Beautiful Beadweaving: Simply gorgeous jewelry Paperback – March 28, 2017

Ms. Isabella Lam's book IS full of beautiful jewelry, which she has painstakingly paired with clear, illustrated instructions, so one can make each piece. If you are handy with a needle and thread, or at least have followed intermediate pattern instructions for knitting or any other needle-work project, this book is very easy to follow, despite being different from other needle endeavors. Furthermore, Ms Lam has other very helpful websites which she mentions in her book from which a beginning beader can find beads, findings, as well as patterns AND the beads for the patterns, for purchase. Ms. Lam encourages beaders to source their own beads and findings, so they may discover the vast number of color and bead choices that exist, beyond the choices she has made for her own pieces. If this sounds more than you bargained for, I encourage a new beader to buy her book, then visit one of Ms. Lam's stores, and start with one of Ms Lam's patterns that comes with the materials you will need. If you continue to have difficulties, and there is no local beading store where you are, Ms. Lam is very helpful and generous, and will help you any way she can. Further, shoud you begin to look for beads on your own, you will quickly find vast quantitites of tutorials on the internet, and many beading suppliers. Also, Ms. Lam's patterns and materials are priced very reasonably, especially when compared to the time and learning curve inherent in sourcing your own materials - if you have not done this before. If you are new to beading, by the time you find the beads, and pay shipping, you will discover just how reasonable Ms. Lam's pre-packaged beading patterns are. This being said, I still encourage a beginner to purchase Ms. Lam's book; she introduces basic beading techniques, the handful of "tools" necessary to start, the kinds of beads used in her projects, and then explains step-by-step how her jewelry is constructed. Her book is a gift that challenges the reader to think creatively, and learn far more than how to make the exquisite jewelry carefully presented on every page.

I love, love, LOVE this beadweaving book. Isabella Lam is a woman after my heart with all her gorgeous designs and the bling that I so love. Every single design is gorgeous. I love them all! I'm unable to give you a favorite. But the bracelet on the cover instantly caught my eye. That pattern is definitely on my "to make" list! I love all the necklace's with the rivoli's, and you could say, one of my favorite's is the "bee necklace". Loving all the jewelry is unusual for me personally as most beadweaving books will have a few pattern's that I find so appealing but not every pattern do I love. This book I can definitely say, I love every pattern! It's beautifully written and the instructions are illustrated by a personal favorite beady person of mine. :-) This is bBeadweaving 2017 at it's best This book will be a lovely addition, front and center, to my beading library!

Love this book. Instructions and drawings are easy to follow. Designs have enough bling to be interesting but not so much as to qualify them for "evening wear". Many books have just one or two designs that appeal to me, but I'm finding that with minor adjustments I can get most of the designs to fit my low-key lifestyle :) while my beading buddy can go full-on blingy!

I support buying the beads from the author. She makes great kits and they are reasonably priced. Plus, she is a great lady. I have found the patterns in this book to be variable in level by quite a bit. But the beauty of the projects is the same throughout. Gorgeous!

I have really, really enjoyed working projects from this book. It has very easy to understand instructions with excellent diagrams and pictures to follow along with the instructions. The projects in here are all really pretty too, I can't wait to make them all:-)

Beautiful Beadweaving by Isabella Lam is simply gorgeous, as the title states. It features 25 projects complete with full color pictures and diagrams, along with narrative instructions. There are three instances wherein the necklace, bracelet and earrings for a particular design are treated as separate projects so one could argue there are only 19 different designs. However, I like that the jewelry pieces in a set are presented separately rather than added as "variation" footnotes with limited instructions, which often happens with projects in other books and in magazines.Almost all of the projects feature crystals and are somewhat ornate so this is not the right book for anyone seeking low-key or casual designs. I agree with the author that Swarovski crystals will yield the best results for the designs in this book - they are best cut and highest clarity on the market, particularly when it come it rivolis and fancy stones, which are used in many projects.In addition to the aforementioned crystals, the designs feature Swarovski glass pearls (also the best on the market and worth the extra $), Swarovski bicone crystals in various sizes, an assortment of Czech two hole and specialty beads (Super Duos, O-Beads, Triangle Beads, Drop Beads, etc.) and a variety of seed beads. All of these beads are readily available from many reputable vendors online if you're not lucky enough to have a really good, fully stocked bead shop near by.You will find that the project materials are not inexpensive, particularly if you purchase small quantities at retail prices, as I do. I have a gigantic bead stash and yet I often don't have everything on hand for projects such as those in this book. By way of an example, I spent about $30 procuring beads for one bracelet from the book, and that doesn't include what I already had on hand, although I will have some left over beads to add to my stash when the bracelet is complete. In any event, your overall budget and how much you're willing to spend on an individual project will be factors to consider.I'm an experienced beader and in my opinion, this is not a beginner's book in terms of skill level needed to complete the projects with ease. Narrative instructions for some steps are sparse; this wouldn't be as much of an issue if there were more diagrams to comprehensively illustrate the various steps in a project. I found it helpful to read through ALL instructions/study all diagrams before beginning a project in order to ensure I understood the construction, and was clear on the color coding within the diagrams and when to use each color bead. I also had to adjust the bead count and/or adapt the project instructions on some pieces. This may have been due to variations in bead sizes among manufacturers such that beads I used in a particular design may have been slightly larger or smaller than those used by the author.Although some might find elements of this book challenging, I would still encourage any bead and jewelry lover, regardless of experience, to add this book to their library for inspiration if not immediate use. Excellent book, great price, highly recommended.