Jill Wiseman’s Beautiful Beaded Ropes – 24 Wearable Jewelry Projects in Multiple Stitches is to beaders what the newest, hottest Halo game is to gamers. It’s for serious beading geeks. Like me. Well, I’m only a little bit of a beading geek. But I’m working on it!
I’m madly in love with stitching beads together to create amazing jewelry. Much like a knitter uses lengths of yarn to create a beautiful, wearable work of art beaders use thread and teeny tiny beads to stitch up one of a kind wearable art. There is something so relaxing about adding a few beads at a time and incorporating them into the body of the piece that creates a peaceful rhythm. I get lost in the work and then when I come back to reality and look at what I’ve done, I’m almost always amazed and how those little tiny individual beads created such an amazing piece.
Anyway enough of my bead geekery. Let’s get to the book, shall we?
Beautiful Beaded Ropes is full of gorgeous photos of 24 wearable jewelry pieces.
Necklaces, bracelets and even earrings.
The book starts out in chapter 1, Supplies and Techniques, by giving you the basic information about the different kinds of beads used in beadweaving and then moves on to Clasps and Findings, Tools and Materials and Basic Beading Tips. From there we move on to THE STITCHES. Jill takes several pages to explain the stitches used in the projects in this book.
The project chapters include, Spiral Ropes, Peyote Ropes, Netted Ropes, Herringbone Ropes, Raw Ropes and Other Stitches.
I love the way Jill takes a complicated looking project like the one above and breaks it down so that I feel like I could make it.
Other things to know about Beautiful Beaded Ropes:
- 119 pages
- 7 Chapters
- Galleries and Index
- Hardcover
- MSRP is $27.95 USD but you can purchase it at amazon.com for $15.95 USD
This is normally the part of the review where I show you what I made from the book but it would take hours and hours to create something to show you so I’ve decided to share a project that I have finished and one that is in progress. After lo0king through the instructions in the book for similar projects I CAN tell you that they look clear and easy to follow.
This is a spiral rope with larger beads than are usually used. I liked the way the iridescence in the beads made them look like bubbles and I like the way the larger beads give it more texture.
Another thing I did with this piece that is a little unusual is that I used a vintage brooch as the clasp.
This piece is a work in progress. It it also a spiral rope but instead of round beads I used small, flattish lentil beads that have an off center hole drilled through them. It makes for quiet a different texture.
I’m not sure how I will finish this piece off but I’m pretty sure it will need mermaids, starfish and other ocean themed embellishments.
If you aren’t quite convinced that Jill Wiseman’s Beautiful Beaded Ropes is the very next book you need on your shelf then you might want to check out these two FREE downloads from the book courtesy of Lark Jewelry and & Beading.
Are you a beadweaver? Is it something you’ve been wanting to try? Are you as geeky about it as I am? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
OH! And if you are thinking of purchasing Jill Wiseman’s Beautiful Beaded Ropes then please support Craft Test Dummies by buying it though our affiliate links in the link above or the widget below.
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Jenny says
Thanks for a great post, Vicki- can’t wait to see how that teal beauty turns out!
Vicki O'Dell says
I can’t wait to see how it turns out either. I’m keeping in mind that teal is one of your favorite colors and I’m hiding it from you though! LOL!