Jean reviews Beadwork Creates Beaded Bags, 30 Designs edited by Jean Campbell

This charming book is shaped like a minaudière, or clutch pocketbook. This adds to the flirty fun of the idea of a collection of sumptuous beaded bags. And with Jean Campbell as the editor of these thirty designs for beaded bags, they couldn't be prettier!
As she says, "Page through the beautiful projects and select your perfect bag. You're about to make a stunning fashion statement!"
The thirty projects are all quite different and are offered by a number of wonderful beaders. Jean Campbell herself has designed three bags, and some of your other favorite beaders are represented as well, such as Jamie Hogsett, Dustin Wedekind, and Robin Atkins. There are plenty more too! If you love the unique and like wearable art, this book is going to be a great addition to your library.
Beadwork Creates Beaded Bags, 30 Designs is a blast to own and to learn from.
The opening bag is from the editor, and is titled "Fancy Dress Bag". It is an amulet bag, in the glorious colors of olivine, topaz and spring green with golden freshwater pearls. What a delicious bag to make and to own! It has an air of celebration which the reader will respond to instantly.
Moving to a different style entirely, "Emese's Bag", designed by Robin Atkins, is full-on gorgeous. Very feminine, primarily in pinks and green tones, this bag is made of cloth completely embroidered with beads of all sizes and shapes, including seed beads. bugles beads, drop beads and coin beads. It is encrusted with brilliant color and yet not a heavy looking bag. This is a little treasure of a bag and one anyone would be proud to carry and to have created herself! The inside is lined with a pretty cotton print fabric which goes with the flower garden feel.
Jamie Hogsett's "Off to Market" bag is knit using beautiful cotton and ribbon yarns and "candy-like resin beads". This carrying bag is amazingly pretty in gray-blue and green tones. The reader will be knitting as well as embellishing this stunning piece with gorgeous beads in green, gray-blue, light olive, dark olive, aqua and lavender. It is a slouchy shaped bag with incredible energy and appeal.
The sienna colored "Lotus Bag" by Dustin Wedekind is smashing, using purple/bronze silk fabric and seed beads in metallics, blues and clear colors. This bag is pure prettiness. The lotus pattern beaded on the front of the pouch shaped bag is offered in the book as a transfer so that the reader can recreate the pattern to perfection. This bag has sweet tassels on the closures and trimming the bottom.

No matter what your taste is, you will find a sweet bag to match it in Beadwork Creates Beaded Bags 30 Designs, edited by Jean Campbell. This is a fabulous book not to be overlooked if you love beaded accessories designed by some of the best in the beading arts!  

Beadwork Creates Beaded Bags

By Jean Campbell

Interweave/F+W; $16.95

http://bit.ly/1EeCR3Y

jean reviews Bead Play with Tassels, Techniques, Designs, and Projects, by Jamie Cloud Eakin

Jamie Cloud Eakin is a much loved instructor and internationally famous designer in the beading world. She has produced a number of fascinating books, primarily featuring seed beads. Once the reader sees the amazing things which can be done using seed beads it is great to learn how to create with them from such a wonderful, knowledgeable teacher. She is energetic, enthusiastic and makes beauty wherever she goes.

In Bead Play with Tassels, Techniques, Designs and Projects, the focus is on how to make some of the loveliest tassels the reader has ever seen. Tassels are a very popular fashion trend. They have also embellished every kind of accessories imaginable and been used as adornments for years. In this book, the reader will see how to employ them in all sort of fantastic and playful ways. From earrings to necklace focals to just the right finishing touch for a lariat, this book has all sorts of intriguing and pretty projects. Progressing from the simplest to grander projects which include gemstones or bead embroidery, the reader will enjoy learning and soon be totally entranced by the charming, cool, and flirty pieces she will be able to make.

In the introduction the author defines what a tassel is (a "collection of fringe strands concentrated in one spot"). She then explains why this can cause problems when making tassels (the strands become too big for the bead hole which is collecting them). The solution will be found in one of the methodologies in this book. As the author says, "Creating bead tassels does NOT have to be a hassle!" The seventeen projects will help you "practice the techniques, refine your skills, and jump start your own creativity!"  

There are six chapters in this fascinating book. Chapter 1 discusses the minimum tassel. As defined by the author, a "minimum tassel is one with less than seven fringe strands".  There are lots of uses for these types of tassels, and they can create lots of impact even with an amount of strands smaller than seven. Directions and photos explain the minimum tassel. There is a really striking earring project offered for the reader to try. It couldn't be more glamorous, and takes minimum to the max. There is also a gorgeous necklace which employs minimum tassels as accents to grand effect. The reader will discover how adept this author is at creating designs and adding impact with color, by now, if she didn't know before! The third project is a pin with three minimum tassels and it is equally lovely. 

Chapter 2 is titled "Standard Tassel". This type of tassel has seven to seventeen strands, according to the author, and is what most of us picture when we hear the word tassel. The reader will learn how to construct the base and create variations of it, depending upon how many strands she wants for her design. The tech illustrations here (and throughout the book) are very clear, as are the photos of the variations. You are going to want to try to make tons of tassels at this point! They all beckon to the reader for any number of reasons. Each one looks so different it is hard to believe that they are all made from the same "standard tassel" springboard. The author also has some great tips, too. There are basic tips, and "what if...?" tips, and tips which are actually important notes on aspects the reader needs to know. These are very helpful. 

The first project ups the beauty of an already lovely lamp work bead by accenting its colors in a swirl pattern which is really pretty. From a fabulous lariat, to multicolored earrings, to a triple standard tassel necklace, to a flowery tassel necklace in the colors of orchid, dark blue and olivine, the reader really begins to understand how fresh and appealing adding movement with tassels can be to a myriad of designs.  There are variations of some of the projects offered, and they are just as pretty. The 6th project in the standard tassel collection is a very full tassel and as such is fascinating. To read how to create this is to understand how this teacher's mind works and why she is so terrific. I loved this gorgeous project. The variation of it is just as glorious; designed all in creamy white pearl. At the end of the chapter the reader is offered a number of tassels which are suggested as Christmas ornaments but would also be great fan pulls, embellishments for keys to an armoire, and more. These are enchanting!

Chapter 3 concerns the Pom Pom Tassel which is defined as a very full, almost "extreme" tassel by the author. Created with a simple ladder stitch, the Pom Pom tassel is stitched onto a base. You create the base and add the fringe. There are variations such as Twisted Fringe and more. The explanation of how to design a Pom Pom Tassel contains lots of lovely photos, all with instructions. Each one is prettier than the next! The final one, "Standard plus Pom Pom Necklace" is a medley of raspberries, pinks, lilac lined seed beads and fuchsias and it is gaspingly beautiful. Tassels in the hands of this author have everything needed to leave you breathless.

The Spiral Tassel taught in Chapter 4 is just as pretty. Flouncy and full (or less so, if you choose), it spirals up to the beaded base in a completely mesmerizing way. The projects offered in this chapter are very cool and interesting because the viewer's eye is led to some many different places. Tassels have a lot of wonderful movement anyway. The projects offered here are fascinating to see and to try.  The third project, in a color combination which refers to blue and white as well as dark blue and a bit of brown, is just stunning. What pleasure the reader will get making this necklace!

Where the previous chapters offered directions on how to make tassels, and bases of tassels, Chapter 5 is specifically concerned with "Attaching Tassels".

Information on Top Loop Attachments, Double Strand Loop Attachments, Herringbone Loop Attachments, Ladder Stitch Top Loop Attachments and more are found in this essential chapter. There is a lovely photo for the Turn Bead Attachment, which can also be used on all the ornaments mentioned earlier in this review. It is super pretty! As well, there is a great explanation and instructions for how to attach fringe to other beadwork, such as the beautiful bead embroidered necklace, a photo of which the reader will find impossible to take her eyes off. It is used to help explain this section. What grand and pretty inspiration!

Chapter 6 has you covered with "Supplies and Basics". Not only is it a good, comprehensive list, the tip concerning converting hanks of Czech beads to grams is very helpful! Basic procedures are offered after the supply section as well as some excellent instructions for basic technique. 

As an additional book to refer to when you try Bead Play with Tassels, consider Bead Play with Fringe, by the same author. It will expand your understanding of how to work with fringe and tassels together. 

Bead Play with Tassels, Techniques, Designs and Projects, is, by far, the definitive book on how to create beauty with tassels. Jamie Cloud Eakin truly loves to teach and understands what we all want to learn: how to design more beautifully and more exceptionally. Don't miss this outstanding book for your beading library! 

jean baldridge yates reviews Handcraft Wire Jewelry: Chains Clasps Pendants, by Kimberly Sciaraffa Berlin

A Glorious Journey into Fascinating and Beautiful Designs!

Handcraft Wire Jewelry is a bangup book for any jewelry designer! If you were not previously a total lover of the technique of wire wrapping in your jewelry making, after reading this excellent book by Kimberly Sciaraffa Berlin, you most definitely will be! The beauty and the quality of the author's designs are matched by her marvelous ability to show the reader how to create these designs. Via wonderful photos and clear explanations, you can tackle these designs, step by step, even if you are a beginner. And you will love this journey into fascinating and beautiful designs!
Kimberly Sciaraffa Berlin is a great teacher. More than that, she makes incredibly gorgeous jewelry. Some of the inspirations and influences for her, which she mentions in this book, Handcraft Wire Jewelry, come from ancient art, nature, and Alexander Calder. According to what I read in the book, she feels that Calder's jewelry creations "have inspired her to think and design without limit".
The reader will immediately grasp how the freedom of the author's philosophy imbues wonderful movement and life into her jewelry designs. They are exceptional.
There is a sense of joy which infuses every page of this book.
The thirty two designs offered afford the reader easy to understand starting points complete with beautiful finishing touches. These designs can also be broken down into components. These then can be interchanged to suit the reader's own taste. If you like one aspect of one of the designs, and you like another clasp taught elsewhere in the book, for example, it is easy to alter the projects to make each of them your very own. As the author states in her introduction, "These projects are a jumping off place for your creativity and offer you the opportunity to personalize all of your pieces". She also suggests that the reader "use the gallery of more ideas following each project for inspiration to adapt and modify any of the projects". When you make jewelry,a concept like this is very freeing. It will give you countless ways of changing your style, once you learn the basics taught here.

Handcraft Wire Jewelry opens with the author's introduction and proceeds to cover the materials, beads and tools you will need for wire work. Then there is a section called "basics" which is an excellent primer for the neophyte wire worker. I thought this was very complete and well done. I love her tips! Also, as was previously stated, the photographs in this book are excellent. They are not only stunning, they help immensely when the intent is to teach. You can really see what you need to do because of the step out photos.

The projects themselves are really exceptional. If you like wire, and love the look of antiquity, you will find some projects that will particularly resonate with you. The "beaded double spiral chain" is one I noted that would have looked as grand on an ancient princess as it will look on you. It is flat out gorgeous, combining spiraled wire with jump rings and 8mm donut shaped disk beads in royal purple. I loved the additional ideas for this chain, which include a pendant you will flip for, and a complete change in look when the wire is switched from silver to copper, and moody chalcedony replaces the beads. There is also a bracelet shown made using the same principles, which showcases the spirals in a double chain flanking black crystals, which is stunning. In conjunction with this project, you also learn how to make a spiral beaded clasp, and a double connector clasp with a spiral hook (very suitable, as is suggested, for the bracelet described earlier).

If you are into a more modern look, try the "front drilled onyx circle pendant". As the author says, "I wanted to replicate the round shape of the large onyx bead in the round chain link". This lovely link necklace is quite streamlined. It would look pretty on you as you browse among the art galleries in downtown New York.
Any of the jewelry you make from Handcraft Wire Jewelry will take you anywhere. I particularly liked one of the extra ideas offered to go along with the round chain. The author uses a top drilled piece of unpolished kyanite, a stone I am very fond of for its lovely blue tones. She adds lampworked beads in two different hues of green to make this necklace sing of the forest and its wildness. It is so pretty!

When you love hearts, but you don't want "cute", head over to the very hip "heart's fancy woven bead drop" project. It is influenced by the heart shape, especially where the pendant and the chain meet, as well as in the wonderful heart clasp. However there is no overwhelming overload concerning the heart theme going on here. It is by far one of the coolest heart necklaces I have ever seen. And yes, there is February's birthstone, the amethyst, featured in the jawdroppingly beautiful pendant and in the stunning chain too. Be your own Valentine and make this for yourself! I love it and so will you!

To teach yourself further technique in a really worthwhile way, try the "top drilled no frame pendant". As the author says, "Just about any top-drilled bead works well with this project". As it is a wonderful project with a gorgeous result, your time will be well spent. I was transported by the manner in which the wire is coiled and woven to reflect the earthy beauty of the stone pendant which was chosen for this project. Once you teach yourself how to make this pendant, you will be inspired by the selection of stones shown as alternate ideas to make this curvy, woven, spiraled pendant over and over again. This is an outstanding design you will adore if your taste leans toward the unique and beautiful.

At the end of the book, the reader is offered a section on advanced wireweaving techniques. I really appreciated the further insight I was able to get from this section. I also liked the weaving tips and the notes on creating patterns.

Handcraft Wire Jewelry: Chains Clasps Pendants, by Kimberly Sciaraffa Berlin fairly hums with delightful beauty. Share in the positive energy and make sure you don't miss this treasure of a jewelry design book!

review by jean baldridge yates of DIY WRAP BRACELETS, 25 designs using beads, thread, charms, ribbon, cord and more, by Keiko Sakamoto

DIY WRAP BRACELETS
25 Designs using beads, thread, charms, ribbon, cord and more

by Keiko Sakamoto


Wrap bracelets can be a lovely expression of your personal style.
Why buy a pre-made bracelet, at prices ranging up to $300.00, when you can learn how to make them yourself?

The bracelets (along with necklaces, earrings, and rings to match, at times) from the comprehensive book, DIY WRAP BRACELETS, by Keiko Sakamoto, will encourage your imagination and guide you on your journey as you learn to create your own wrap bracelet.

No matter what your style, Keiko Sakamoto has you covered. You will find twenty five different styles of wraps in this wonderfully comprehensive book.
They range from the very simple to more complex.
The author employs a number of materials to vary the creations she offers. In DIY WRAP BRACELETS, you will find not only leather cord bracelets, but designs employing rhinestone chain with chiffon, braided linen cord, woven fabric, and more.
She explains how to make a bracelet which can also be worn as a necklace, and gives directions for pretty earrings as well.

The projects range from sophisticated to casual chic. None of them are too difficult to attempt.

"Simple Wrap Bracelets" are the ones to try first if you love the wraps and need a place to start your learning without frustration.

I suggest reading the overview first. In it you will find included "Square Bead Wrap Bracelets" (these are leather, and use the very hip Tila beads), "Nautical Wrap Bracelets" (these are knotted bead bracelets with charms, and can also be worn as necklaces), the "Sparkling Chiffon Bracelet and Necklace", and the "Simple Wrap Bracelet", which is a lot like the square bead wrap but uses colorful and pretty round Czech glass beads to compliment the leather cords and button.
This last one is the one you may be thinking of when you first think "wrap bracelet".

But there is so much more to this book! It has a treasure trove of styles!

Try the "Braided Friendship Bracelets". They are adorable. They are shown in two color palettes. One bracelet charms the eye with pink, light blue,blue, coral and hot pink, and the other delights with ivory, light blue, blue, gray and yellow. Each is woven into braids by you, using embroidery thread. They close with buttons. These are fun, pretty, and inexpensive to make. Wear them together or give one to your bestie! Beauty is best when shared.

I was particularly attracted to "The Champagne Pearl Set", which gives instructions for a beautiful three strand bracelet with masses of pearls captured on wrapped beading thread, as well as earrings and ring. It is a fascinating project I can't wait to try.

The "Square Knot Rope Amulets", which feature a focal decorative connector captured by woven waxed linen cord, are super pretty, colorful and easy to learn. Choose your colorways and go to town making a few of these. Then stack them up your wrist for a hip look.
As with all the author's projects, the instructions are thorough and clear.
You will find the charts and diagrams which abound in each chapter easy to understand and very useful.

With DIY WRAP BRACELETS as your guide, you will also be wrapping fabric and wire.
You will be making gemstone nugget bracelets, heishi bead bracelets, and more.
The "Beaded Brooch Bracelet" offered in DIY WRAP BRACELETS is beautiful. For this one, you make a brooch pin encrusted with beads (yes, you can wear the focal alone as a pin). The brooch is even more smashing however as the centerpiece of a bracelet made from black ribbon. Get your groove on with this one! It is very cool.

Keiko Sakamoto is an innovative artist and a fine jewelry designer. As she herself says, "Wrap bracelets are the perfect balance of trendy style and laid-back cool".

If you are as intrigued as I am with beautiful wrap bracelets, get wrapping with her easy and fun book, DIY WRAP BRACELETS, 25 Designs using beads, thread, charms, ribbon, cord and more!

DIY Wrap Bracelets: 25 Designs Using Beads, Thread, Charms, Ribbon, Cord, and More

By Keiko Sakamoto

Fons & Porter/F+W; $24.99

http://amzn.to/1xbmbas

I received this book in exchange for my honest review--jean