Book reviews: art quilts, bead embroidery, making glass beads

It’s long past time to catch up on some book reviews, so without further ado:

Twelve by twelve is a beautifully designed book that arose from a challenge group of a dozen artists who created one 12" X 12" art quilt every two months over a two year period (Thanks to Gerrie Congdon for straightening me out on the time factor). The themes varied from Water to Shelter to Mathematics.

There are comments from each artist, detailed photographs, works in progress, studios to see, discussions of techniques, and much more in this 176-page book. As you can see by the cover image, some of the quilts have non-objective imagery, many are abstract, some are more realistic.

I’ve made a few quilts this size for the Quilting Arts calendar contests and for auctions to benefit SAQA and it is a good size to work with. However, making the commitment to creating so many so consistently is way beyond me... hats off to these artists for getting it done!

My only complaint about Sherry Serafini’s Sensational Bead Embroidery is that the cover image doesn’t begin to do justice to this artist’s glorious work. It's an odd view of a bracelet and all that darkness looks gloomy, while her beaded pieces are a delight to the eye. Check out her web site to get an idea. And don't miss her handbags, they are amazing.

I’ve been a fan of Sherry’s (along with a zillion other beaders) for years, mostly from seeing her work in Bead & Button magazine. Have only attempted some small pieces, but love the technique. It allows you to turn humble seed beads along with a few stones, jewels, or Scrabble tiles into gorgeous one-of-a-kind colorful, textured jewelry.

There are 25 projects in this book with clear directions and supply lists and good closeups of the beaded earrings, brooches, rings, bracelets, and necklaces that show the details. There are projects for all levels of experience.

Creating Glass Beads by Jeri L. Warhaftig is designed as an intermediate level workshop, so beginners should probably start elsewhere. However, the tools and materials for the craft are well covered. Each “session” takes the reader through the process of making a project such as a pendant with gold leaf, an eye bead, and an intriguing combo of glass and silver “clay.” At the end of each session are numerous examples made by students plus a gallery of other professional artists’ beads made with similar techniques.

Making glass beads is a craft I admire but have avoided due to the use of actual *fire*...but if I ever dare to try it this book will be an excellent guide to exploring different techniques. After learning the basics from a very patient teacher, first.

It’s been fun being on Lark Crafts reviewer list, they publish some very inspiring books!

Reading Rockets 2010 Big Summer Read

How nice to find out that The Shocking Truth about Energy is on the list for 6-9 year olds recommended by Reading Rockets. The entire list of about 20 titles is here online and there’s a PDF if you’d like to print out the list to take to the bookstore. 

Other titles on the list include: 

Face to Face with Manatees by Brian Skerry
She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Tribal Leader, by J. G. Annino
Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer


The Reading Rockets web site is full of excellent resources to help encourage kids to read.


I created an e-card for them a few years ago, which can be found on this page along with several more by various illustrators such as Robert Sabuda, Marc Brown, and Betsy Lewin. The idea is to send them to your favorite little reader to give them a little extra motivation throughout the year.


So, here’s to happy reading, all summer long!

2 new quilting books

A surprising and delightful package arrived last week containing two new titles published by Lark Books. Apparently I had signed up to review books for them months ago, though had completely forgotten about it. I would have written about them sooner, but after starting to page through 500 Art Quilts, I put everything on hold to spend the next few days in the studio putting together an entry for a contest before the March 8th deadline. (Made it, see sneak peek below.)


So, I can personally attest that 500 Art Quilts: An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work, definitely lives up to its subtitle. The artwork juried by Karey Patterson Bresenhan into this book presents a wonderful overview of the variety of work being created by artists today using cloth and thread plus many materials that uninitiated readers might not expect. Each full-color photograph is accompanied by a materials and process list that may include newspaper, fusing, drawn threads, charcoal, gauze, stones, tulle, ink-jet printing, grommets, zippers, beads, shibori, and much more.  A portable quilt show in 432 pages (8" X 8"), it is a worthy addition to the books in this series, such as another one of my favorites, 500 Beaded Objects. 

For a more detailed step-by-step book, Pretty Little Mini Quilts can fill the bill. The small (under 36") quilts are original designs by 25 different artists. They include a variety of styles and techniques such as traditional geometric blocks, appliquéd images, a portrait quilt, “drawing” with thread, machine and hand embroidery, vintage fabrics, and the use of embellishments. The directions are clear and should provide enough information for sewers with at least some experience. Compared with the artwork shown in 500 Art Quilts, these projects are simpler overall and require relatively standard materials and techniques. The 144 page, 8" X 8" book includes a table of contents, supply and tool list with general instructions, and an index. 

Last week I wasn’t sure if there was time to pull together an entry for the Quilting Arts 2011 calendar contest, but things came together nicely for once... perhaps my biggest worry was having enough time to print out three 8" X 10" photographs without my printer balking. No problemo, this time. As you can see from the detail, I crocheted some elements, in this case the curly stem on top of a tomato. I was glad to be able to enter again, wish me luck!

Jewelry with wire, beads... and fiber?

I’ve been in a jewelry phase lately and when I wandered into JoAnn’s yesterday, most beading supplies were marked 40–50% off (yippee!) One of the intriguing books available was Crocheted Wire and Bead Jewelry by Jacqui Harris. It was only $5.97 after the markdown, with nice color photographs of the variety of necklaces. They’re all based on the same process; chain stitch at least 3 lengths of wire with beads, then braid them together. They can be elegant or wild and crazy, depending on the choice of colors and beads.

The random quality inherent to this style of jewelry is one of its most appealing aspects for me. Another nice feature is that these are pretty quick to construct. I made the one below in a couple of hours in front of the TV last night. It has 6 strands braided in groups of 2, so it’s still a 3-strand braid. One factor is that the wire can be hard on the fingers, so perhaps gloves might be in order for the fingertips that must grip the wire chain while in progress. I used 26 gauge wire instead of the recommended 28, so that made it a bit tougher as well. Of course you wouldn’t have to stick to a 3-strand braid. 200 Braids to Twist, Knot, Loop, or Weave by Jacqui Carey is wonderful eye candy that shows amazing ways to create unique trim. A helpful photographic “braid and trim selector” is a visual index to the contents. Each sample is explained clearly with general instructions plus the unique aspect of each one, e.g. multi-colored or different strand weights and/or textures. I bought the book without any specific project in mind, but with over 75 braids alone, there must be some that would be appropriate for crocheted wire work jewelry. Time to experiment, definitely.

And what about adding some fiber? Whether wire can be considered “fiber” is perhaps debatable, but there must be a way to add strips of fabric, ribbon, or yarn. Below is a simple 3-strand sample with one strand that’s crocheted with wire + ribbon yarn. The other two strands are wire chains with beads. Some definite possibilities there!Tomorrow is the Craft and Hobby Association Craft SuperShow which moved to Orlando this year, so who knows what supplies may be available there? Better bring an extra bag...

Beads plus fiber?

Beads have been one of my art supply obsessions for quite some time. In recent years, the fabric acquisition mania has taken precedence, but the beads refuse to be ignored for long.

This choker is a super-simple random arrangement on memory wire, so it doesn’t even require a clasp. Last week I took beads, necklace and bracelet memory wire, plus tools over to my sister’s vacation place so the nieces, aunts, and Grandma could all make something sparkling.

The next two necklaces use a method of stitching with a strong nylon beading thread over a beading wire, known as the spiral stitch.
Basically you string 4 large seed beads (#8 or #6), add a sequence of beads that together are slightly longer, then go back through the first 4 large seed beads from underneath so it makes sort of a D-shape. Add one more large seed bead, string the same sequence of the other beads, then insert the needle from underneath through the previous 4 large seed beads (skipping the very bottommost large seed bead.) The beads naturally fall into the spiral, though you have to watch to make sure they’re nesting together properly. I like to use stone chips or irregular coral beads in these. Fortunately, I just found an online tutorial that shows the basic technique.

Here’s an interesting book that adds fiber to the mix, Bella Beaded Jewelry: Artful Italian Designs with Wire, Thread, Cord & Ribbon, by Donatella Ciotti. She uses various cords and threads, thin wire, and/or metallic tubular mesh ribbon plus beads (of course!) in a variety of ways to fashion necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings. Below is a spread about making a crocheted base that beads are then added to. At 96 pages with plenty of full-color photographs, it’s definitely an inspirational book worth having if you enjoy creating your own one-of-a-kind jewelry. In addition, many of these methods are suitable for embellishments on fiber art of all kinds. Like many of you, I have quite a variety of yarns, ribbons, cords, etc. that could be gorgeous in combination with the stash of beads on hand.

Happy creating!

Garden books for artists + kids

Spring is the time to plant gardens or paint them (or both!) I came across this book that contains garden-inspired artwork from 100 different artists in a wide variety of styles using various media such as oils, acrylics, watercolors, and pastels. Under each image, the artist discusses the inspiration, design strategy, work process, and materials used.
The cover is shown on the left. It’s pretty dull, which may be why this is a bargain book on Amazon, marked down from $24.99 to around $6.50. A couple of other titles in the series are also marked way down. The full title is How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Flowers & Gardens. Definitely inspirational! I have some notions about adding some fabric collage, stitching, and beadwork to the mix... stay tuned.

On the I.N.K. blog today, I posted 10 Reasons Why Kids Need a Garden, which includes a collection of several recent books about gardening for kids. To the left is one that didn’t get into that post, so here it is. Gardening with Kids is by Catherine Woram and Martyn Cox, with photographs by Polly Wreford. It has 35 projects plus garden-related crafts and games.

Happy creating, whether with art or dirt (or both)!

Printing by Hand: book review

Hand printing is only an occasional activity for me, but it’s useful to know the basics. Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens, by Lena Corwin contains all you need to know to carve stamps, cut stencils, make silkscreens, then print on various surfaces. At 144 pages with plenty of photographs and a lay-flat spiral binding, it’s sure to be well-used additon to the studio. The projects range from the simple (pouches) to the complex (a set of sheets) with the author’s clean and versatile designs.

On the page below, she explains the difference between standard and reverse stencils, as well as the use of “bridges” when designing one.


I’ve carved a few stamps and enjoy using the soft carving blocks such as Speedy-Cut, made by Speedball.

This simple stamp was used during my B.Q. era (Before Quilts) to print a feathery pattern on canvas with acrylic paint. I started with a blueish-gray base color, then stamped on the lighter feathers more or less randomly using a range of near-whites.















This collage consists of canvas, clear plastic, and aluminum foil, all painted, cut out, then adhered to a stretched canvas with gel medium. For example, the brown stem is plastic. I’ve always liked the flexibility of collage, the way you can move the pieces around until the last minute. In many ways it’s similar to using layers in Photoshop, which is how my book illustrations are created.

The completed image, Fishing, shows a heron on the prowl. Normally a large white water bird in Florida would be an egret, but in the Keys there is a native white heron.

I love the way this turned out, but have a notion to do a similar design with fabric and stitching. While collage is a wonderful art, the hard varnished surface is not as appealing to me these days. Give me that soft undulating fabric that can be painted, crinkled, stitched, beaded... it seems endlessly flexible from a creative standpoint. And if you can’t find the fabric you like, why not print your own?