i heart books

After spotting a pile of books in my bead room, Lorelei asked if I could "recommend any good beading books that might not be as well known as others but offer up some excellent inspiration." An excuse to spend time browsing through my library? Excellent.

The books in the bead room aren't just beading and jewelry books. There are sewing books, knitting books, crochet books, paper crafting books, art books, color books. And two really cool books about symbols borrowed from Bead Boy.

Walking around my bead room, I gathered the books I most enjoy flipping through. I'm not sure how well-known these titles are compared to others, but they're titles that inspire me, piled in the order they were pulled from the shelves:

• Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner
  
• LINKS by Jean Yates
  
• Jewels and Jewellery by Clare Phillips
  
• A Japanese book on carving custom stamps (My apologies for not listing the title, the text is entirely in Japanese. Link is to the publisher's website.)
  
• 4000 Flower & Plant Motifs by Graham Leslie McCallum
  
• 500 Beaded Objects
  
• Bead Fantasies IV by Takako Samejima
  
• Beading for the Soul by Deb Cannarella
• The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving by Carol Wilcox Wells
• Designing Jewelry with Glass Beads by Stephanie Sersich
• Bead Romantique by Lisa Kan
• Beadazzled by Penelope Diamanti
• Beads Bee Vol. 11 (Link is to Vol 13 of this magazine)
  
• Kate McKinnon's Studio Annual 2004
• Getting Started with Seed Beads by Dustin Wedekind
• Simply Modern Jewelry by Danielle Fox
• Custom Cool Jewelry by Melinda Barta
• Ceramic Bead Jewelry by Jennifer Heynen
  

Much of my beading library sits in cardboard boxes in my mom's basement - they trickle home a few at a time - so there are several other beading books I would add to this list. My friend Jean Campbell has written a ton of fabulous beading books and my friend Laura Levaas worked her little booty off for her book, Beader's Stash, about designs from America's favorite bead shops. There are so many more. Perhaps I'll have to start doing this semi-regularly...

What are some of your favorite beading books? Do you know of any brand new books that must be added to my collection?