Robin's goals in authoring this book include demystifying the artistic process and offering practical how to information for working through creative blocks and developing the artist within.  Starting with a look at beads and their uses for improvisational embroidery, Robin then expresses the therapeutic value and creative force beading offers.  Draped between her comfortable narrative and expressions, are color photographs of her work, all very beautiful, unique and one of a kind.  I especially like the two photos of one of Robin's embellished bag, showing each side with fabric dolls hanging off the bag.

One bag includes gussets on the sides to widen the bag when opening it, again, both sides of the bag are shown and are very inspirational, allowing for your own ideas to begin forming on a bag you might want to make.  There are several little quilt squares that are bead embellished, depicting the many ways beads can be applied as embroidery on fabric.  Then you see the final wall hanging with all the quilt squares worked together.  Because the squares are worked with no exact design or motif, you see a diversity of designs combined and yet it all comes together in a very esthetic way.

Fabric types are discussed and why some fabrics are better than others for more detailed bead embroidery.  Examples of geometric designs and the more flowing and soft are set side by side to give you an idea of how different these approaches can be.  The reverse sides of fabric pieces in progress are show with thread stitches showing through while the beading is on the opposite side.  The back side also shows the fabric turned and prepared along the edges for attaching to the lining.

Examples of bead embroidery worked on a larger piece such as a book cover and small stuffed figures are included in color.  Photographs are combined with bead embroidery as expressions of personal experience.  There are several color photos of bags with embroidered panels and sections, each offering different elements of embroidery.

Embroidery stitches are illustrated including scatter beads, edgings, back stitch, lazy stitch, couching and fringing.  Each embroidery stitch has an example of how the stitch is worked and how it lays on a piece of fabric.  There are also color photos accompanying each stitch as examples.  Arrows are shown on the photos indicating the bead pathways.

Exploring Creative Bead Embroidery is a personal journey of experiences through beadwork and a sharing of creative instructions.  This is not a book for beginners, rather for those who already have a basic knowledge of beading on fabric and wish to expand their ability to work without exact patterns and bring their own personal experience to their beadwork.