Short review: Not bad. If you want to make Russian style flowers, not French style beaded flowers, this has lovely directions. it's NOT a beginner's book, but would be fine for a determined intermediate beader. Terrific graphs with thread paths, not so terrific grammar. B-
Longer Review: This book has a bouquet of beaded tulips on the cover, which is what sold me on it. I have terrific allergies to real flowers, and making beaded flowers would be a nice way to have some. Varvara has been around on the Web for a while, making Russian broad collar style necklaces and promoting a branched fringe style that she calls "coraling."
I like this book. It features many different styles of necklaces with the common leaf/flower theme. Each style also has suggestions to change things here and there and make the piece your own. Varvara puts an estimate of the time necessary to make each piece, and seems to estimate on the extremely high side. 30 hours to make one necklace? Only if I refrained from using my hands and did all the needlework with my teeth. But certainly a confidence builder for the rest of us.
A couple of little anomalies popped out at me and were a little annoying (annoying is too strong a word, let's say I kept looking for these signatures of a Varvara book instead of paying attention):
* All the peyote graphs were rotated 90 degrees, and were worked up and down, rather than the usual illustrations with horizontal stitching. * The graphs are also for half the piece involved, with a line saying that you should make the left half of (say) a leaf the same way as you made the right. * Varvara makes mention of the deprivations that bead artists in Russia go through in every single chapter: nothing horrible, but she tells you to go right ahead and use Delicas, Nymo, whatever your little heart desires, but she herself can't get anything like that in Russia. C'mon, this is your second book published in the US - your publisher couldn't advance you enough money to get the proper materials to create the subject of the book?I love the designs of the necklaces, especially the leaves. The fact that the book has almost nothing in the way of color photos is freeing, because Varvara merely suggests colors, and calls your choices Main Color and Accent Color. No two bead artists, working with this book, would make matching necklaces.
I can see myself making elements from each pattern, and making changes to those elements, which Varvara encourages. I cannot see wearing a four lb. beaded necklace with fringie lilacs. But I can see using her peyote style leaves in lots of things, and I'm sure I'll make a tulip or two. :-)
If you love making beaded flowers and want to expand your techniques, by all means spend the $22. Before you do that, go to bead-patterns.com, buy one of Varvara's bead patterns for considerably less and see if her style of teaching fits your style of learning.
Your Intrepid Reporter,
Kathy N-V