Crystal Brilliance: Making Designer Jewelry with Crystal Beads [Paperback]

I just received this book today after waiting six months since I pre-ordered it. It was a nice surprise that it was released a few days earlier than expected. This book is astonishingly wonderful. If you love beading with crystals and you love doing beadwork more intricate than simple stringing, I think you will love this book.

The book begins with a short introduction that addresses some issues about materials and techniques. It's nice to see a beadwork book that assumes the beader actually has some prior knowledge. You won't find an extensive review of needles, threads and beads cluttering up the front of this book. (Thank-you!) At the back of the book are brief (really brief-- 3 pages) beading basics instructions.

Then the projects begin on page 14. The projects feature mostly Swarovski bicone crystals and Swarovski fancy stone shapes, glass pearls, seedbeads in sizes 11 and 15, and cylinder beads (Delica, Aiko, etc) in sizes 11 and 8. The projects are beautiful. I found almost all of them to be projects I can see myself making. And several are just screaming at me to stop this writing nonsense and get out the beads!!! To find such a high proportion of projects I'd actually make in one book is extremely unusual. It's practically unheard of! As you can see using the "Look Inside" feature of this listing the projects are divided into several types: Classic, Romantic, Organic and Geometric. There are six or seven projects in each section, for a total of 26 gorgeous projects. I found the projects in all sections to be very attractive, although quite different in style. So if you like beading with crystals but you aren't the "romantic" style, you can probably find pieces to your liking in one of the other sections, such as Geometric.

Each project begins with a photo of the completed item on a black background. And this black background is my only complaint about this book. I found it difficult to get a good impression of the details of many of the projects from the first photo. Fortunately the instruction pages generally include another photo of the item on the white page as well as a photo of the item made according to a "Design Option" which suggests variations for the project. The instructions are given in numbered steps with references to numbered diagrams showing what each step looks like, so this works well for beaders who prefer written word instructions and those who understand diagrams better, and even those like me who really want both. So far as I have read them, the instructions seem to be well-written and easy to understand and follow.

While the projects are mostly at the intermediate level of beadworking skills, Anna notes that the first project in each section is one she believes is easier and can be achieved by a skillful beginner. The projects within each category then become progressively more difficult. The projects are mostly for bracelets and necklaces, with some variations to make pendants. Many of the bracelet designs could easily be made into necklaces instead. I am really going to enjoy using this book.

Crystal Brilliance by Anna Draeger is an excellent book using gorgeous sparkly crystals and projects that a even a beginner can do.

Draeger starts the book off by giving a brief history of how she picked up beading. It's always fun to hear how a talented artist stumbles upon that which makes their heart sing.

The next section explains color, crystal shapes, culling beads, findings, type of needles to use, beading thread and the various issues with using beading thread, using ergonomics to avoid damaging hands, wrists, neck, etc. Draeger also discusses the ideal work space, and creating new designs.

One of the best things about the first section are the crystals, lined up by color, marching across the bottom of the pages. So, if like me, you get frustrated trying to interpret colors online, these photos are high quality photos of each crystal. The color looks very accurate when I compared them to the pitifully small number of colors I have in my collection.

Following this information, the book is organized into four sections: Classic, Romantic, Geometric, and Organic and each project is assigned into the appropriate section. Each section starts out with the simplest project and works up to more complicated designs.

Each design includes a list of materials (size, number of beads, etc), and another list in a colored box off to the side with an inventory of the exact colors used in case you want to make an exact replica of the project. The directions are step by step and very clear. Illustrations are included for each step showing the line and direction of the thread with arrows and a clear, gorgeous photo of the finished product.

One of my favorite things about each project is the inclusion of a design alternative as well as the materials needed for the alternative. There are 26 actual projects, but with the design alternatives, that number technically balloons to nearly double the projects. While some alternatives are subtle, several are very different and help the beader see how to make a matching pair of earrings or completely change the look of a piece.

The end of the book contains a Basics section on things like how to end a thread (I had no clue how to do that before reading this book!)

I decided to test whether a beginner could truly be successful doing one of these projects. Luckily I had all the supplies I needed on hand because I have been wanting to try peyote (no, I still haven't done it yet). I chose the very first project in the book and made a bracelet for my daughter just by following the instructions. I proceeded to try one of the design alternatives-a pair of earrings using the beaded bead shown as part of the necklace in the top photo of the cover. They turned out super cute and were easier than I expected.

I just got this book today. It has absolutely beautiful jewelry designs, if you can dechiper the photos. All of the photos were done on a black glass like background, and it makes it almost impossible to see the detail of the design. Its a good thing the direction photos are clear because otherwise you would be lost looking at the actual design. Maybe it is just me, but I am a visual person, and I like to see how something will look before I make it. Some of the designs have an "alternate design" to them, and those are done on a plain white background so you CAN see what they look like. I like the designs, will make quite a few of them, but am very dissapointed in the photos. I don't know what "look" they were going for, but if it was meant to showcase the designs, they failed miserably.