Everyone who knows seed beads is aware of the gorgeous body of work being created by many Japanese artists these days. What is it about the culture or the artistic sensibilities of artists like Sonoko Nozue that makes their work so gracefully elegant and distinctive? I don't know the answer for sure, but there is certainly a long tradition of exquisite design in many art media in Japan.
Lark Books has chosen Sonoko to write this next addition to the Beadweaving Master Class series: Japanese Beadwork. While the instructions and illustrations are superior, as you always find in this series, this is not a beginner's book. There are layers and layers of details worked into most of the projects. Certainly an extremely motivated beginner would be able to make some of the projects, but it would most likely take a few practice pieces first! No problem...there are dozens of ideas to try.
One of my favorite ideas from the book is how Sonoko triple-embellishes a "simple" spiral bead rope. I love the basic spiral, and just when I thought I'd seen everything that could be done with it, Sonoko comes along and adds a few more layers!
Would you like to try out one of the projects for free? Here's a free download from Lark with instructions to make the Sonoko Wave necklace!
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