I was so thrilled to hold this giveaway for several reasons. Excellently presented technique books in the area of jewelry design appear to me to be so rare, and this particular book is absolutely WONDERFUL, and totally inspiring.
I hope that Alice enjoys her new book and I want to thank all of you for your comments. You are always so super enthusiastic, which is what people who love making jewelry and creating things should be! It is great to be a part of this terrific beading community, isn't it?
Please come back soon and visit. I hope to be holding another giveaway shortly!
Congratulations to Alice, whom I shall be contacting for her address!
--jean
PS:http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/ don't forget the fabulous Bead Soup Blog Party hostessed by Lori Anderson which is going on for the next month. There is also information on the next sign up there as well!
Repost from a different time in my life, when I was still the same
I don't change much. I still love wire wrapping onto chain, I still love charms from Earthenwood Studio and skulls and stuff from Green Girl Studios and I still love giant big honking Swarovki Elements crystals. And teeny ones too.
So this is my post for today!
"Halloween Charm" by Jean
I have always had a special place in my heart for this holiday bracelet, so I thought I would re-post it! Therefore, this post is all about the fabulous Green Girl Studios pewter skull, wired with a 10 mm Crystallized Element round and a bitty ruby Element bicone on the top...and Melanie of Earthenwood Studio's wild flaming-red, black trimmed bat wings (they seem to say, "Don't mess with us!!!" to me--any thoughts)? And past those, her more calm but very lovely moon and star charms in black with white. Simple sterling Rollo chain with Snapeez jump rings hold the charms. What is a good touch? Wiring the Green Girl Studios sterling toggle instead of attaching it with jump rings. It adds the sort of hand made look which is what Halloween is ALL ABOUT.
See you later. Going for a bubble/broom ride! Wheee! Look up Billie Burke. I prefer her--she is the Good Witch. :)
jean
hey! check below:
http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/ don't forget the fabulous Bead Soup Blog Party hostessed by Lori Anderson which is going on for the next month! Here is the link! And information on the next one as well!
A great week of offerings , a review and giveaway, and a Blythe doll photo by jean, set to music
Myth, forever waiting for Edward to like her better than he likes Isabella
This beautiful song is from my son Jim's new album, Winter Quarters, Stories and Lies, available on I tunes. He normally works with his full band, The Ruse (www.rusemusic.com) but he put out this album solely with their lead singer, John Dauer.
Beadbloggers!
Beading Arts
What do you do with copper tube beads? Make a fabulous necklace, of course!
Cindy Gimbrone Beads This week's Tuesday Tangle is about experimentation and trying new designs.
Snap out of it, Jean! There's beading to be done! Jean reviews Jamie Cloud Eakin's fabulous new bead embroidery technique book, coming out in early October! There is a giveaway offered as well! Check it all out on her blog entry! She posts a Blythe doll photo, of course.
The Bead Dreamer Love miniatures? Charlene takes miniature book components, paper, ribbon and a few beads and makes a mini book necklace. You can too!
A Bead A Day Have you ever made a zipper pull to match a pair of earrings? Check out this first attempt!
A review and giveaway of Jamie Cloud Eakin's new beading book: Dimensional Bead Embroidery, A Reference Guide to Techniques, review by jean yates
below: the author, Jamie Cloud Eakin, very well known and much admired
Dimensional Bead Embroidery A Reference Guide to Techniques
by Jamie Cloud Eakin
Jamie Cloud Eakin's new book, Dimensional Bead Embroidery, A Reference Guide to Techniques, will be available for purchase on Oct. 4th.
I spent a glorious day with this new book, by the author of the incredibly well-received earlier books, Beading with Cabochons, and Bugle Bead Bonanza.
What makes this book special? Frankly, it is the very fact that it IS an instruction/technique book, rather than a book offering projects (although the nine projects which ARE offered, at the end of the book, are stunning).
Therefore it focuses primarily on technique, with the fabulous projects for the reader to soar with, after learning or brushing up on, via the previous chapters, all there is to know. A quote I found appropriate to describe this super book is that it is "a remarkable, 160-page encyclopedic guide to bead embroidery techniques with plenty of material for beginners and experienced beaders alike" .
This is the great concept which makes Dimensional Bead Embroidery so successful in purveying understanding, clearly and in a most excellent manner, to the reader, at every turn.
This wonderful technique book also has going for it an astounding collection of beautiful photos (hundreds of them!) to assist with the reader's learning and desire to keep ON learning. There is nothing like jawdroppingly beautiful photos, clearly taken and stunning, to keep a person learning and loving a jewelry technique book. The drawings which assist the reader to learn each specific technique are excellent as well.
Ms. Eakin's book is divided into 9 chapters, and then there is a gallery with what I would consider museum quality contributions from other amazing beaders.
Chapter 1 contains a list of materials and tools which you will require.
Chapter 2 is "Basic Techniques". For example, if you are a beginner, and you are wondering what you may have gotten yourself into, Chapter 2 has REALLY easy to grasp basics like adding a stop bead. Reading a technique book as well done as Dimensional Bead Embroidery is better in some ways than going to a class, because there are so many people who need to absorb information, starting from step one, repeatedly. I want to stress this chapter's value because if you are a rank beginner at seed beading, you are not alone when Jamie Cloud Eakin is guiding you. It is as if she is right over your shoulder, anticipating your questions and answering them. She has anticipated them all!
Chapter 3 is a chapter I would also like to bring to the fore as super special.
Entitled "Getting Started and Designing", as the author states, "This chapter will take you through the steps needed for bead embroidery, with chapters 5 through 8 focusing on the specific stitches and techniques you use in steps 3, 7, and 8, described directly below".
I was amazed that this book jumped right in to encouraging the reader to learn to design to his or her personal taste at this early stage! What's more, it is so clearly explained, even I can do this. As a designer who primarily works with wire, although I pine to learn to seed bead and do bead embroidery, I now have a resource book to turn to which will enable me to truly understand what I thought was forever going to be beyond my grasp. You will be able to do this too. I find this book to be incredibly inspiring for everyone who has ever looked at seed beading and bead embroidery and said, "Oh, I can't do that, although I would love to"! You CAN and you WILL, and the design you ultimately end up with will be your own creation!
As Jamie says, earlier, in her introduction, "I think my favorite thing about bead embroidery is not only the capacity for variety but also the simplicity. Even if you can barely sew on a button, you can do this".
That is the feeling the reader will carry throughout the book and it is a very fun and empowering feeling!
Chapter 4 covers using components. This of course is a must for a new seed beading embroidery enthusiast to understand clearly.
Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 each explain a variety of stitches which one needs to know to make the projects which follow in Chapter 9.
Chapter 9 is the reader's magnificent reward for learning how to bead embroider using Dimensional Bead Embroidery, A Reference Guide to Techniques, by this wonderful teacher and author.
"Ceremonial Dance Necklace", the necklace which is on the cover, is right there for you to make. It is just as stunning as can be.
Another favorite project of mine is called "Woodland Secrets Purse". I will give you an example of how the book works by using this project. First is listed "What You Need", then come the "Stiches Used" and the pages upon which they are located. After that is "What You Do", with a template for the purse. There are a number of tips and figures to guide you as you make your own version of this lovely piece. At the end of the project is a photo of an absolutely smashing color variation of the same purse.
I cannot praise this book enough. It accomplishes what it sets out to do with every step clear and well explained. It s a beautiful book, as I have said, and one anyone can learn from.
To sum up, Jamie Cloud Eakin did a magnificent job with Dimensional Bead Embroidery, A Reference Guide to Techniques ! This wonderful book will serve as a reference guide and additionally will also inspire any beader who is aching to learn to bead embroider with seed beads.
Note: I am holding a giveaway of this wonderful jewelry seed beading technique guide (which comes, as I discuss in my review above, with projects and a gallery as well). Please leave a comment on this entry, and also "like me" if you haven't got me on your list yet. Thank you so much! I will announce the winner of the giveaway on Friday, Sept. 30th.
Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
Aurora Borealishous, a Blythe Yukinonamidahime, "the Princess of the Tears of Snow". wanted to go out and kick some fall leaves around yesterday but despite the fact that she dressed herself so prettily, I told her we had to stay in . Here she is, sulking. She got over it quickly, however.
The Bead Dreamer Charlene reviews a book that blends beading and jazz - Bead Riffs.
A Bead A Day If you were wondering about the best method for adhering flatback swarovski crystals to a rubbery textured object, Lisa's discovered the answer! Superglue! Check out her newly crystallized slap-watch.
About.com Jewelry Making Tammy discusses and provides a tutorial about the dirty side of metal jewelry.
Soup's on--Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party is ready to go -- Hooray
http://lorianderson-beadsoupblogparty.blogspot.com/ <--this is the Official Link to the blog hop, where you can see all the participants' names and their partners, and later (maybe this Sunday) get the button for the next hop, which will have sign-ups beginning sometime in February 2012!
First of all, I would REALLY like to thank Lori Anderson for having this wonderful, convivial idea. Check out the map (click it to make it larger!) for this September's Bead Soup Blog Party, which connects so many people all over the world.
The intention of this Blog Party is to give us enjoyment and fun, and to extend our boundaries of creativity! It certainly has done that for me. I have participated twice now, and I could jump right in and begin participating tomorrow once again. I love how well Lori runs these lovely Bead Soup Blog Party hops.
When the last one was all over, I couldn't believe how long it would be until the next one! I was ready to join once more instantly! Now that the time has arrived once again (hooray!) I am purely delighted to participate.
I feel SO very fortunate, as well, that Lori understood when I explained to her that our family here do not have that much money at the moment. Additionally for personal reasons as well, I do not have a "bead stash" any more! Lori jumped right in to help and that is why I am her partner...one of her partners. Lori is just totally lovely and generous. I wouldn't have been able to be in this hop without her gift of beads to me. And they are so fabulous that when I first opened the box from her, my breath was taken away! Here is my focal, clasp and beads from Lori! I wanted to work with these beads from the moment I first set eyes on them!
So while I am not really Lori's partner, I do not have a partner. I feel so fortunate to have such a kind hostess!
I really love Lori! She is one of the best people I have met in the bead world.
I am so excited about her wonderful Bead Soup Blog Party that I am writing about it in my column,
"Our Beading World" by Jean Yates in Australian Beading Magazine, for the big December issue. The fact that the blog hop for the Bead Soup Blog Party is international truly makes it extra special to my mind. I know that the Australians who read my column, who have not yet heard of Bead Soup, will LOVE it and clamor to join in!
I wanted to really do right by her beads, and one thing which struck me was how much I love the fused glass focal. It contains all the colors which are included in the accent beads--the pink Lucite flowers, the burgundy to purple freshwater pearls, the Hill Tribe silver beads with flower imprints on them, the Czech glass lily shaped aqua beads, and the Swarovski Elements sky blue crystal bicones. Each bead means something to the fused glass focal. Additionally, the clasp is the perfect foil for the airy delicacy of the design, and goes well with the Hill Tribe beads, being a classic lovely sterling S hook, with lacy-like beaded granulation upon it. Everything ties in so well!
I had a desire to use a few more beads because I wanted the wearer of the necklace to be able to look down and see the focal. It is just too charming to miss out on, if you are wearing this necklace yourself.
My tool box is still with me. In my tool box I have a few odds and ends which were not thrown out or lost last winter. The great thing was that I found some Swarovski Elements rounds in emerald and in peridot from an old project I had designed, which I had left over, and some sterling bead caps which looked like flowers. I decided to emphasize Lori's beads front and center, and work up the side with my own beads to lengthen the necklace so that the wearer could see the focal when looking down.
So that is the story of my necklace. I would like to thank Lori a thousand times over for being the wonderful person she is, and for allowing me to make this necklace, without a partner this time. I just cannot tell you how dear she is to me for this! I had fun, I got to create (my favorite part was putting the Lucite flowers back to back--that looks way cool to me) (I also like the way the wire Czech glass flowers look kind of Egyptian). I cannot wait to see every one's jewelry pieces!
Below is my finished piece: it is named
"Soupe du Fleurs du Jour" (Soup of Flowers of the Day)
I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it!
The next Bead Soup Blog Party will take place around February, 2012.
Above is the link to all of the participants and info about The Bead Soup Party. Have a great time Blog Hopping --this is what pure enjoyment is ALL ABOUT!
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