Stitchboard Admin message #1
“Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski” by Laura McCabe
February 7, 2010 at 9:29:35 PM
 

I have to admit: I'm not immune to the appeal of Swarovski crystals, particularly rivolis.

Matter of fact, I�m in love with them.

The book is resplendent with gorgeous photographs.  Projects range from simple to extremely complex, with everything explained well.

The basic instructions, at the beginning of the book, talk about the various stitches used.  Most are bead weaving stitches, with a little bit of bead embroidery.  There are also two bezeling techniques, with handy dandy charts for bezeling rivolis and other crystal stones of various sizes.

Projects that especially caught my eye were the �Crown Jewels,� the �Crystal Geodesic Dome� and the �Infinity Necklace.�  These projects use crystal stones to make intricate pieces with various numbers of sides.

However, in case you think all of the projects involve bezeling crystals, rest assured, they don�t.  Most do, but there are two, the �Crystal Spiral Rope Necklace� and the �Life Framed Bracelet� that don�t use any crystals at all.

I do have two small complaints about this book, neither of which I feel are the author�s fault.  For one, most of the projects call for 15/0 charlottes.  These have become impossible to find lately; last I�d heard was that the factory in the Czech Republic was possibly going to close.  I�m hoping it didn�t/doesn�t, but that would definitely make 15/0 charlottes much harder to find were the factory to close.

The other problem is with quantities of Swarovski crystals themselves.  Considering the book itself has the trademarked �Create your Style with Swarovski� imprint, an author would be hard-pressed to write a book that didn�t include quite a few Swarovski products.  Unfortunately, some of the quantities needed for the various projects are no doubt out of reach for many beaders, who likely won�t be able to purchase a �gross� (or more) of Swarovski crystals.  Some projects call for three or more gross of an item.

The effect of the project wouldn�t be even close to the same, but my suggestion to those beaders would be to try using fire-polished beads or larger seed beads in place of the Swarovski crystals.  While I can�t suggest a replacement for rivolis or crystal stones, which can be very pricey, at least finding a substitute for those items which must be purchased in large quantities may be helpful.

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