Spellbound Floral Beaded Jewellery

About Julie Ashford

Julie Ashford is the owner and creative force behind the Spellbound Bead Co. Julie has been creating beaded designs, teaching and producing bead kits for many years. The company was founded 32 years ago and as well as specialising in retailing a huge range of beads and related products, Spellbound is best known for its fantastic range of in house designed kits and best selling beading books. She is the author of Spellbinding Beaded Jewellery, Spellbound Festive Beading; Spellbound Festive Beading Two; Spellbound Beaded Tassels and Starting to Make Bead Jewellery.

The Bead Society of Great Britain

Autumn/Winter 2016

I was delighted to be asked to review this book on beaded flowers, having the past spent a lot of time working in the same field. The opening technical section sets the scene very well and would be especially helpful if you have not done much bead weaving before. It only takes up a few pages but each of them is packed with useful information so it is well worth taking the time to study them before moving on to the project chapters. Each of the nine project chapters starts with a main project, most often a necklace, some with a matching bracelet or earrings which is then followed by two or three  variations. For example the Sunshine Necklace, gives rise to the Honey Bee Earrings and a second necklace (the Kyoto Necklace) which is inpsired by the Japanese cherry blossom, is developed into a pretty brooch. The Honeycomb necklace and bracelet inspired an adorable Bee Hive Vox. There are twenty-five projects in all. The instructions are clear and comprehensive and are supported by excellent illustrations and lovely photographs. There is a helpful system for grading the difficulty of the main projects so that you can choose one which best suits your beading experience. And there are lots of tips and snippets of extra information from an author who clearly enjoys her beads and her garden and takes pleasure in passing her ideas to others.

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Any UK beadwork enthusiast (and quite a few from other countries) will be familiar with the Spellbound Bead Co who is certainly my go-to stockist for a wealth of jewellery making supplies and their stunning kits.  Grab your small beads, needle and thread and get ready to make twenty-five different garden inspired items of jewelry. 

Delving into this lovely book is rather like gazing at the companys stand at a craft fair.  I learned how to make pieces using small beads and off-loom stitches from their kits and now sell designs to magazines; this shows the clarity of their instructions and diagrams.  If you are a beginner there are several pages at the start of the book showing the basics, from using a stop bead to finishing off, plus a pretty foolproof guide to brick stitch, herringbone rope, square stitch and working with flower and leaf beads.  The rest of the book contains the projects, each one having a skill rating and more than one large photograph of the finished piece plus details.  The instructions are aided by color versions of the diagrams in their kits and go through every stage in detail.  Dont be put off by their length; the author is just being thorough and although sharp eyes are required to read the print which is not large they are also needed to see the seed beads.   This is a large format book and another helpful feature is the spacing out of the instructions and diagrams, making them easier to read and not confusing.  The pieces themselves comprise of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins and a small box.  Leaves, cherry blossoms, daffodils, sunflowers, butterflies, bees and a colorful bouquet comprise some of the inspirations.  My own favorite has to be the final one which is also on the cover depicting a stunning wisteria.  Some pieces are simple and complement everyday items while others are more for special occasions but all are highly wearable and not arty or bizarre.  No piece uses anything that is hard to obtain and many beaders will already own enough to make at least one item without going shopping first always a plus.  One of the best beadwork books out there this year and highly recommended.