| | |  | Swarovski Crystal Beads | Home » » » Making Jewelry with Gemstone Beads | | | | | | | Description: | | Combines the popular craft of beading with beautiful semi-precious stones, which are collected by many. Features a variety of versatile ideas which can be adapted for any type of gem or bead. Readers will learn to reate beautiful gemstone jewelry with this dazzling collection of over 100 projects, ranging from eyecatching earrings and accessories to exquisite necklaces and bracelets. This beautiful book offers an impressive range of 28 beautiful semi-precious stones (including birthstones) and a glimpse into the fascinating history and mythical properties behind them. Projects range from the simplest stringing to more detailed beadwork to cater for all levels of ability. Clear artworks, beautiful photographs and easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions ensure flawless results. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Barbara Case | | Paperback:
| 128 pages | | Publisher:
| David & Charles | | Publication Date:
| November 02, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0715325949 | | Package Length:
| 10.87 inches | | Package Width:
| 8.5 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.47 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.19 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 8 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great Gemstone BookMar 09, 2010
This book is great, beautiful pictures, interesting facts about gemstones. Good info on "how to". Book is priceless.
16 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 Several variations on the same few designsFeb 09, 2009
Lots of nice pictures, but the designs are all fairly basic.
The book is set up to show projects made of various mostly semi-precious beads, in alphabetical order, from agate to turquoise.
Though it does make for a less expensive project, I was disappointed that most of the metal findings and beads featured were silver-plated or gold-plated. Most other bead jewelry books, even those featuring glass beads, usually use sterling silver and vermeil findings. I just found this an odd thing, for the author to pair gemstones with plated beads and findings.
As I flipped through the book, I kept seeing the same basic designs repeated over and over: one, two, or three-strand necklaces with either a single pendant, or three, five or seven dangles or tassles.
Nothing too complicated, nor, unfortunately, much different from many bead jewelry books from the last 15 years.
2 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Making jewelry with gemstone beadsJan 31, 2009
This purchase was a gift and the recipient said it helped them to understand using the different types of beads and stones when making jewelry. Lots of beautiful illustrations and ideas....
4 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Gemstone Beads Book ReviewJan 20, 2009
This is an excellent for someone who is thinking of beading using gemstones for the first time.
25 of 25 found the following review helpful:
Images superb...but need more substance in other areasNov 18, 2008
Author Barbara Case brings out the beauty of selected gemstones (my favorites to use in my own work) by using beads of vaious sizes, shapes, and types and the book images reflect that. However, the dangles are all laid out (spread apart) to see their components - great, I grant you - but I would have liked to see how they actually look when hung around a neck for that will show the true appeal of the dangles. So good images reflect the beading design, yet in terms of how it may look around your neck is another matter.
The chart on pages 10 and 11 is a plus as many 'common' stones (wish more were included) are systematically categorized into the typical sizes of round beads, other common shapes seen in the stone type (important as some stones are not cut in specific ways due to the chemical and structural composition), the relative costs of these stones (from very low to very high -- allows for jewelry designers to better evaluate a sale price if an item is sold and/or giving one an idea as to what they can expect to spend if they wanted to use such a stone in their personal designs), placing the gemstone into the birthstone category, and lastly the various attributes often associated with each stone (e.g. LAPIS = wisdon, truth, awareness and JADE = protection on journeys, luck). Additional information can be gathered on the various stones (e.g. hardness/softness of the stone and recommendations on how to properly utilize it - e.g. some stones are 'softer' than others) in the descriptions on various stones along with designs in the second part of the book -- wish this information would have been in the chart, too. This would come in handy and if such information is all tabled together, it would make a great "mini-poster" to the gemstone designer.
Maybe I missed it, but one of the greatest pieces of information when working with gemstones is the weight of some of the stones. This is really important when designing a piece, especially earrings. Also it is important when determing the type of wire, cord, thread to use when designing, for you don't want the necklace to fall apart if the stringing material does not work well with the type of stone used.
So the good things - amazing images of the stones and design projects (some of the designs are very different from those seen in other books, which is always a plus when one wants to get out of a design rut), recommendations/tips, tidbits of historical facts regarding the stones and their 'mystical' or 'cultural' value, ranking of difficulty for nearly every design shown, and the decent chart made it a great reference chart. The bad things - lack of info regarding weight of some stones, not including newer products available (published in 2007 so one would have expected a few of the newer innovations to improve jewelry designs e.g. wire guardians), my personal desire to see how the design looked when hung on the neck or ear, and a wish that more of the gemstones used today were included. Therefore, with this being said I would have given the book a 3.5 star rating, but the images pushed it up to a solid 4 in comparison to other like books. I would also recommend this book to BEGINNERS (and even though some designs are ranked above 5, beginners can still do these as the images really provide clarity on how the piece is put together) and TO INTERMEDIATE jewelry designers.
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