Not Your Mama’s‘ Beading: The Cool and Creative Way to String ’Em Along
By Kate Shoup Welsh
Wiley; $14.99

Kate Shoup Welsh’s new book, Not Your Mama’sTM Beading, takes an old hobby and gives it a neat spin. As noted in her intro, beading, along with many other crafts considered hippie or dowdy in the past, has seen a resurgence of interest by the younger generation.

The book’s prime attribute is Welsh’s language. It is written in a chatty, conversational tone with flippant, sometimes funny, sometimes duddy, remarks regarding all things bead. For anyone who has perused other craft how-to books, the tone of this one is a welcome change. Far from sapping your will to bead with dry prose and unintelligible diagrams, this book actually inspires the beader within.

While aimed at the beginning beader, the book starts with an impressively detailed look at the history of beading that any crafter will find interesting. Following that is a well-packed materials list and then on to the projects, which are usefully marked with estimated price ranges, skills needed and time to complete, labeled “Flirtation,” “Fling” and “Love o’ Your Life” (short, medium, long). Additional projects suggest ways of tweaking that dog collar (“The Collar Purple”), necklace (“The Short and Winding Rope”) or watch band (“Doing Time”). Guest contributors provide many of the projects for a broad range of styles.

Materials covered include all sorts of beads, wire, leather … just about anything that falls under the header of “beading.” Plates located in the center of the book let you see finished products up close in Technicolor, and a resource list at the back shows you where to shop and provides nifty reference information.

A great gift for anyone into DIY, get a copy autographed by Welsh Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at Borders, 8675 River Crossing Blvd.