Lisa Yang Jewelry: Reading

Feeling The Heart and Soul of the Beads

2015-01-12T20:19:00.001-08:00

Beading for the Soul: Inspired Designs From 23 Contemporary Artists

Beading for the Soul, despite what the title says and leads you to believe, is not really a beading project book. It does have some beautiful projects and related instructions, but they are secondary to the mission of the book.

To me, first and foremost, the book is about the lore and legacy of beads and their place in the lives of the people who create with and wear them.

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Bead Soup Daisy Chain: Seed Bead Stitching

2013-11-20T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'm jumping ahead in the seed bead stitching projects. I can't help myself though.

Beth Stone has two seed bead stitching books - with the second one appropriately titled More Seed Bead Stitching: Creative Variations on Traditional Techniques . It has a lovely Daisy Chain necklace on the front and I had to try something similar. You can see it in the picture above, right in the middle - which is a little strange because the necklaces on my cover are exactly the same, but in a different order!

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Seed Bead Stitching: Diagonal Peyote Band

2013-11-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

My second project from the book Seed Bead Stitching by Beth Stone is a bracelet band in diagonal peyote. I used Japanese cylinder beads again. This is easier for a newbie like me since they have a consistent shape and lock into place, helping with any issues of thread tension.

Seed Bead Stitching by Beth Stone

2013-11-11T09:23:00.000-08:00

I haven't added a jewelry book review in a while, but I have read a lot of them during that time. Most recently, I have been reading and doing the projects from Seed Bead Stitching by Beth Stone.

If you've read my jewelry making blog or prior reviews, you know I mainly make wire and gemstone jewelry. But I've always been fascinated by woven bead jewelry especially the lovely earrings by Miguel Ases that are becoming more popular. I'd like to learn how to make something similar. But, I'd also like to understand the stitches used in seed beading to help with my wire wrap work.

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Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders teaches techniques not projects

2012-07-08T09:11:00.001-07:00

Beautiful Wire Jewelry is Beautiful Eye Candy

I started out loving the book Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders: Creative Wirework Projects for All Levels. I love the way it is organized. The introductory chapters are well documented, thorough but not overly detailed. There are beautiful pictures of the jewelry projects throughout the book - and the author has a fantastic sense of color.

But, when it came time to choose a project - I didn't feel excited about choosing any of them.

Beginner Jewelry Projects

Appropriately enough, I started at the beginning. The pictures look great, but the actual projects just didn't grab me. There is not a single beginner project that I wanted to try making. And it took me a while to figure out why - but I figured it out!

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Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders Review: Introduction to Wirework

2012-06-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

In order to review a jewelry book and do it justice, I really have to read it. I know that sounds stupid - but think about it. How often do you really read the first chapter about tools and wire and techniques? If you've read it once or twice, that's probably enough. But since the goal of Beautiful Wire Jewelry for Beaders: Creative Wirework Projects for All Levels book is to provide wirework 'projects for all levels', I have to read what I would normally skip.

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The Earring Style Book: Review Part 3

2012-06-08T17:37:00.002-07:00

This will be my last post on The Earring Style Book: Making Designer Earrings, Capturing Celebrity Style, and Getting the Look for Less for a little while. Although I have been thoroughly enjoying making the projects, I am feeling a little burnt out making only earrings. I'll have to set the book aside for a little while and summarize my thoughts.

This past weekend I made the Marlene earrings - not one, but two pairs. I really wanted to get a feel for how the same style of earrings can feel in gold vs. silver. I changed the center stones slightly too - both the shape and the gemstone. The silver earrings are an amazonite hexagon with labradorite. The gold earrings use aqua chalcedony for the focal gemstone and the same labradorite beads.

How I Saved These Spiral Earrings

2012-06-04T17:26:00.002-07:00

I couldn't stand the thought that I wasn't going to be able to make these fabulous Rachael earrings with silver spirals in a simple silver frame from The Earring Style Book: Making Designer Earrings, Capturing Celebrity Style, and Getting the Look for Less. I followed the instructions in the book, but when it came time to assemble them, the spiral would not fit in the frame. I described my problems in this post. So - here is my Plan B.

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The Earring Style Book: Rachael and Rio Earrings

2012-05-30T21:50:00.001-07:00

Front and back view

Front of the Rio Earrings

These lovely 'Rio' earrings grace the cover of The Earring Style Book: Making Designer Earrings, Capturing Celebrity Style, and Getting the Look for Less by Stephanie Wells. The book has 40 exceptional projects, organized into 4 basic categories: everyday chic, bohemian beauty, glamour girl, rock and roll. All of the earring styles revolve around a common theme of a wire frame with bead or spiral embellishments.

The Rio Earrings are part of the glamour girl collection. This book is serious eye candy and I can't imagine anyone who won't be inspired by the designs. I've enjoyed having this book in my collection, but what I really wanted to understand is if the instructions are as good as the designs and pictures. Here's the story...

Spirals for the Rachael Earrings

The first project I was going to make were the Rachael earrings. These earrings use the same circular frame you see in the Rio earrings, but have a spiral coil wired inside the frame. According to the instructions, they take approximately 15-20 minutes for the pair. My guess is that the time estimates do not include the prep time - since I am a moderately experienced wire wrapper and I don't think I could make them in that amount of time unless all of the wire was cut, the stones were laid out and everything was ready to go. I made all the component parts - 2 wire frames and 2 coil inserts and guess what? The coils did not, and would not, fit inside the frames. With 16g wire, there is just no possibility of uncoiling and re-coiling tighter, so I was stuck!

Here's where the book was fabulous and worth every penny! One of the first chapters has the instructions on how to make all of the basic frame shapes. It also includes a reference that tells you which earrings use which frames. So, when my coils for the Rachael earrings didn't fit, I just found another pair of earrings that used the same frame of a similar size and salvaged half of my work. I can't tell you how frustrated I would have been if I didn't finish a pair of earrings after all of the work - and that simple bit of reference information saved me.

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Review and Projects From The Earring Style Book

2012-05-26T08:39:00.002-07:00

I am currently reading and doing projects from The Earring Style Book: Making Designer Earrings, Capturing Celebrity Style, and Getting the Look for Less by Stephanie Wells. As I complete some of the projects, I will post them on my blog. I will also write a review of the book and the projects so you can decide if you would like to buy the book yourself. If you click on the book above, you will be taken to amazon.com where you can read more reviews and purchase the book.