Passing the Flame - A Beadmaker's Guide to Detail and Design

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Summary: Great bead book, even if you don't make beads!
Review: As a jewelry maker, I think it's important to know as much as possible about the materials I work with. I use a lot of hand made lampwork beads in my designs and found this to be a terrific source of information about what is involved in making those beads. And the book is a joy to read and gaze at. The photography is 1st rate and the text is very readable, even for a non-technical person. I highly recommend this book, whether you make beads, plan to make beads or just enjoy beautiful glass beads.

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Summary: Opens flat, and so good it's never closed!
Review: Beautiful, elegant, user friendly book that is efficiently constructed to open flat for use in the studio, yet written and presented in a style that invites pleasure reading as well. Detailed instructions, great photography. An encyclopedia of projects, guidance, tips, humor and inspiration. This book is all that is needed to blossom as a beadmaker. It's a treasure!

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Summary: An essential book for the beginning beadmaker
Review: Before I began making beads, I read everything I could get my hands on, including this book. Now that I melt glass regularly, I still refer to this more than to any other. Corina is an extremely talented beadmaker and, in this book, she freely shares all of the tips and tricks of the trade with clear, step-by-step instructions (with LOTS of color photos) that gives newbies a great start, and broadens the knowledge base of even the seasoned beadmaker. She also tells you WHY things work as they do, and encourages experimentation. Unlike many other books for beginning beadmakers, she also covers studio setup and safety. When you are working with pressurized gases and a 1700 degree flame, safety is something you need to understand thoroughly before beginning to work in this mesmerizing medium. It's the next best thing to having an instructor standing at your elbow.

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Summary: The best book for beginning and intermediate beadmakers
Review: How I wish I had this book when I first started making beads. It would have answered all my burning questions about making beads and prevented a lot of angst and frustration. Corina Tettinger explains in great detail and with hundreds of photographs how to make beautiful beads. She covers how to apply glass to the mandrel, shaping beads, making twisted cane, decoration with dots and stringer, making floral beads, encasing and much much more. She also reveals the secrets of the bead designs that she herself developed such as the rainbow bead, the cosmic swirl, jellyfish at a 1000 fathoms (I hope got the name of this one right) and much more. She talks about how different colors interact with each other, how understanding heat control is crutial to understanding and making complex designs, how glass flows as it melts and influences bead designs and much more. Sprinkled all throughout the book you'll also find eye-poppingly gorgeous photos of Corina's intricate and innovative designs. And if all that was not enough, she writes as if she's talking to the reader, and her wry, hilarious humor will have you laughing, snorting and giggling right through to the end. This book is not only worth every penny, but it's worth its weight in gold.

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Summary: A Must for New Beadmakers
Review: I am a new beadmaker and my teacher Pam Dugger insisted that I purchase this book. It teaches from the ground up in very simple language with great photographs. The only problem I have had is finding room on my work table so I can refer to it while working. Thank you Corina for a perfect instructional book and to Pam for being so insistent.

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Summary: You want to learn to make glass beads? this one is for you!
Review: I have taken classes with the best, spent many hours on my torch, have all of Cindy Jenkin's books and Jim Kervin and All You need to Know about Glass Bead Making and I still really loved this book and use it to all the time- I could care less about a few typos- the pictures and clear description of the steps taken to achieve a given result are very good and I learned a lot from all the "digressions" between the "how tos"- If you agree with the premise that to become an artist who creates original work you first have to master the basics then this book will teach you not only all the basics but also how to move on and try your own style. Best $75 I spent on this obsession of mine.

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Summary: Passing the Flame
Review: I purchased the book in June of 2003. I learned more in the first week about making lampwork beads than I had in four years previously. I do not have access to classes and have to depend on what I can find in books and the internet. The book is worth every penny I paid for it and consider it my best resource for both inspiration and instruction.
Since I make a completely different kind of bead than those illustrated in the book, I feel that makes the book even more important as a teaching source. The instructions give you everything you need to make beads and be creative. I also have all the suplements and look forward to each new issue.

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Summary: Most helpful book in teaching step-by-step lampworking
Review: Oh how I wish I would have had this Corina Tettinger book on lampworking when I started beadmaking! This is the best book I have seen (and I have them all!) for step-by-step instructions on how to make various designs in lampwork glass beadmaking. The layout is beautifully designed, the color photographs are outstanding and the instructional notes are easy to understand. Corina gives out lots of "secrets" in various designs that other beadmakers hold close! Yes, there are other, less expensive books on lampworking out there which are wonderful but they do not have the step-by-step instructions that Corina has in this guide. I have this book by my side on my lampworking studio bench all the time and refer to it quite often for ideas and how-to-do certain things.

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Summary: Inspirational Guide for Bead Makers
Review: Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down. The photography and explainations are fabulous. Never have I seen a teacher be so passionate about sharing her knowledge. Most bead people keep their techniques a secret - not Corina. Everything is layed out step-by-step in a logical progression. I wish I had found this book when I first started making beads. It would have saved me a lot of frustration. Thanks Corina for taking the time and artistic talents to write this book. It's on my work table for quick reference and inspiration. Your a blessing to all us bead makers.

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Summary: Flames above the rest!
Review: So good I bought it twice! I bought the first edition and the supplement and gave to a beginning beadmaking friend - so naturally I had to have the second edition for myself. And if I pass this one on, I will buy another! A great reference to have by your torch. Done as only Corina could have done, her style and talent come through on every page. Recommend to ALL beadmakers.