Making Jewellery - August 2016

86 makingjewellery.com

PRODUCT TEST

CRESCENDO

BRACELET KIT

This month Clair gets her hands on an incredibly

vibrant and beautiful beading kit. By Clair Wolfe

THE PRODUCT

The Crescendo bracelet from the Spellbound

Bead Company is a gorgeous bead weaving

bracelet kit, which can be made within a couple

of hours. It is available in several colourways,

but the red, orange and cerise kit that I tested

was most defi nitely my favourite.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

The kit has been put together to allow the

user to create a beautiful and very wearable

bracelet. It has a very clever design, which has

been rated as 6/10 diffi culty level. However, the

instructions are so clear and easy to follow that

a complete beginner could make this with ease.

WHAT IS INCLUDED?

The kit contains fi ve bags of beads, all of

which have been labelled to correspond to the

instructions. This includes two colourways of

twin beads from Preciosa, seed beads in two sizes

and large crystals, a beading needle and beading

thread. The kit also has a sheet of instructions.

HOW GOOD ARE THE

INSTRUCTIONS?

The instructions are brilliant; they have

to be some of the most well-thought-out

instructions I have ever found in a kit. They

not only walk you through each step, but also

have added hints and tips so that you really do

get the most out of the kit.

WHAT ELSE WILL YOU NEED?

The only essential is a pair of snips or scissors,

but a bead mat would also be a useful addition.

CAN IT BE ADDED TO?

This bracelet has a matching necklace kit

available too, which I will be buying in the

near future.

IS IT VALUE FOR MONEY?

I love a kit which not only teaches a skill but

can also open up future design possibilities and

results in an absolutely gorgeous and incredibly

wearable item of jewellery.

IS IT EASY TO USE?

I really did fi nd this kit incredibly easy to make.

It was also a very enjoyable process. I have not

used the back and forth technique before now

in my own design process, but look forward to

trying to use it in my future work.

OVERALL SCORE

Top marks for this kit. Whoever created the

design and wrote up the instructions was

very thorough. I loved the extra little tips

about the beads in the kit. I love both the

colour combination and the fi nished design.

I really cannot think of one negative aspect

of this kit at all. Well done Spellbound; I am

incredibly impressed.

SCORE

COST

£10.95

RESOURCES

spellboundbead.co.uk/basket

[email protected]

01543 417650

MJ96_P86-87_Product Test SHSF.indd 86 23/06/2016 11:31