Book Spotlight: The Art of Beaded Beads

What could possibly be more fun than making big, beautiful beads out of smaller ones? Even more appealing is the idea of creating your own unique focals and components for your jewelry designs, or perhaps just to showcase as little beaded works of art.

In The Art of Beaded Beads,readers will find a treasure trove of styles and techniques to add to their beading repertoire. There are 40 beaded bead projects in all, some using sculptural stitches, and others made by beading around a larger base bead. With the exception of a bead made entirely from steel hex nuts, all of the projects incorporate seed beads to create miniature beaded sculptures.

Author and designer Jean Campbell gets beginners off to a good start with an overview of bead types and materials, plus bead weaving basics, including instructions for the stitches used throughout the book. Clear, easy to follow diagrams will help new beaders who want to try out beaded beads - the short projects make for excellent beading practice.

The beaded bead projects range in difficulty from absolute beginner to advanced, and use a wide variety of techniques, shapes and materials. Contributors include Diane Fitzgerald and Sharon Bateman. Sprinkled throughout the book are some fabulous beaded bead jewelry designs to help inspire your next creation!

Each project includes a full materials list, step-by-step instructions, and clear diagrams; but beaders may want to be somewhat familiar with stitches like peyote, herringbone, square stitch and right angle weave, before tackling each bead.

If you’re a seed beader, and you’ve been wanting to create your own unique art beads without learning to use a torch or kiln, The Art of Beaded Beadswill provide plenty of ideas for beads that you can make using the skills and materials that you already have.

Copyright 2012 Inspirational Beading
Jean Campbell and Lark Books
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