Making Designer Bead & Wire Jewelry

This week's book review is on the book, "Making Designer Bead & Wire Jewelry", by Tammy Powley. 

The author, Tammy Powley, worked for 10 years as a technical writer, and jewelry was her hobby. During this time, she studied jewelry design for two years at the Winter Park Adult Vocational Center, learning a variety of techniques including fabrication, soldering, wire work, beading, casting, engraving, and enameling. Tammy still continues to take classes and has also added the following techniques to her list: fused glass, lampworking, lost wax casting, wire wrapping, metal clay, and cabbing. Along with working as a freelance writer, Tammy is an Assistant Professor of English and teaches composition, literature, and technical communications.

In addition to her work at About.com, Tammy is the author of a number of jewelry making books including The Complete Photo Guide to Jewelry Making, Picture Yourself Creating Metal Clay Jewelry, Jewelry and Beading Designs for Dummies, Making Mixed Media and Memory Jewelry, Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry, and Making Designer Seed Bead, Stone, and Crystal Jewelry

My strength as an artisan is in beadweaving.  I love all the stitching and the details.  However, there are times when I would like to personalize my work by making unique clasps and other findings.  Wire work is definitely not my strong suit.  As you know, we are only as strong as our weakest link...Wire will not defeat me.  So what's a girl to do? I like to research and practice.  Sometimes research for me starts with reading a book, then taking a class or two (or 3 or 4...you get it), all the while "playing" and trying to implement what I've learned.

"Making Designer Bead & Wire Jewelry" is a key find for me toward improving my wire work.  It provides techniques for creating unique designs and handmade findings.  The book is divided into 13 sections:

About Beads (Types of beads and tips for buying beads); About wire (sizes and types of wire; hardness and shapes of wire); Basic tool kit (what this should look like); Using a Jig (Tips, patterns and types); Earring findings; Jump rings, hooks and clasps; Bead and Wire Techniques; Bead and Wire Projects; Gallery; and Suppliers.

Each of the sections provided graphical depictions as well as text, plus a "Jeweler's Tip" section; in the Projects section, she also provides "Design Advice" and Variation Ideas.

I found the graphics relatively easy to follow and understand.  I give this book 4 thumbs up!!!!

Beading with Cabochons

I look through all the beading publications and I'm totally in awe of the wonderfully created pieces using beaded cabochons.  Most of the pieces look so very intricate and of course now, this is something I want to include in my arsenal of work.  This led me to this book..."Beading with Cabochons" by Jamie Cloud Eakin

Beading with Cabochons shows you step-by-step how to combine an amazing variety of cabochons and beads on sophisticated jewelry.  Jamie Cloud Eakin shows you the basic techniques and the unique stitches she developed over more than a decade. Her projects range from a pair of double-cabochon earrings to and elaborately fringed dichroic glass necklace. With so many cabochons and beads to chose from, each piece you make will be one of a kind.


The step-by-step projects include: Fringed Dichroic Glass Necklace, Oval Solitaire Rhodonite Bracelet, Noondrite Jasper Necklace, Sea Moss Ladder Bracelet, Double Cabochon Dangle Earrings, Leopardskin Jasper Necklace, Black Onyx Pin, Victorian Triple Cabochon Bracelet, Southwest Spirit Necklace, Fringed Tiger-Eye Cabochon Earrings and Crazy Lace Agate Pin.

Chapters include: 1 Materials and Tools, 2 Basic Cabochon Beading, 3 Edge Stitches, 4 Attachment Methods, 5 Other Bezel Stitches, 6 The Projects, and 7 Creating Your Own Designs. Also included is a photo gallery of beaded cabochon jewelry by talented artists, an appendix on attaching findings, an index to stitches and a note about suppliers.
Though I haven't tried any of the projects as yet, I have read through the instructions and they seem fairly easy to follow.  Let's hope that when I actually sit down to do them, I feel the same way...

Happy Beading