The New Beadwork

Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous beadwork!
Review: Inspirational...helps get your own creative ideas going when you see some of the incredible stuff other bead artists are doing. Has a small how-to section which is not very helpful, but the photographs are wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Extreme Eye-Candy for Beadwork Lovers!
Review: This book is for one thing only - inspiration! But what inspiration! I'm an actually on my second copy of this book as my first became so worn from my paging and drooling.

The pieces are shown alphabetically by artisan with a two line biography, then a brief desciption of the piece and a listing of techniques used - I love the fact that the dimensions are given with each piece! There is also included an artisan's statement giving you insight into how the artisan sees his/her work.

As this was originally published in 1992 some of the resources are out of date but a web search will remedy that. Also, don't buy this book for instructions on how to do the beadwork, this is strictly eye-candy and how sweet it is! This is the book I pull from my shelf often to remind me of how much I love this medium, how far I have to go in my explorations, and how much fun getting there will be!

Sadly this book is out of print, but if you are a serious beadworker or someone who wants to see the best that beadwork can be - spend the time and money to get a copy of this treasure.

Rating:
Summary: indispensible book for the serious beader
Review: You can't be a serious bead artist if you don't own this book, that's all there is to it. The introduction itself--with its cogent and encompassing trace of the contemporary groundswell in bead art--is worth its price. As a source for the work of the most well-known and emerging artists this book is a museum in itself. Ms. Withers is to be commended for the beauty of her presentations as well as for her sensitivity to the deeply spiritual and downright funky satisfaction both the bead artist and the bead art owner derive from the humble bead.Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but women prefer beads. And yes, real men do make bead art!