the Jewelry Techniques section, making it easy to follow along. Also included: a helpful chapter on buying beads and wire, using a jig, and a description of the tools.
Some have complained that this book is too basic, and perhaps if you are an advanced wire and/or bead artist this may not be the book for you. But the designs are lovely nonetheless, and because the author's workmanship is excellent and her instructions are so easy to follow, I'm recommending it for beginners as well as intermediate jewelry artists.

This book provides exactly what the title promises -- clear instructions and tips on making jewelry findings by hand, accented by lovely beaded designs. There is a nicely presented introductory portion at the beginning detailing "the basics" -- wire types, tools, and "what makes a bead." (The answer -- for the truly addicted, anything with a hole in it!) It provides clear information for beginners, and a good refresher for the more experienced artist.

The book progresses in a stepwise fashion when it begins to show jewelry artisans a varitey of techniques for making findings -- everything from hook and eye clasps embellished with beads to earwires and head and eye pins. The author shows you how to make these findings by hand with a variety of pliers, so you literally "have a hand" in every component of your jewelry. The gallery of designs provides you with wonderful inspiration (in fact, I found the necklace on the front of book so compelling that I had to buy it) and clear photos accompany the instructions.

The only thing I was a bit disappointed in was a lack of designs to be used on a jig. Though the author does a great job explaining why a jig might appeal to some artisans, the fact that designs to practice with were lacking seemed to make this section an afterthought.

Nevertheless, I still refer to this book frequently, and take great pride in my good looking handmade findings. It takes practice, of course, but this book is an excellent teacher in my opinion.

This is a good book for beginning wire workers. I'm giving this a 4 instead of a 5 because many of the projects are strung jewelry using handmade wire findings that are taught in the book instead of exclusively bead and wire/wire-only jewelry. The instruction is clear with step by step line drawings for the wire-techniques that include the basics, the loop and the bead wrap. Then there are instructions for earwires, clasps and connectors. What makes this book useful is that Ms Powley shows how to make 3 and 4 loop connectors by hand instead of on a jig, which is the only way I've seen this wire classic taught.
Another plus is the gallery of jewelry by other well-known wire-artists. Every piece by these experts uses techniques found in the book. Every project also shows a variation, like in her previous book , Making Designer Gemstone and Pearl Jewelry.
Tammy Powley is the hostess for jewelrymaking and has a very simple, straighfoward approach: You won't find lots of coils, spirals, multiple-guage wires for one piece or liver-of-sulfer here.

A great resource for those who are jewelry making beginners. The instructions are clear and concise. All the projects are thoughtfully planned out and will guide you from concept to creation. It is also a great source of inspiration for the more advanced wire and bead worker. The artist's gallery is a lush presentation of eye candy. I'm giving this book two thumbs up and five stars!

This book by Powley and her other one "Making Designer Gemstone and Pearl Jewelry" are the two best books currently on the market on these particular subjects in jewelry-making. Her instructions are clear and the designs (up-close, clear photographs) shown are inspirational. The "look" of the books is not cluttered with too many instructions or diagrams. The un-cluttered content helped me to feel relaxed and to not get overwhelmed by too many instructions. I highly recommend both of her books.

I was disappointed with this book because it had the same info with less design ideas, as 'Bead on a Wire' by Sharilyn Miller. To be fair, if I had bought this book first, instead of vice-a-versa, I might not have felt as let down as I was; but, I don't think so...
All the wire designs seem to be based on one theme--the two, three or four 'Loop Eye' headpin, and how to string beads.
The book should have BEGINNER'S somewhere on the front cover. If you have already have a book listing the basic tools & techniques, you don't need this one.

This is a very well written and designed book. It would be especially helpfull to someone just starting out. I have been making jewelry and already know a lot of things in this book but my sister n law has just started and so I plan on giving this book to her.
Tammy did an excellent job!!! Kudo's to her.

I enjoy reading beadwork books and have over 100 books. Most of them are Japanese, Korean and Chinese bead books, which mainly focus on stringing and are quite different from the beadwork in US. Then I was thinking to read more about wirework books and decided to get some from Amazon...

After reading the previous reviews, I thought this one might be good... But I must say that it is very disappointing... The instruction is OK and somewhat too simple and you can find similar info via internet...

The projects and the gallery are not exciting at all. (If you look closer at the pictures, the quality of some projects are really lousy.)... Many commercial online bead suppliers have much better design gallery... Another complaint is the instruction drawing. It seems there isn't a consistency to show the dominant hand and non-dominant hand ( which is important to use the tool , I think...)

If you are a very beginner, probably the best wirework book you should consider is "All wired up" by Mark Lareau. If you like step-by-step photography, I think "Getting Started Making Wire Jewelry and More " by Linda Chandler and Christine R. Ritchey is a good pick.

I would not purchase this book if I wasn't too lazy to check it out at a local Michael's.

This book has a lot of great patterns, some easy enough for a beginner, some a bit more advanced. As with any 'pattern' book, not all projects will appeal to everyone, but I found about 80% of them were interesting or appealing enough for me to try. The directions are GREAT! I plan to buy another one of these for my son, who also makes jewelry. I could loan him my copy, but I use it too much!

Very good for anyone wanting to work with wire but might have been a little afraid. I am a beginner and it is awesome in its details and drawings for making findings and jewelry. I like all the practical jewelry pieces shown as well and have already made some of them.