Wearing your beaded jewelry in different ways really extends the wearability of the pieces. Why let these languish in your jewelry box? Some tricks include as swapping out components for others or making the piece reversible are some of the ways.
Lisa Kan's new beading book,
Bead Metamorphosis: Exquisite Jewelry from Custom Components
is an
Interweave publication which I recently received for review. It is well named as the 16 projects (from beginner to advanced) are specifically designed with ideas on how they can be transformed into other variations.
The designer is clearly fond of historical periods and design eras. Those influences are seen in some of her designs and the names she chose for them.
Lisa is an imaginative beader who is not afraid in add material not commonly seen in beadwork. Some of my favorite projects from the book were the earrings ones with fine chain. They look lovely as they are but the chains will amplify dangle movements. One example are the
Rivoli Scallop Chain earrings below :
Another chain and beadwok earrings design I liked is this pretty
Crown Jewels earrings, where the beaded hemisphere is taken from the
Crown Jewel necklace's (not shown) round component design. The necklace also shows the use of large montees as well as pearl centers. Montees are mounted crystals which the author called 2 hole sliders. One thing I noticed - both these companion projects were separated by other projects. It would have made better sense to have them on consecutive pages as the fully round component can also be used for matching earrings.
Her elegant designs sometimes cleverly hides the functional bits. This Maharaja Indian jewelry inspired
Sundara necklace for example, has the snap closure beneath the small bezel rivoli. Such attention to detail. I also appreciated her instructions on how to bezel the crystal to a point at the bottom.
Some of the advanced projects from the book requires several different stitch types. The
Kayla lariat necklace below utilized 11 of them! The slider component design used here is also similar to that of the first earrings above. She used the same component design again, but with dagger beads, for the
Chrysanthemum brooch (on the cover).
The designer also believes in the "less is more" principle. I heartily agree when she said,
"I have seen designs that are really pretty but are over embellished. Sometimes we can get carried away and don't know when to stop adding to a design." This sentiment is exemplified by her lovely ribbon based necklaces such as the
Bella Fiore necklace below. The beaded loop at the back could easily be made larger to accommodate a thin scarf.
All in all, a delightful addition to any beading library, one which scores in both romantic elegance and wearability. Many of the designs are not too complex and therefore ideal for the time challenged!
Disclosure Before You Go: ______________________________
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