Table of Contents

Introduction
In that famous movie, Marilyn extolled the virtue of diamonds. And I guess Liz thinks they’re a girl’s best friend, too. But for me, a tray full of semiprecious stone, precious metal, crystal, and handmade beads has so much more meaning, creative potential, and often just as much beauty.

BRACELETS
Elizabethan Cuff
Use bugle beads to make a three-dimensional right-angle weave matrix, and then embellish it with pearls, crystals, and seed beads. 

Pearls and Twists
This bracelet is a clever working of wire and pearls. It encircles your wrist like a golden guard!

Slither Chain
This versatile bracelet is a natural for any attire. Alternating matte and shiny beads of the same color makes a very effective look.

Netted Garden
Making this pretty bracelet is just the thing to bring you down to earth. After you create the netted base, you’ll decorate the bracelet with seed and accent beads.

Fences and Flowers
This seemingly complicated pattern is a snap! 

Three-Step Bracelet
Make this bracelet by weaving a band of flat peyote stitch and then embellishing it with appliqué and a picot edging. The result is a delicate but sophisticated-looking chain.

Wagon Wheels
These wheels roll across your wrist like wagons on the trail. By altering the type and color of beads used for the spokes, you’ve got a whole different look.

Serendipity Bangles
Make these fun bangles as simple or as fringed as you like. Add fringe legs, fringe loops, or fringe ruffles for a variety of effects.

Flower Garden
This lovely bracelet brings springtime flowers year-round!  Once you learn how to construct one of the pretty flowers, you’ll be able to create new variations, making you own unique garden.

Peek-a-boo Bracelet
A combination of square and odd-count peyote stitches, this bracelet resembles chain link.

Cuffed
Create this fanciful wire cuff in an evening. Let the beads be your design guide.

NECKLACES
Vesselage
Inspired by the focal vessel made by Minneapolis lampworker Annemarie Herrlich, this free-form necklace evolved on its own. When making yours, do away with preplanning and let the beads speak to you.

Pearl Net Choker
Make this versatile choker by working rounds of netting.

Victorian Necklace
Create this elegant necklace by adding a swirl of picots and loops to peyote-stitched strips.

Topaz Beauty
Combine simple peyote-stitched tubes, crystals, and a swirling Sparkly Wheel to make this stunning topaz necklace.

Crochet Braid
You don’t need to know how to crochet to make this light and fanciful piece.

Spiral Sync
This spiral variation is worked on a prestrung necklace. By using beading wire, you can string larger, heavier beads with small holes without the fear of breaking the thread.

Trinket Chain
Collect special beads, charms, and lockets to create this special necklace that shows off your wares.

Green Temple
This twisting, curving, snakelike necklace is certain to snag attention.

One-to-Many-Strand Necklace
Use a favorite piece of multicolored clothing or a colorful picture as a guide in choosing the bead colors for this lush necklace. 

EARRINGS
Crystal Extravaganza
These earrings gave the designer (a former tomboy) the freedom to be as outrageous, glitzy, and uninhibited as she dared to be.

Beaded Bead Stiletto
Suggesting a highly refined look, these stilettos nevertheless pack a wallop as they draw the eye from the ear down to the main event – a beaded bead as dazzling and colorful as you want it to be.

Chained Reflection
These earrings are simple, chic, and fun, and they take advantage of the earring nut – a jewelry finding that’s often ignored.

Crystal Elegance
Experimenting with moss stitch produced this pretty double-sided, three-dimensional design that employs Swarovski crystals.

Watermelon Balls
Watermelon tourmaline is a beautiful semiprecious stone that has a range of green, white, and red shades. Instead of actual tourmaline, however, this clever design features bicone crystals in an array of those same shades. The crystals successfully mimic the stone, and they’re much easier to find.

Stardust Earrings
Create these dazzling earrings using ladder and herringbone stitch in the round.

Sheer Dangles
Wondering what to do with leftover beads? These earrings will inspire mixes and matches that make an enchanting pair of drop earrings.

Sparkly Studs
If you like to wear your earring close to the lobe, try this design. 

Briolette Earring Jackets
Here’s a way to use beads to perk up a pair of gemstone or pearl stud earrings. Just add the “jacket” to the stud before you put them on. 

Shooting Stars
If you know how to work flat peyote stitch, you’ll be able to make these unique earrings. Put them on and let the celestial show begin!

Czech Cab Earrings
Tiny cabochons are the perfect centerpieces for these embroidered earrings. When the designer found the vintage cabs during a trip to the Czech Republic, she knew they were destined for her ears.

Retro Wraps
This spirited look from the 1960s and 1970s is made new again with up-to-date color choices. By wrapping the large drop with an assortment of beads on wire you’ll make your own statement.

RINGS 
Inner Light Ring
Inspired by those wonderful Miyuki color-lined teardrop beads, this gorgeous ring is designed to wow your admirers.

Crystal Visions Ring Band
This sparkly crystal band is a great off-loom project for first-timers. 

Beaded Cluster Ring
Here’s a cocktail ring for the twenty-first century! Large and funky, it’s perfect to make on a Saturday afternoon just before heading out to dance the night away.

Stone, Set, Match
Who says you can’t set stones amidst beadwork? This design marries the more traditional look of set stones and free-form beadwork.

Buttercup
This lovely flower ring seems a little tricky to make at first, but once you’ve got the hang of it you can easily make one for each finger.

Wonder Dome Ring
Create this elegant ring using bicone crystals to weave half of a dodecahedron – who thought geometry could be so fun? 

Lucky Scrunchie Ring
This ten-minute project will get you hooked on making rings! It is flashy and stylish, but also easily glides over any finger, making it very comfortable.

Simplicity Ring
If you have swollen knuckles and have sworn off ring-wearing, this knitted ring made with stretch cord is the answer to your prayers!  And making one just might inspire you to use up that bead soup piling up on a corner of your beading table.

Sister Lucien
When you wear this ornate ring you’ll receive more compliments than you’ll know what to do with! 

Techniques

Resources

Contributors

Index