A Lovely French Beaded Flower Book
Anyone who works with beads has a bead stash, and mine rivals the best of them. I probably have enough beads to make beaded flowers and Ganutell well into the next decade without buying another bead. Not that I won’t buy more, of course. I also have a beading book stash. I love beading books, and I have bought most of the books available on French beaded flowers. I’d have a considerable collection of books on Ganutell, too, but there’s only a few of them in existence.
As time permits, I want to tell you about some of these books, and today’s post is about my most recent purchase, 
“Beads in Bloom, the art of making French beaded flowers” by Arlene Baker. At first glance, I wasn’t sure about this book. It seemed it might be only for beginning beaders, but I’m so very glad I ordered it. “Beads in Bloom” is a beautifully illustrated softcover book that has it all. The author tells us about supplies, general information and techniques, then gives us some really unique patterns to try.
The section on Things to Know includes some neat tips on making beaded flowers, such as using old fashioned hair clips as an extra pair of hands. The section on Fundamental Techniques is just that. Well illustrated, this section takes us through the basic techniques in a very clear manner; a beginner should have no problem learning here.
In Flower Assembly we learn how to put it all together, including shading
and coloring techniques, as well as how to shape the petals with wonderful finishing touches. We’re given a beautiful Gallery of finished beadwork, then several Projects that are quite well written with easy-to-follow instructions. My first post to this blog includes a photograph of a rose pin that I did following a pattern from this book. Here’s a close-up photo of that piece.
“Beads in Bloom” indeed has it all. Being long on instruction and short on projects, the main focus seems to be for beginners, but there’s plenty in this book to interest and inspire beaders from beginner to advanced, and it remains one of my favorite beaded flower books.
At the time of writing “Beads In Bloom” is available at Amazon at about 30% off normal price. Click here for details.
