Book Review: Creative Beaded Jewelry

The easiest and most accurate way to judge the value of a jewelry or craft book, is to look through the designs, and wait for inspiration to strike. An excellent beading book will have you eager to sit down and start creating long before you've flipped to the last page.

Creative Beaded Jewelrywill easily capture the imagination and creativity of anyone who loves to play with beads. The designs are not only fun and deceptively simple, but use materials that you can find at most bead and craft stores. The jewelry is exciting and inventive, but budget and stash-friendly.

After a brief introduction, the author and designer, Sigal Buzaglo, gets right down to business. The beginner section is equally brief, but does cover all of the basics, so that new beaders will have a good understanding of the techniques and materials they will be working with. The full color photographs and diagrams are easy to understand and follow.

There are 31 gorgeous jewelry projects to try, including necklaces, bracelets, earrings and a very clever leather charm ring. Sigal gently guides readers through many essential jewelry making techniques by presenting interesting and easy to make designs that are hard to resist. My personal favorites are the Trendy Twisted Bracelet, which combines leather cord with seed beads and wire wrapping, and the Super Hoop Necklace, which features a ceramic donut on a multi-strand, macramé-like necklace.

Each project in Creative Beaded Jewelryincludes step-by-step instructions and photographs, plus handy tips for getting the most polished piece of jewelry on your first try. Beginners and expert beaders will both enjoy the clever and elegant combinations of beads, colors and textures.

Want to see for yourself? With thanks to Sixth & Spring Books, I’m giving away a free copy of Creative Beaded Jewelry to one lucky reader! To enter, all you have to do is comment on this post, and answer the following question:

What is your all time favorite stringing material?

One winner will be chosen at random on Monday, July 18th. If you do not have a Blogger profile with email contact enabled, be sure to leave a contact link (website, shop, Facebook, etc.) or email address (beadlover AT yourmail.com), so I can get in touch with you if you win.

Good luck, and happy beading!

Update: This draw has closed.

I would like to thank Sixth & Spring Books and SOHO Publishing for giving me the opportunity to review and enjoy this book. Inspirational Beading has not received paid compensation for featuring products in this post. I have shared my sincere opinions of this book.

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading and Sigal Buzaglo
Sixth & Spring Books and SOHO Publishing
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