Beading with Brick Stitch

Rating:
Summary: Brick stitch does much more than triangular earrings.
Review: Beading with Brick Stitch presents you with new approaches to using brick stitch which is often relegated to making the triangles or diamonds for dangling earrings. But this stitch can do so much more and Diane Fitzgerald shows you many of its possibilities.

The well-known brick stitch triangles are used in Egyptian style, round yoke necklaces featuring art deco looped fringe.

This necklace is also adapted to covering the neck of a gourd.

The easy to make triangle also makes a wonderful butterfly when combined imaginatively with other stitches.

Brick stitch fruits, and a beaded curtain with a medieval Dutch street scene introduce the possibility of large size items and a 3D approach to using brick stitch.

A beaded blue oriental rug, complete with fringe, invites you to check out how easy it is to follow linear patterns in this technique as opposed to say peyote stitch. And blank pattern grids are included for you to chart your own designs.

Diane has included variations of her famous Ginko leaf necklace in the photo gallery portion, but there are no step by step instructions for making it, just the general technique she used.

The paisley motif necklace that is on the cover has also been made by several different beaders and each one has come with a different color and design arrangement. This can show you what can happen if you don't just follow the instructions but break out on your own.

The general technique section covers everything you need, and the historical notes are interesting for those of a scholarly bent.

My favorites are the Crossroads bracelet because it looks as if it were interlaced, and the ethnic, silvery Telsem necklace.

If you know and enjoy doing brick stitch already, this book will expand your horizons. If you don't know brick stitch, this is a great book to learn it from.

Rating:
Summary: Unique, different, enchanting
Review: Diane Fitzgerald has tackled a brave subject with flair and refreshing approach. Brick stitch is the step-sister to the popular peyote stitch. Brick does not work up as quickly, has a slightly longer learning curve, and simply has not enjoyed the popularity of peyote stitch, perhaps because peyote is linked to the wildly popular amulet bags and brick stitch was the mainstay of hippie earrings. This doesn't seem to bother Fitzgerald at all. And long before the end of the book, it does not bother the reader either.

Fitzgerald proves over and over that brick stitch has its own special uses-through increases and decreases, it can curve over uneven objects. It can be used to create three-dimensional forms that hold their shape and have an appealing look and texture. The possibilities are many and the techniques within the grasp of most beaders.

Fitzgerald makes the most of both her audience and the contents of the book. ...the book is filled with projects with detailed instructions and pictures that make the most resistant beader reach for threaded needle and beads. The 30-page gallery contains not just wonderfully-photographed objects, but great ideas. Necklaces, pins, bracelets, vessels, sculptures, decorative beading, and objects of fascination all appear in the pages. Unique, different, enchanting.

The book begins with a history of brick stitch, the different names, the origin of similar beadwork, and a focus on objects that defined the art. It moves into the obligatory tools and techniques, but with a twist: Fitzgerald assembled a group of beaders who tackled each project for difficulty and instructional sense. And their different results are shown. That raises this book head and shoulders above most how-to beading books.

It's best to work through the book with an eye to the steps that you need to know before you tackle a project. Dedicated beaders can learn what they need to know as they work through a project, but it helps to learn the technique first. Fitzgerald deserves a prize for that idea alone.

Far too many teachers cave in to student demands that the first attempt should result in a gift-quality result. Fitzgerald is not ashamed to get you to try the technique first on trial piece. But, if you are a gifted and advanced beader, she also shows you how to assemble those initial attempts into an impressive sampler.

This book will become one of the "must have" books for the bookshelf. And it won't spend a lot of time there, either. Expect to have it on your work table almost all the time.

Rating:
Summary: Great Resource!
Review: Diane Fitzgerald is well known for her work documenting and teaching unusual beadwork styles. Now she brings this talent to bear on the long-neglected brick stitch. Diane's historical review of brick stitch shows fascinating examples from around the world. The instructions include clear drawings. There is helpful information in every section, e.g. check out the chart in the requisite "thread" section which compares the tensile strength of the same size thread on Nymo bobbins and spools. The interesting projects are enriched by photos of work from other artists who tested the designs and tried their own variations. Historical tidbits spice up the text. The gallery section includes beautiful full page photos of Diane's fabulous work as well as that of other well known artists. There's a good bibliography and an index. Well done and a source of inspiration!

Rating:
Summary: Better than a class!
Review: Diane gives you all the tips that you would get by asking an instructor you paid top dollar to take a class from. With this book you get many, many classes for a fraction of the price of just one. The tips that are unique to this book are what makes her book so easy to follow and makes the project come out looking professionally done - on the first try!

Rating:
Summary: a good book with a few drawbacks
Review: first, i will say that i can misinterpret directions like nobody you've ever known. if this were a talent, i'd be a genius. it makes following even the best written craft instructions a wee bit difficult.

but i'm not entirely to blame for my confusions with this book. until i took a class, i thought i was not following the instructions as presented, because there were no photos or drawings accurately showing what the edge of the work should look like. knowing peyote stitch, i should have realized that brick stitch would also have sawtoothed edges, but i didn't. i just thought all my attempts were wrong.

after having been shown, by a real live person, how to do this stitch, i went back to the book to practice increasing and decreasing. well, several methods of increasing for triple brick stitch are well illustrated, but single is not so well served. granted, some of the methods would work with both, but only experimenting will tell for others. this is a drawback to me because i think an instruction book should instruct on the basics, not leave the reader to experiment to learn them. one method of decreasing which does not leave the thread visible is not included.

tubular single brick stitch is covered, but not double or triple. maybe these are exactly the same, but nothing is said, that i could find, about whether there are any structural differences. circular brick stitch of any number is not covered.

there are very nice, full-page-sized graphs for single, double and triple brick stitch. it would have been nice to have had a graph for circular, because, while i could probably eventually figure out the mathematics of increasing for a flat circle, i would really rather have it done for me.

the reasons i gave the book four stars and not three are: the historical background section and photos and the inspiring gallery and project sections. diane fitzgerald's work is stunning and the examples of other artists in the gallery section are equally wonderful. the projects are interesting, and a nice feature is the inclusion of variations by the author's students.

on one hand, the sparseness of instructions keeps this book from being more than a good introduction to brick stitch. on the other, the gallery is an excellent source of inspiration. so, even with the drawbacks, it does deserve space in any beader's library.

Rating:
Summary: a good book with a few drawbacks
Review: first, i will say that i can misinterpret directions like nobody you've ever known. if this were a talent, i'd be a genius. it makes following even the best written craft instructions a wee bit difficult.

but i'm not entirely to blame for my confusions with this book. until i took a class, i thought i was not following the instructions as presented, because there were no photos or drawings accurately showing what the edge of the work should look like. knowing peyote stitch, i should have realized that brick stitch would also have sawtoothed edges, but i didn't. i just thought all my attempts were wrong.

after having been shown, by a real live person, how to do this stitch, i went back to the book to practice increasing and decreasing. well, several methods of increasing for triple brick stitch are well illustrated, but single is not so well served. granted, some of the methods would work with both, but only experimenting will tell for others. this is a drawback to me because i think an instruction book should instruct on the basics, not leave the reader to experiment to learn them. one method of decreasing which does not leave the thread visible is not included.

tubular single brick stitch is covered, but not double or triple. maybe these are exactly the same, but nothing is said, that i could find, about whether there are any structural differences. circular brick stitch of any number is not covered.

there are very nice, full-page-sized graphs for single, double and triple brick stitch. it would have been nice to have had a graph for circular, because, while i could probably eventually figure out the mathematics of increasing for a flat circle, i would really rather have it done for me.

the reasons i gave the book four stars and not three are: the historical background section and photos and the inspiring gallery and project sections. diane fitzgerald's work is stunning and the examples of other artists in the gallery section are equally wonderful. the projects are interesting, and a nice feature is the inclusion of variations by the author's students.

on one hand, the sparseness of instructions keeps this book from being more than a good introduction to brick stitch. on the other, the gallery is an excellent source of inspiration. so, even with the drawbacks, it does deserve space in any beader's library.

Rating:
Summary: excellent instructions and projects
Review: I found Beading with Brick Stitch an excellent book for learning how to do brick stitch. On working several of the projects, I found the instructions quite clear, and these were the first time I had done brick stitch. Several pluses put this book on a level above many beading books: the history of brick stitch with pictures of traditional uses; the inclusion of single-stack, double-stack and triple-stack brick stitch graph paper to copy; many different photos of each project as made by the author's friends to demonstrate variations; and a well-done gallery for inspiration. I have found that this book has been able to answer all my brick stitch questions so far, and I have found it one of the best books in the beadworks "Beading with" series.

Rating:
Summary: Brick stitch primer
Review: Oh, I adore a book that takes you on an educational world tour before settling down for the "how-to's." Diane begins with a history of brick stitch as it is used in Zulu, Xhosa, Kuba, and San Bushman jewelry. The Kuba hat is stunning, with its red and black geometric shapes and yellow and white accents. Draw in your breath for the Victorian beaded tassels, purse, and velvet tray. Worthy of a museum case is the Native American dance fan with its beaded handle. Now that you are finished with the oh's and ah's, you are ready to learn brick stitch. There are a good mix of projects, some simple and some tough. To further inspire, the gallery at the end is gorgeous.

Rating:
Summary: Good for those with all thumbs
Review: The diagrams were so clear and inviting that I was forced to sit down and start a bracelet pattern. I love to bead and am all thumbs. This makes some projects difficult, but this book seems to have been designed with me in mind. I turned out a lovely bracelet the first time with surprisingly little effort. The beautiful ginko leaves shown in the book are still a bit aways off for me, but with practice I think I can make those too. The photos are terrific. I highly recommend this book for beginners and advanced beaders alike.

Rating:
Summary: Brick Stitch at its Best
Review: This is a very complete and thorough book on how to do the brick stitch. As a beader myself, I have often wondered how a certain stitch originated. This book starts out by giving you some history of the brick stitch, which is very informative and interesting. It then goes on to tell you about the different supplies you will need to get started. If you have never done the brick stitch or have found it to be too complicated, the instructions in this book are very easy to understand and with many good illustrations. Included in the instructions are different ways to start, increase, decrease, how to do the tubular brick stitch and how to finish off the edges. This book is not just for the beginner. There are many wonderful projects, for the beginner to the advanced, in Diane's unique beading style, which I love. Also included is a very colorful gallery, in the back of the book, with beautiful pieces made by using the brick stitch. So if you want to adventure out and learn a new stitch or you just don't like the brick stitch, this book might get you hooked on it with all of its possibilities. I love the brick stitch now and you could too!!!!