I bought this because of the beautiful pictures and to learn how to use colors in my beading (and because I liked the term "bead soup"). I love color, but I needed a go-to reference for using it well. I was buying colorful beads, but I'm not good at visualizing colors together; all of my pieces were basic or monochromatic. Pretty, but not what I *wanted*.
Beaded Colorways comes with two color wheels (one regular, one pastel) and half a dozen "wheels" you can lay over the wheel to get different types of mixtures. I was impressed, because six is two more groupings than I've found with other wheels. It explains hues and value and saturation, but right out of the box, the wheel was great.
Every action in this book has at least one photo--not a drawing, a photo--of a person doing the step. If I'd known the book mainly uses netting, I wouldn't have purchased it. I'm glad I didn't know! I've never been able to find basic instructions for netting; this book has them. The netting instructions had ten steps, which means it had ten photos and one illustration of the first three rows.
Some beaders are thinking "netting"? Netting brings to mind Christmas ornament covers. But there are three kinds of "three-bead netting" in this book: basic, modified, and wild. That was enough to get me started--if the middle had no rules, than I couldn't mess it up.
I'm over halfway through a project I would never have been able to do without the encouragement this author provides--the encouragement to try it. Have fun. It's free-form, she repeats frequently, so you can't get it "wrong". That's the way we teach children to explore their world, but beading often has rigid rules and specific requirements. This bead, this brand of this bead, this size of this brand of this bead...
I highly recommend "Beaded Colorways". It's not only informational, it's fun!
I love this book. I especially love how to mix beads to get a graduated effect. I'm not beading much any more, but I can apply a lot of the concepts from the book to things I am doing -- counted cross-stitch and quilting. No knowledge ever goes to waste.
I purchased this book based on the good reviews of others, and I'm very glad I did. It is all that they enthused about, and more.
There was mention of a color wheel. When investigating that (in a plastic pocket in the back of the book) I was surprised to find some templates as well, with guides to the different aspects of color matching. Yes, it is possible to make these up on your own, but I can't remember the last time I got the crayons/color pencils out to that end.
Not only does it illustrate (with large illustrations) some of the basics of beading and bead weaving, it offers many projects and means of applying those techniques. Whereas I'm not sure I would create exactly these offerings, their projects are sure to get the creative juices flowing in directions of my own.
My budget is pretty controlled these days, and I don't invest in too many new books sight unseen, but I'm very happy I invested in this one. It's a valuable addition to my library.
Lots of information. A lot of concentration on color, which I don't really need but nice examples and good directions. I seem to be a little slow on the uptake when choosing titles but this book has a lot of great designs and instructions. Maybe not the best for a total beginner--except for the color stuff--but definitely a good reference book.
I thought this beautiful book was going to be mostly about colors and color theory, but it also has well-illustrated instructions on how to do the projects.
A word of warning: The included color wheels and templates are reduced in size to fit the book format. If you go to Gilbert's website and order the Earthtone color wheels as I did, thinking that they could be used with the book, you'll find that they're larger and don't fit these templates. You'll have to order all the full-size Saturated and Pastel color wheels and templates from her website and then get the Earthtone wheels to go with them.
Feature Product
- Used Book in Good Condition
Description
Mix Glowing Color Palettes to Create Stunning Jewelry
Learn to approach color as a painter does, only your palette will be rainbow-hued beads, and your paintings will be spectacular jewelry you can wear! Beaded Colorways shows you how to mix beads and gems to create custom color blends called Bead Soups. These soups are then woven together into dazzling pieces that are more like works of art than simple jewelry. You'll even learn how to seamlessly stitch from one color to another, helping you create stunning multicolor jewelry.
Beverly Gilbert teaches you to create your own stunning beaded works of art through:
- In-depth discussions about color theory—accompanied by color wheels—allowing you to turn beads into your medium and make jewelry your canvas
- Clear photos and step-by-step instructions guide you through beadweaving techniques—including netting, peyote and freeform stitches—letting you create truly unique jewelry
- 18 projects that include a mix of materials to add even more texture: gems, beach glass, ribbon and metal all make their way into stunning creations
Let Beaded Colorways start your artistic beading journey.
This book is for the adventurous beader who wants to take her/his beading to the next creative level. It is well written, easy to follow with lots of helpful hints and photographs, and builds from easy to more difficult in a seamless fashion. And there is a bonus at the end: a few projects that include beading with metal. Of course I hit Amazon and bought all the goodies necessary to complete those projects!
I had been interested in doing some freeform beadweaving, and other books that I wasted money on were just dissappointing or too difficult to be practical. This one was exactly what I was looking for. Moreover, I now look at color and notice it in a completely different way -- walking in the woods, looking at a bowl of fruit, now I notice the beauty of color in nature and elsewhere (look at the photo of the bowl of olives in this book!) The photos are absolutely gorgeous, and the color wheels are ingenious. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to depart from typical beadweaving patterns and instructions and take a more creative path.
I had preordered this book a few months back and have been awaiting its arrival. Well it did not disappoint - I am thrilled to add this book to my collection. The pictures of the beads, color inspiration and the actual jewelry are all luscious. Custom color wheels are included - which will make creating bead soup interesting and fun. The photos in the projects section are nice and straight forward with great working close ups of the beads. The projects are geared to beginners as well as seasoned beadweavers. I am especially excited with the section on beadweaving on metal - something I want to explore. There are lots of hints scattered throughout the book and tons of color info - I especially like the color wheel information for each project. I like the stock the book is printed on - every page is glossy and the photos just pop.
I cannot wait to get started making "bead soup" and I am very glad I purchased this book - it is full of information and inspiration.
Beautiful book full of great illustrations and pieces..great purchase
I was slightly disappointed. Based on the recommendation I read in a beader's blog, I expected more examples of freeform Peyote stitch There are plenty of other books in the craft world on choosing colors and the beading techniques shown in the book. (The Beader's Bible, listed on the back cover is an excdellent reference for beading techniques.) It's nice that this one comes with color wheels and overlays for visualizing color combinations, but I would have liked to see more real examples.
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