Monday, August 20, 2012

Showcase 500 – Beaded Jewelry


book cover

Lark Books has really done a great job with this book. But that’s no surprise because the fact is:  BEADERS are skill-building faster than you can say the word bead. Of course it’s fantastic!

back cover

I am totally impressed with these 500 pieces, made by 278 artists from many different countries around the world. Just a few decades ago, beaded jewelry was pretty much limited to simple earrings and strung necklaces. Now bead weaving and bead embroidery have joined forces with bead stringing yielding a beautiful and vast array of beaded jewelry.

fun necklace by Stephanie Sersich

As the book’s editor, Ray Hemachandra, points out in the introduction, “This collection includes work from many of the world’s best-known beading artists – the superstars and the master designers and teachers – and it also presents pieces made by talented beaders whose work has not been published previously.” All of it is good. All is inspirational and amazing.

Let’s let the photos speak for themselves. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

I always love Carole Horn's work!

Couldn't decide which of Carole's necklaces to include, so they're both here!

I like it that some of the pieces are primarily metalwork, with just a few accent beads.

If you click the picture, you'll be able to see more detail. I love this piece!

You'll find everything from funky to sublimely elegant in this book.

Myra Schwartz has a whole series of pieces featuring vintage pipes. She's an amazing designer.

I am so grateful to own this book, and recommend it 100% to anybody who loves beads, even if you don’t choose to make beaded jewelry. There’s so much about art, about color, about design, and about the beads themselves to be gained from study of these 500 pieces.

Here’s a link to buy it on Amazon, although I’m sure it’s also available in many bookstores and from many other online sources.

Heidi's work is always captivating. This one is so powerful, I had to include the detail shot below.

Talk about using beads to tell a story! Wow!

My one regret? Well… I received an invitation to submit pieces for publication in this book, but was so busy doing projects for and writing my own book (The Complete Photo Guide to Beading), that I let the deadline slip by. Whaaaa. I’d give a lot to be in such good company as the artists in this book. Congratulations to them all!

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By the way, my new book is available to pre-order on Amazon, here! It will be out early in December.

7 comments:

  1. I keep coming back to look at that necklace on the cover, with the beaded circles, over and over. Just stunning!

    And the vintage pipe necklace?? Brilliant! Gotta go look her up and see more. Thanks for sharing this, I really enjoyed it. :-)

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  2. I was wondering why you did not have a piece in this book :)

    Kathy V in NM

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  3. I totally agree with you that Myra Schwartz is a brilliant artist!! Thank you for pointing out her work.

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  4. Thank you for showing us these beauties and explaining why none of your pieces are included, in contrast to the book "500 Beaded Objects", where a detail of Rosie, the Uncaged Hen even made the cover!!

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  5. Please consider posting this lovely review at Amazon.com if you haven't already.

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  6. Looks like a great book! :D

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