There is no gallery here, just lots of beautiful pieces made by a collection of people who will mainly be familiar to readers of Bead & Button. Each piece comes with instructions, and not much of this is required due to the simplicity of bead stringing. That is not to say that there is nothing to offer more advanced beaders, as surely there is plenty of scope for making changes and style is not measured by how complex the piece is. I would hesitate to recommend it for complete beginners as it assumes some prior knowledge of beading, although pages devoted to different kinds of beads and findings, plus tools and even some knots are given at the front. Several pages of just made up earrings and bracelets whet your appetite first, sans instructions, but these are surely not necessary for any bead stringer worth their salt (ie., not a beginner). Most of the main pieces with instructions are necklaces, but there are a few bracelets in here as well. All are lovely, none are advanced to make.

If you live outside the US many of the large and lovely focal beads will elude you, but this book was published initially for the US market. Fortunately, I found enough interesting beads to make up several projects for myself and thus this book is guaranteed a space on my keeper shelf.

If you cannot find beads and findings locally try SearchPress.com for a list of suppliers.