Michon Jewelry Blog

Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones by Laura McCabe is filled with beautiful pictures of seed bead and Swarovski crystal jewelry, along with what look like detailed instructions to make each piece.

If you’ve seen Laura’s beadwork and are familiar with her style, what she’s done with Swarovski crystal will be no surprise - her signature style definitely comes through in the projects. Lots of Swarovski crystals designed to look like flatback rhinestones, set behind intricately beaded bezels, and her excellent eye for color and texture. My friend Marilyn brought this book to a get-together a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures, despite the fact that I rarely use seed beads in my own work.

If you like working with seed beads, you would probably enjoy this book. The techniques could easily be adapted to work with cabochons, rhinestones, and other non-Swarovski focal stones, although I imagine that the Swarovski centerpieces really sparkle.