The Art of Bead Weaving

The Art of Bead Weaving by Jane Lock is a beautiful book. It covers all the major bead weaving techniques. The book opens with a handy guide to getting started, talking about how to choose beads and findings and choosing colour schemes. Jane also offers some advice on troubleshooting and solving common beading problems.

The Art of Bead Weaving shows each technique with a project for you to practise your skills. The techniques covered include ladder stitch, square stitch, brick stitch, herringbone, peyote stitch, Right Angle Weave and netting. Jane then goes on to develop the basics in different ways, for example, looking at how to create spirals, bezels and beaded beads.

The last couple of projects talk about combining techniques to create shapes and embellishment. The last chapter offers projects by guest designers including Carol Dean Sharpe, Nancy Dale and Kerrie Slade. All the instructions are clear and illustrated with a combination of photos and diagrams.

The Art of Bead Weaving offers a wide range of projects from earrings to bracelets and necklaces. As you would expect from the designers included, the work is beautiful and the projects range across skill levels, so you will have the opportunity to increase your skills and knowledge as you work. Even if you choose not to work through the projects, this is a lovely book full of gorgeous ‘eye candy’ and inspiration. Published by Search Press, the standard of the publication is exactly what we have all come to expect from the publishing house voted as a leading craft publisher in 2013.

I like this book because it does exactly as the title suggests: provides a good cross-section of bead weaving projects and all of them are at a level that definitely deserves the title of ‘Art’. If you have been looking through internet sites at the bead weaving projects coming from the needles of the top designers, you can find a lovely selection in the Art of Bead Weaving.