Helen Banes, a weaver and painter, has been on the fiber forefront for many years.  I was fortunate to attend one of her tapestry weaving classes many years ago in New Mexico.  Her energy and vibrant personality inspired me to add fiber to my beading, which was a turning point in my artwork. Helen has inspired thousands of people over the years and shown them an easy way to work with fiber and beads to create jewelry that has great texture and diversity.

This is Helen's second book on tapestry weaving.  This technique is also called pin weaving.  Although pin weaving is an old artform, Helen was the first to introduce using foam core boards for easy carry of equipment.  Books of the 1970's included instructions for adding beads to the warp on pin weaving.   Helen went a step further providing extensive bead placement in very refined arrangements onto the warp threads.  There have been many how to books since on this process, but Helen was the innovator.  Helen's previous book, Beads & Threads, was co-authored with Diane Fitzgerald and is an excellent book of instruction plus absolutely stunning artwork in the gallery section.

Fiber & Bead Jewelry is the perfect follow up to Beads & Threads, offering more insight as to how Helen became interested in pin weaving, her travels and influences from various countries and influences of both old and new art.   Helen takes you through a visual feast of pin woven necklaces designed with different themes in mind such as Mexican, Shaman, Egyptian, Tuareg, and Navajo.   Fiber and bead colors plus the design elements reflect the themes she had in mind.

Helen's love of beads and fiber began at an early age and she reflects on paintings, music and other artforms that influenced her.  Many of her weavings are necklaces, however others are pins and pouches.  I found the necklace on page 23 to be exciting, since it is composed of several crochet motifs and worked together to form undulating shapes depicting water and waves in warm browns, beige's and peach hues.  The next photo is of a woven piece with crochet motifs added here and there.  This is just one instance of combining other crafts to weaving.  Helen adds macramé, wrapping, coiling and many other techniques to these small weavings.

Some of the woven pieces include polymer beads which Helen created specifically for those creations.  Helen works with shells, glass, coins, metal, found objects, whatever is the best choice for the motif she is creating.  There are several pages of necklaces Helen designed with information about her idea and planning of each piece.  Each necklace includes a color photograph and most are full necklace size.   Each necklace has a graph for making a likeness of the original necklace.

Page 84 starts with a supply list, step by step instructions and illustrations, photographs of work in progress and then several graphs with necklace patterns overlaid to use in making your first creations.  Each necklace has a full color page and an accompanying full page graph.  Once you have made a few of the necklaces, you can take the basic necklace outlines and create your own motifs within the necklace graph outlines.

Finishing techniques are provided along with how to change colors, add new thread, completing the body of the necklace, adjusting the length, adding beads to the warp thread and how to finish off the necklace closure.

The many different designs plus color application and choice of added beads makes this a compelling book for anyone wanting guidance in design.  Fiber & Bead Jewelry is a real plus for inspiration in small weavings and also a visual pleasure for design and color ideas applicable for many bead and fiber techniques.