Now returning to mainstream fashion, chunky jewellery is everywhere, but it can be alarmingly expensive to buy. Big Bead Jewellery contains 35 easy-to-follow projects for making statement jewellery pieces that will look stunning and elegant, both day and evening. Using simple techniques that don't involve heat or soldering, Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell reveals the secrets of how to make glamorous but reliable jewellery to treasure - and the surprise is that many of the materials and stones are deceptively inexpensive.
Taking a modern, organic approach, and allowing the natural shapes and colours that are unique to each piece to dictate the design, Deborah creates necklaces, earrings and bracelets with an eclectic collection of materials, including glass, plastic and wooden beads, semi-precious stones and pearls, as well as reinventing broken jewellery and found pieces, and incorporating textiles and buttons into her pieces.
How to find and create the best colour combinationss, as well as textures and materials that complement each other, are vital steps, and Deborah shows you what really works. Next she offers a detailed glossary of the materials to use, including an up-to-date guide to the new stones on the market and a section on how to make the most of old pieces that need a new lease of life. Using the best of the new materials, the core of the book works through 35 projects in photographic step-by-step, showing how to choose and use one-offs and groups of stones and beads in jewelled pieces, many with variations and additional ideas. Projects are presented in four chapters: From the Sewing Box; Treasures from the Earth; The Glory of Glass Beads; and Pearls, Silver & Sparkle.