Stitchboard Admin message #1
"The Beader’s Floral" by Liz Thornton & Jill Devon
March 13, 2011 at 5:48:05 PM
 

I first became aware of this book thanks to our own ShadoKat/Penny here in the Community�thank you, Penny!

This book is hard to obtain here in the US; indeed, copies are on Amazon for $98.  I�m not saying the book isn�t worth this much; however, this price is quite high for many beaders� budgets, including my own.

I�m going to say something now that�s based on an old clich�, but which definitely applies here: one can never be too rich or too thin�or have too many books on making beaded flowers.

In previous reviews, I�ve spoken about two other beading books, �Dimensional Flowers, Leaves & Vines� by the amazing Barb Grainger and �The Beaded Garden� by Diane Fitzgerald.  The former is, to my knowledge, the very first book of its type to marry techniques with beads and thread (as opposed to beads and wire) to make beaded flowers, and the latter is another excellent book that gives more techniques, patterns and ideas for making flowers with beads and thread.  Now we have �The Beader�s Floral,� and in my opinion, all three are a must and a much-needed reference for anyone who enjoys making flowers out of beads and thread.  Honestly, I wouldn�t want to give up any of these books, and I will gladly fight a duel with my knitting and beading needles if anyone dares to try to take them from me.

Now that I�ve convinced you of how invaluable these books are for anyone who likes to make beaded flowers, let me talk about �The Beader�s Floral� in particular.  For one thing, not only are there a nice variety of flowers to choose, there are several different stitches used in this book: herringbone, brick, square and peyote.  Another thing I like: each flower includes a few variations, so you can choose to make petals that look the way you want them to look; there are pictures of all variations for you to pick and choose.  The daffodil, for example, has three different variations for creating the �trumpet� part of the flower, so you can pick one that�s the exact height you prefer.

This isn�t �just� a book on making beaded flowers, though.  There are many well-thought-out projects in the book, too; necklaces, bracelets, etc.  Each is exquisite.  And of course, one is not limited to only the projects in the book.  I can picture many of these flowers being made up as earrings.

So if you like flowers and the idea of making them out of beads, and are lucky enough to find this book at a price that won�t break the bank, I highly recommend it as a good addition to your resource library.

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