Micro Macrame Bracelet With Polymer Clay Focal Bead

, May 9th, 2016, in PcT Show & Tell

Micro Macrame Book Review - Polymer Clay TutorVideo #733: In today’s video I review a book about Micro Macrame Jewelry, by completing one of the projects in it.

Today’s Book about Micro Macrame Jewelry, was written by Jenny Townley.

Since I just did another book review last week, I had not planned on adding another one so soon. But… I ended up making a macrame bracelet out of the book, that I am giving to my Mom for Mother’s Day, so I kind of had to do this review now, before I give the piece away.

The book that I talked about last week was, Bead It, Iron It, Love It! … and I ended up using one of the Perler bead patterns in the book, as the design for making a polymer clay cane. Since there were a few viewers who were concerned that my cane might not reduce very well, I wanted to quickly show everyone that the pattern does in fact reduce beautifully, right down to a very tiny size with no distortion at all.

Now, moving on to this week’s Micro Macrame Book… I felt the best way to do a review is by actually tackling one of the projects.

I made a bracelet from the book, but had to tweak the design a bit, in order to be to be able to use my own polymer clay focal bead.

Flipping through the book, it is set up pretty much like any typical craft book, with the basic information on tools and techniques at the beginning, and projects sections to follow. I will say that the book design is nice, with beautiful photography and nice project designs.

On the book cover, it says, “Every technique explained, for beginners and up” … however, I would say that it is really more suited for intermediate Micro Macrame and Jewelry makers, due to the fact that some important pieces of information were missing.

In many craft books, it’s common to see missing steps, primarily because of publishing restrictions. Often there is not enough room for all the photos and detailed steps that are necessary to give good instructions… so they are edited out.

For example, the Beaded Bracelet with Focal Center design that I chose to do, did not show the back of the focal bead, and how it was added to the bracelet. Nor did it show how to finish the knotted ends and add the ribbon clamp. Now because I am not a beginner, and because I have a wide range of jewelry making skills, I was able to figure it out. But for someone new to the craft, I am not sure if they would be able to complete the project and achieve professional looking results.

As you will see in the video I decided to tweak the pattern a bit to better suit the polymer clay focal bead I chose to use. I also explain how to finish the cord ends and add the ribbon closure.

These ‘holes’ in information with many books, are the very reason why I think good video tutorials can be a more effective way of learning. With properly filmed videos, you can capture all the steps and hand movements that it takes to make a successful project.

All that being said… I do like and will recommend the book for Intermediate jewelry makers… and will end up making more projects from it. The designs are quite lovely.

I hope this review was helpful for you… and that my Mom likes the bracelet.