Genre: Nonfiction

This book teaches the lovely art of netted beadwork. The basic instruction is easy to follow and the instructions for each project are clear and complete. It's no surprise that this is an Interweave Press book. Every project has at least one attractive and detailed photograph, showing the whole piece. You can see exactly what you'll be making, and compare the instructions to the photo(s) as you go along. Each step is illustrated with line drawings; the reader/beader can follow the text, the illustrations, or both. There are examples of historical pieces and professional modern pieces for inspiration. After reading and working with this book even the beginner can make jewelry to be proud of, and possibly even design personalized pieces as well.

Not only is this a great book for learning netted beadwork, it's a great resource for making good jewelry without having to spend a lot of money. The majority of the beads are seed beads, with a handful of other types - the interest comes from the netted quality, instead of the beautiful-yet-expensive beads so much bead jewelry requires. I look forward to making a lot of netted beadwork pieces from this book, and inspired by this book. ( )

Clear and concise, but following Fitzgerald's instructions for knotting off were a total disaster for me, and I lost about 7 hours worth of work in a shower of tiny beads and swear words. ( )