"One Bead at a Time" -- Readers Say
"One Bead at a Time" is my favorite bead book, and one of my
favorite art books. This book is inspirational to advanced beaders or to
beginners. If you have never beaded before, this book will encourage you to try
– and succeed. It is also a wonderful discussion of creativity, improvisation,
and inspiration in art, specifically bead art. I have found it to be especially
encouraging in the ongoing process of bringing more self expression, personal
narrative, and SOUL into my bead work. This beautifully designed book is
"The Artist’s Way" for beaders. I keep it on my coffee table so it
will come to hand anytime I need a creative boost, because I find something new
every time I read it. The new (revised) edition has wonderful fringe techniques,
the perfect finishing touch!
I really like "One Bead at a Time" because it helps me feel like I
can do it – that there is no right or wrong way. I’m not intimidated in the
least. I also feel that each time I pick up the book, I’ll get something else
out of it. It helps me to focus on one small thing, to start and see where it
goes. The less thought I put into it, the more creative I can be. I can throw
away the judgment in this work. I love doing free-form peyote, and I know it
would have been scary if I hadn’t taken a class from Robin and read her book.
I bead with several other women, and they love the personal nature of this book,
and feel they can "just do it" too!
I am speechless! I am full of joyful tears! Your book is absolutely
priceless! You have done a beautiful job and I congratulate you, Robin! It’s a
treasure for me and I am bursting with ideas. Thank you so much for sharing your
talents with us, your faithful and adoring students!
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Connie Fabian, New Zealand
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I am so pleased with your book! I think you did a wonderful job defining
"improvisational bead embroidery" and describing the tools and
techniques to get started. I was also impressed by your willingness to share
personal stories about your life and beadwork. This book is a great addition to
my "beading books library" and I think it will provide incentive to
those who have not yet tried bead embroidery. Thanks so much for taking the time
to produce this.
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Georgia Williams, Washington
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After taking your improvisational beading workshop, I showed the piece I made
to my Mom and gave her a copy of your book. Mom read the book very thoroughly,
as she does with things she is particularly interested in. I gave her one of my
small beading needles and she went to work. It was amazing to watch her create a
beautiful improvisational beaded piece simply by reading your book and following
your directions. We were both very pleased, and she gave it to me for my
birthday. It is a very special gift to me from her because she is 91 years old…
She says she wants to use a scrap from her wedding dress for her next piece.
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Sally Dickman, Washington
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In March I was privileged to spend a week with Lesley and Linn Jacobs at a
mutual friend’s home near Yosemite. Linn brought one of your books as a
hostess gift, and we all loved it. Are copies of "One Bead at a Time"
still available? I would love to purchase one or possibly two…. Being the kind
of person who does 50 million things at once, I find the idea of one of anything
at a time VERY appealing!
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Dee Dee Triplett, North Carolina
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We got home late last night and found that your book had arrived. We tore it
open immediately and began savoring the pictures – great color. And we both
loved the binding. I took a little time this morning to read – opened it to
your menopause beading. I admire you so much – such courage to talk about what
to me are very intimate feelings and thoughts, and how you worked through them
doing bead embroidery. There is so much of you in this book. I can hardly wait
to sit down and read it all the way through!
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Jennifer Chase, California
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WHAT A BOOK! It is absolutely wonderful; first-class quality production! But
also I love that reading it makes it seem just like you’re here telling me
these things; I can just hear your voice saying what you’ve written.
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Patricia Gustafson, Australia
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Your book is wonderful – I read it the day it arrived, and have since
reread it. It has me thinking about working out some of my own issues with
beads. I have found the piece I started in your class, and it is waiting
patiently for me to "get with it." I was especially interested in the
piece you did about your father. I remember being curious about it when I took
your class, but was too shy to ask you about it. I lost both parents at an early
age – my mother when I was four and my dad when I was nine. I have just this
year worked out a lot of things by writing a family history for my nieces and
including old photographs of my parents. I’ll show you sometime. But after
reading your book, I want to do something in beads also.
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Mary Ann Berrie, Washington
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"One Bead at a Time, Exploring Creativity with Bead Embroidery," by
Robin Atkins,
c. 2000, Tiger Press, ISBN # 0-9705538-2-X, paperback, perfect
bound,
56 pages, 60 full-color photographs.
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