Making Glass Beads

Library Journal

Beads have become so popular that entire shops are now devoted to selling beads and bead accessories. However, it is possible to make colorful beads of one's own from craft materials. Casey's beads are often humorous items made from glued strips of cloth, yarn, or paper and finished off with clear nail polish. Resembling polymer clay beads, they can be made in fantastic shapes and colors. The projects have detailed, step-by-step instructions with large enough illustrations to be used for children's as well as adult crafts. Jenkins's beads are little glass gems made using standard glassworking supplies and equipment such as a kiln and propane torch. She gives step-by-step instructions for plain glass, millefiori (thousand flowers), sculpted beads, and others. Photographs of museum-quality beads by other artists are interspersed throughout and provide an eye-opening look at the bead as art. Both books are welcome additions to craft collections.