Jewelry Making

(Note: I originally wrote this review on Epinions.com but decided it’d probably be of more use over here, so I’ve moved it over.)

Summary: Very pretty pictures of beaded accessories but lacks full instructional technique.
Product Rating: 3.0/5
Pros: Beautiful photos, some great design ideas
Cons: Too short. Illustrations sloppy, instructions a bit vague

The Bottom Line
Unless you’re already experienced in making these designs or just looking for ideas rather than a start-to-finish project blueprint, you’re better off buying a few of the latest beading magazines.

Description
Antique Style Bead Accessories is written by bead shop owner and jewelry artist Matsuko Sawanobori. I didn’t look up further info on her, but in the “About the author” section in back of the book it says she’s been involved with jewelry design for near 15 years and has had her work featured both in television and magazines. So she probably knows a thing or two about making jewelry.

The book is divided into four sections: Rings, Lariats & Necklaces, Chokers, and Brooches & Earrings. There are approximately 30-35 beading projects in here total. The style of many of the items are lithe and graceful as opposed to chunky or super eye-catching. We were particularly interested in this book because that style matched ours better than some of the other books we’ve seen. Gaudy things, though popular among many folks, aren’t really what we like. There is a section at the back on “Basic Techniques” and also a section “How to Make” that containing fairly detailed illustrations with instructions on how to make each item.

What was cool
The photographs in this book are extremely well done and colorful. Both closeups and mid-range shots are aesthetically pleasing and have that beautiful glossy magazine look. We were initially interested in the rings because they are woven, often using nylon monofilament (read: fishing line) so we jumped right in and tried a few out. The results were pretty cool and immediately wearable. Ones we tried were “Floral Motif Rings”, “Hydrangea Ring”, “Flower Bead Ring”, and “Silver Wire Ring”. We also took some ideas from the Chokers section (”Choker in Soft Pastels” and “Flower Bead Choker”) and made some necklaces that incorporated similar designs.

At this point, we have only really tried the basic weaving techniques, but they seem to be extendable to more complicated designs. I’d definitely want to try out some of the harder looking pieces in the future. For the brooches, it looks like you need special items that serve as the base for the brooch, I think it’s called a perforated pin backing? The book also seems to be a fairly good resource for coming up with general design ideas, we noticed a few touches or flourishes that we’ve extended to some of our other pieces without actually copying their whole design.

What was lacking
The book weighs in at a somewhat paltry 70 pages, 5 of which are introductory “picture pages” of beads, stones and pearls that don’t serve any purpose except maybe as an eye-candy prologue. I would have used those pages instead to put a more detailed “Basic Techniques” section in the beginning instead of the brief two pages at the end. At the going price of $10-15, I think I’d want something more substantial than this although I’ve seen even thinner beading books that were priced higher. Bead magazines usually have, what, about 7 projects? So you’d need to buy about 5 of them to get the same number of projects, and if they cost $3-5 each … So maybe the price is all right.

One of the problems I had was flipping back and forth between the pictures of the items in the beginning of the book and the “How to Make” section in the back of the book. It’s already sort of difficult to keep the book open to one page (without creasing the book heavily), but to have to put down your work and flip to another page repeatedly gets tiresome. I would have put ALL the information needed to make a single item in the same place. There are a few items in the book that actually have some instructions along with the pictures of the actual item, so I’m a bit mystified as to why they didn’t do this consistently for all of them. Well, I guess putting mostly beautiful pictures in the beginning of the book might ensure that a person casually browsing would see them right away. Gotta market it, after all.

The illustrations in the “How to Make” section in the back of the book are passably drawn and certainly helpful (I’ve seen some books which have NO instructions so perhaps I’m nitpicking), but they’re a bit sloppily sketched in what looks like some kind of pencil or graphite. Some of the drawings had arrows pointing every which way or “wrap” notations that confused the heck out of me. The written instructions are ok, but I’ve seen much more detailed ones in magazines.

In conclusion
The style of this designs in this book were exactly what I was looking for, and the pictures are certainly beautiful. But the execution is somewhat lacking as far as in-depth instructions go. Perhaps more advanced designers would be able to pick it up quicker, but not knowing much about woven items, it was a bit difficult for me. It definitely would not be relegated to coffee table fodder, but I wouldn’t buy it unless you’re already experienced in making these types of designs or just looking for general ideas rather than a start-to-finish project blueprint.