Book Review: Making Metal Beads

by Cyndi on March 19th, 2008

Making Metal Beads
by Pauline Warg

This is an astounding book! Like all Lark Publications, it is filled with beautiful photographs, in this case close-ups of lovely fabricated metal beads and the steps to create them.

Warning: this is not a book on metal clay. Pauline’s book covers traditional metalsmithing techniques, so it’s not for everyone. But if you’ve ever thought that you’d like to try your hand at making metal beads from scratch (or in this case, from sheet metal!), this is the book for you. She has a brief section on doctoring up premade metal beads, giving them texture and more personality, but most of the book covers creating from the raw materials.

After covering the basics of sawing, filing, drilling, soldering, forming, and more, Pauline puts all these skills together to show you step by step how to make 40 different gorgeous beads. Some beads start with tubing, some with sheet metal, and some with wire mesh. All are stunning!