After our local librarian patiently listened to my grumbles about the mediocre or positively bad craft books in their collections she told me I could make suggestions. Oooh, deadly mistake. This is basically a reworking of the email I sent her; since some of the material (kumi) is covered elsewhere, I've deleted it; and besides the Crockett, you get a couple of mini-blurbs for French Beaded Flower books and a breathless rundown on some flameworking books.
“...Bouquets from Beads, by Virginia Osterland, New York Scribner (1971) —am I good, or what? Did I say 70s? Anyway...the isbn is 0684123436, 222pp. [snip about call no., putting it on hold, etc.] And if some cowardly, dastardly el-stinko person has swiped it, (cuz according to amazon it is indeed out of print & now going for about $60 used) then see below....(Update: this book is back in print, and I now have my very own copy. Yay.)
“French beaded flowers seems to be booming—there are several new books out there in just the last couple of years. I bought the one below and it has all the basic techniques, some nice patterns/projects for those who want to have their hands held (french beaded flowers seems to be very pattern driven, at the moment—if it continues to take off, and mature, people may become more comfortable making up their own). And the beaded flower chandelier in the gallery section is to die for:
“Beads in Bloom: The Art of Making French Beaded Flowers by Arlene Baker (Paperback - April 2002)” (Back to website review: I have this book, somewhere, packed amongst all my stuff—signed by the author, even.[1] The beaded chandelier is to die for, and because the Gallery section features the work of several people, it has more stylistic range than the Osterland. It covers the basic techniques with much the same thoroughness, so it's a good modern text on the topic. And of course it profits from improved technology, in terms of the diagrams and photography—the thing that I believe has ultimately saved our library's copy of the old book is that many of the color photos are out-of-register, a real shame [but not if that kept some jerk from stealing the book.] However, the Osterland, with a greater page count, definitely has more patterns and more variations. So if you happen to spot it in a garage sale somewhere, snap it up.)
2015 update—since then I've acquired a few more books on french-beaded flowers, so here are some brief comments about them:
- McCall, Helen, French Beaded Flowers I: A Guide for Beginners. My first book on the topic, more a pamphlet (it's staple bound). It will get you started, but it didn't really inspire me.
- Kelly Dalene, French-Beaded Flowers: New Millennium Collection. Currently out of print, I believe. Basically just a pattern book, but with a couple of interesting approaches; the photography and design have a strong self-published vibe. I do like her variation on snap-dragon, and the liatris pattern
- Dickt, Donna DeAngelis, French Beaded Designs. Much more sophisticated than the Dalene in terms of photography and layout, this book also includes some advanced petal techniques otherwise only covered in the osterland.
- Doelp, Carol Benner, The Art of French Beaded Flowers: Creative Techniques for making 30 beautiful blooms. Another professionally produced book (this time by Lark Books) with an intro/tools/techniques section. Benner's technique is much more open—looser—than is traditional, which I don't care for, but she uses to very good effect with her bugle bead ‘fantasy flower’. She also has a few photos (like Baker) of funerary flowers that are way-cool.
Upshot? Osterland is still the most thorough; the Baker, Dickt or Doelp are all pretty good—if you're picky about your craft books, browse Amazon for complete details on organization; otherwise, just get whichever is easiest or most available at your library to get started. Honestly, once you learn the basic techniques, it's a matter of analyzing the flower or plant you want to reproduce and coming up the a pattern for it. There are now a lot of patterns for sale in the intertubes as well, at least last I checked.
“Another great book on a similar craft, tablet weaving, that I can recommend without reservations is Candace Crockett's Card Weaving.
“For years there was nothing in print on this craft, which was seemingly only kept alive by the interest of SCAers; now this woman—who is professor of art and really knows the underlying math and structure of card weaving— has come out with this wonderful book. (Hmm. Looking at the copyright page, it looks as if that old good book [1973] was by her, which she then updated [1991] and republished with Interweave press. They put out a lot of quite decent books, btw.) Card weaving only requires a deck of cards (or make your own with posterboard) to get started. She starts out with the history (btw so does Owen, another reason I like his book) and finishes up with some really cool ‘sculptural’ effects I'd never seen before.
“Glass beadmaking is another craft that is really exploding in popularity. Given that UM-Dearborn has ongoing classes in glass beadmaking and there are two chapters of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers in the tricounty area, I'd say there's a lot of local interest.
“My current favorite is Cindy Jenkins’ Beads of Glass: the Art and the Artists.
“My copy is on loan to a friend, but what I think is so wonderful about this book is that it showcases the work —and explains a technique of many glass bead artists (20? 40? lots, anyways)—plus wonderful galleries of the top beadmakers’ work (and not so top beadmakers, alas, since one of mine snuck in there), how to set up your studio, etc. Very reasonable, about $24.95. Or $29.95. But definitely that price range.
“Her older book, Making Glass Beads, has many beautiful pix of glass beads, but the field has moved forward so much that I really recommend the newer book.[2]
“Corina Tettinger's book, Passing the Flame, is focused more narrowly on her techniques, and is very popular, but it hasn't the breadth, and it's much more expensive —about $80 or so.[3]
“Jim Kervin has a new edition of his book More than you ever wanted to know about Glass Beadmaking, which is supposed to have color pix and more featured artists, and it does have an excellent section on how regulator valves are put together, as well as other studio safety issues, but I don't think it would have the broad appeal of the Jenkins book.
“If I could have only one flameworking book in my library the one I'd save would be Bandhu Scott Dunham's Contemporary Lampworking: A practical guide...(blah, blah, blah—what is it about flameworkers and long titles?) —however, this is for the serious flameworker (lampworker is the older term; it means the same thing) and might not have the ‘dip your toe’ appeal that glass beadmaking does. If you get it, be sure to get the latest edition, he just came out with a new one in the last year or so. This book has a very broad gallery, lots of technical info (annealing schedules, the chemical basis of how glass strikes, etc.) presented in an understandable way. (N.b.: the latest edition, which I haven't seen, is now two volumes.)
“The Carol Wilcox Wells title I was thinking of was Creative Bead Weaving: A contemporary guide to classic off-loom stitches. This is her first, and I think it's better than her second one, though both are better than those lame excuses I was dissing on the shelves. She doesn't cover ‘slow’ increase and decrease, but her skills as a graphic designer make for very clear instructions. Nice gallery, a bunch of projects, including the best thing she ever did, complete instructions to her Gilded Cage, one of the most gorgeous amulet purses I've ever seen.
Although amulet purse designs are now rather passe—the current rage is for layered necklace and bracelet designs—the book by Nicolette Stessin, Beaded Amulet Purses (or Bags—I forget which) is still the best. I do like Interweave Press's series on stitches—I have Beading with Brick Stitch by Diane Fitzgerald; there's a bunch of them—your Beading on a Loom with Don Pierce is also in that series.”
A web aside: Loom-weaving is not my thing, though I've been in beads long enough to have the classic comb-bound on loom-woven beads, Those Bad Bad Beads by Virginia Blakelock, which if it wasn't the granddaddy of all [modern] bead books—that honor would perhaps go to Horace Goodhue's Indian Beadweaving Patterns—Bad Bad Beads certainly got the field going; but Don Pierce, if not currently the leading luminary in the field, is surely close to the top.
“While I primarily bought Diane's book cuz I like her and could get an autographed copy, they all seem to have a nice gallery, good instructions and a bunch of (relatively) simple projects. They're certainly better than the stuff on your shelves, though I admit the cover of the wire-wrapping one looks lame.
“Oh, I know the best metal-work book, too: Tim McCreight's The Complete Metalsmith. It's unassuming (at least my ed. is) but is the must-have manual for anyone wanting to work metal or make metal jewelry. If you want the classic coffee-table book, then Oppi Untracht's Jewelry: Concepts and Technology is the way to go. I bought this book back when it was $80. Now, according to amazon, it's $135. But it has incredible depth.”
I snipped off the closing, and of course this email doesn't touch upon some of my other interests, such as embroidery, tassel-making or temari. The criteria used for choosing a library book are a little different that evaluating a book for your own use—so, with that thought in mind, here's a mental checklist I use when I'm buying for myself. Look for
- good visuals. It's so much easier to see than read.
- clear instructions
- thorough discussion of materials and tools
- focus on technique, not just recipes
- discussion of safety concerns. Almost all crafts have some.
- a gallery of really great pieces made in the medium—preferably sprinkled throughout the book & selected to match topic at hand
- projects to get the beginner started
- some discussion, at least, of advanced techniques
- a good historical background is always a plus
- good production values—a badly crafted ‘craft book’ is annoying
- reasonable price
For more on my approach for deciding whether to blow another 25–75USD on another craft book, you can read me going through the process in this bookbinding review. However, here are some definite warning signs: heavy reliance on expensive ‘pre-made’ components; page count mostly devoted to ‘easy’ cookie cutter projects rather than experimentation and technique; finished project is buried against a fancy busy background, to disguise just how stupid it really is; little or no discussion of tools or safety; little or no discussion for coping with the inevitable problems. In fact, bad craft books tend to avoid tackling alternative or difficult variations, one reason their projects tend to look similar and boring. It's fine for an author to promulgate one approach over others (folks who are passionate about their craft tend to be opinionated), but most authors, even if they have a favorite way of doing things, will encourage you to try one of several alternatives, because people are individuals who sometimes find one approach better than another. Look for this.
Good luck!
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
