If you love beading, it would be a painful process when no one tells you what to do when make a mistake. I remember when I learned beading on my own when I was younger, I had made painful mistakes that cost hours of hard work to go to waste. For instance, in my beaded hairclips, I would not factor enough excess thread space to enable a little bead movement. As the result, at the end when you realize there is not enough thread space to squeeze all beads, sometimes tugging harder would end up breaking the thread and all the hardwork would just be gone.
That’s why, if you are serious enough about your hobby, you would need to do constant research to find ways to improve your craft. Either learn from internet or from books- in which you can either buy online, from the bookstore or browse via the library.
Book Review: The beader’s bible- a comprehensive guide to beading by Dorothy Wood.
There is a book called the Beader’s Bible written by Dorothy Wood. I find the book’s quite practical because it list down different types of beads, equipments to use, and how to correct common mistakes and what to do with them.
Some methods taught in the book:
- Setting up a bead loom and weaving beads on the loom (to form a nice beaded bracelet)
- Beading evening bags
- Ladder stitch, brick stitch, herringbone stitch, peyote stitch, netting stitch, African helix, right angle weaving
- Working with ropes and cords, tassles
- Making beaded necklaces
- Wire work and jewelry techniques: toolkits required, how to shape the wires to make loops for earrings, findings
- Beaded flowers
- Decorative beads on shoes, handbags
- Knitting and crochet with beads
- Beads crochet
