French-Beaded Flowers: New Millennium Collection

By Dalene Kelly

Author Dalene Kelly expertly guides readers through this beautifully illustrated guide to the timeless art of French-beading--a craft that dates its origins back several hundred years and that now is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873493575
• ISBN13: 9780873493574
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Krause Pubns Inc
• Length: 95 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A book made for beginners and also advanced flower beaders

I have many books on beaded flowers in many languages and have to say that one can follow patterns that are clear in diagram as well as those clear in verbiage. Dalene's book is unpretentious and accessible to any enthusiast or beginner. The method is clearly shown and applies to all flowers alike with some minor variations. Her photos are beautiful and one can clearly see what to aim for when making the flower. I don't expect to be shown or told how to display the flowers nor what beads to use, nor where to buy them as these issues are for the beader to experiment with. I have been beading for about a year and love it. I have used a Russian and a French book extensively and never had difficulty finding and trying various types of beads as well as sizes--thus that Dalene leaves this as a choice to the beader is to permit creative license and experiment by the beader. I personally prefer the Russian, or Danish method as many call it, but that doesn't mean that I never make use of the French method and Dalene's book certainly gives the beader many opportunities and flowers to try and to strive for in regards to her perfect bending and tight wiring method. I am delighted that one more source of beaded flowers has been made available to us, especially as many of the "Bibles" of the likes of Nathanson and others of 30 years ago, are now out of print. I would recommend this book for it's patterns, for it's photos of finished items, and also simply as a source of ideas for one's own work or patterns. I commend Dalene for commiting to publishing when she sells her patterns on line for a reasonable price and also her booklets of patterns and I feel sure that she made more money for herself that way than this--but we her audience of beaders will be forever grateful for her most generous act--that of sharing her own intellectual property and for under $20!! The book is also very pleasing to the eye and worth looking at to see how varied beaded flowers can be--look at the picture for e.g. of the bleeding heart flower.

Beginner to Veteran - a Great New Bead-Flower Book!

This is a wonderful new book on the French technique of making bead flowers. It thoroughly discusses techniques, tools, materials and supplies, using clear graphics and complete explanations. The flowers Ms. Kelly demonstrates cover a wide range of difficulty. The beginners' projects like the delightful Trillium and the lovely Shamrock work up quickly, and lead the artist through the basic techniques used in the great majority of more advanced projects. More complicated projects like the Oriental Poppy, with its challenging spoked and layered center, satisfy the more advanced beader. Ms. Kelly also offers instructions in corsages and bridal veils! There is plenty of bright, close-up photography of finished bead flowers. All in all a very satisfying new book. Thank you Ms. Kelly! (This reader is a 30-year+ veteran of creating bead flowers, and has won many blue ribbons locally and several ribbons internationally for her bead-flower work.) Rosemary Topol

New Millenium Collection - a treasure to a new beader

Dalene Kelly has put together a beautiful, informative and helpful book. Upon deciding to take up the art of French Beaded Flowers, it was frustrating to not have current and resonably priced resources available to begin learning to make these beautiful creations. As my intent was to start with full-size flowers rather than miniatures, the publication of her book was greatly appreciated. I have purchased and read Dalene's French-Beaded Flower book and made flowers from three of the patterns. As one new to this craft, I was not sure if this was something that would be beyond my abilities. However, I was able to work through the patterns and come up with very pleasing results. I appreciated the way Dalene used color suggestions and left actual color choices up to the individual. This allows some creativity on the part of the user even though they are following the flower design of the writer.The clear photographs are beautifully done with vivid colors. Dalene has included a good variety of flowers, some more challenging than others, which appears to be designed for a wide range of talents. Although experienced beaders can skip over the well written basic instructions and general information about bead sizes and wire guage, new beaders will find this section extremely helpful. I also appreciated the website references which were included at the end of the book, but will note that people without computer access will not be able to take advantage of this information and including addresses and phone numbers of these resources would have been helpful for them.I consider this book the perfect beginning of my beaded flower resource library.

A great find

This book is beautifully illustrated and the instructions aresimple enough for even the beginner. I have already made a keepsake for my home and would recommend this book to anyone interested in making beaded treasures.

One of the Masters

This book is a must have for any French Beaded Flower enthusiast. Dalene's instructions are easy to read, complete, and are extremely lifelike. This book belongs with all the other books on this subject written years ago by the Masters. It is written by a very talented flower beader, for anyone interested in learning the craft, or for the experienced beader alike. I would recommend this book, right along with Nathanson and Osterland!