This book gives some information on tools and bead types, lists a good number of findings and how to make them and some examples of finishes with drawn-up instructions.
I gave it only 3 stars because I bought other books for most of this information and expected a more detailed list of findings. The finishes and the picture gallery feature almost exclusively seed-bead projects.

This book is an absolute must for beginners or advanced jewelry designers. The great step-by-step pictures provide an excellent reference. Terms are clearly defined.

This book is an absolute must for beginners or advanced jewelry designers. The great step-by-step pictures provide an excellent reference. Terms are clearly defined.

For all the people who want instructions on finishing jewelry, this is a wonderful resource book. It's well written and gorgeously printed in color.
It's a nice overview of finishing techniques, including some absolutely inspirational clasps done in seed beads, she has wire tips and instructions for wire clasps, detailed hints and instructions for finishings.
It's got nice ideas for beginners, and for wireworkers both beginning and experienced. Bails and earrings and multi strand clasps that are well thought out.
It's also a great book for advanced beaders as well, there are some projects and ideas in it that are just really inspirational. I'm absolutely in love with some of the seed bead clasp ideas, they are elegant and gorgeously executed, and I know I'll be using them in the near future. There is a slide bar bracelet that's so clever it took my breath away. I can picture it so well with a rug pattern peyote stitched bracelet!
I was very impressed. In some ways, learning how to end a piece of jewelry you've spent a lot of time on in a way that balances well and is as beautiful as the rest of the piece is very hard, this book makes it much easier to have the back of your necklace or bracelet look as amazing at the front does. A lot of the ideas are also a lot less expensive then buying fancy findings that only "almost" match your finished piece. With this in hand, you can design the perfect finish for your piece.
It was released by Interweave Press, the company that does Beadwork magazine. This book easily meets all expectations. I've been using it as a reference since I got it.

I thought this book would just be about findings but it has everything you need to know to polish and finish any bead work. A must have for any beader.

Although "Findings and Finishings" is described on its cover as "a beadwork how-to book", it is as much a catalogue of the different findings and finishings that are available, as it is an instructional manual. In this book, Sharon Bateman provides color photographs of just about every type of jewellery finding imaginable (including clasps, connectors, terminals, spacers, crimps, head pins, ear wires and pins), with instructions on their use, and photographs and instructions of a wide range of beading techniques. There are no specific projects described in this book, but there is enough information given for the reader to create their own projects.

Although this book is only 118 pages, there is a lot of information given in that space, and I would imagine this information would appeal to jewellery makers of all skill levels. However, this book could have been improved if more illustrations were provided of the interim steps involved in attaching each of the findings etc. Bateman provides photographs of finished products but often provides no illustrations of how she got there. This caused me some problems when I was learning how to bead.

I love this book because it actually gives detailed instructions as to how to do things that many articles and books just touch on or assume you know. It also has many creative ways to embellish and finish your jewelry with findings you make yourself. The only complaint I've had with the book is that I wish it had more detailed descriptions or more pictures showing the process for some of the projects. However, I tend to have trouble following along with directions for weaving projects anyway!

I'm pretty much a beginner beader. I've been beading for about two years. Primarily I make bracelets. Often, when trying to use someone's pattern for a bracelet, I get stuck trying to make the clasp. Either I don't have the right beads on hand or I just can't follow what the pattern says. That's when I turn to this little book. I wouldn't be without it. There is a lot of info in here for beginners, but there are also a lot of ideas for finishing your piece. I would recommend this book for anyone who would like a little reminder of the simpler ways to finish your pieces, or for someone who needs some "how to" instruction.

I purchased this book based on the 4 star review ratings and the title. While this is a beatiful book with many great pictures, there is very little on making your own findings. It is mostly about seed beads, something I am not very intersted in. There are also lots of purchased findings, but even a novice like me knows how to use a purchased clasp! If you want to learn how to make your own findings, buy another book. Bead on a Wire is much better and great for begineers.

Very good book with many findings options; however, I had expected more examples of creating my own findings

This has a very complete complement of the various finding and finishes for all types of jewelry. The instructions were well written and diagrammed. Not a book I would recommend to beginners, but for someone with some experience in beading.

I was felt this book is only good for a beginner. And unless you want seed bead projcts with bulky seed beed togles well you may want another book. This book clearly demonstrates things like crimp beads, so if that's what you want this may be helpful to you

I was felt this book is only good for a beginner. And unless you want seed bead projcts with bulky seed beed togles well you may want another book. This book clearly demonstrates things like crimp beads, so if that's what you want this may be helpful to you

Findings & Finishings is one of my favorite books on beadwork. The Sharon Bateman provides a wealth of ideas for making your jewelry your own. The instructions are very well done and Bateman also includes basic instructions for the most popular stitches used in beadwork. Her diagrams are excellent and easy to use. The information in the book is good for beginners and more advanced beaders.

The opening chapters give a simple but thorough overview of beads, threads, wires, tools you'll need, and the basics of working with beads and wire.

True to the title, the strength of this book is her chapters on findings and finishings. These ending details can take your bead work from homemade to wow!

The photos and instructions are very comprehensive. This book includes at least 100 different techniques using purchased findings and ones you make yourself. All types of findings are covered:

* Head and Eye Pins
* Spacing Bars and Connectors
* Terminals
* Spacers
* Crimps
* Clasps
* Ear Wires
* Pins

Many of these ideas are very innovative. I was even more fascinated by the finishings chapters. They included some great ideas for edges, fringes and original beadwork on findings.

The photo gallery will inspire you to branch out from her ideas even more. Highly recommended to take your beadwork to a new level of expertise.

It is pretty but I will probably just put it in a pile. It is not a book I would go back to again and again. Had I had it in my hand at a store, I would have put it back.

The book has some good pictures of the findings. However, if you are getting this book to learn the basics of the beadwork, this book is not a good one that I would not recommend.

Due to it's title, I was persuaded to buy this book. I work in PMC and I'm interested in fine silver and sterling silver findings and wire. I found no information on dead soft, half-hard, and hard drawn silver, nor any help in what gauge wire to use with what size and weight materials. It may be a spendid book for beaders, but don't let the title lead you in to thinking that it addresses a wider audience.

This book is an excellent investment for a beginning beader.I've looked at alot of books about beading.This one covers all those questions I've had about how to use findings to put my jewelry pieces together,and finish them with a professional look.I highly recomend this book.

this was a present for a friend. She said the detail on pictures are great. good information. Excelent projects.

As a beginner beader, this book has not been very helpful to me. It is obvious to me that it was written for more experienced beaders who are already familiar with basic techniques and terminology. The how-to descriptions are too short and do not offer enough detail for the beginner. Although this is described as a "beadwork how-to book", more experienced beaders will most likely find this book helpful. I hope that I will understand the book more after gaining more beading experience.

Im new to beading,and wirewrapping and this book is both an insperation,and guide.Ive got 8 books that are good but only 4 that I rely on for both the reasons above and this one is Tops.Im so very glad it was recommened on my jewerly list.That made it a slam dunk..Mrs.C

Ms Bateman has found a kniche in jewelry making that has long been absent in writing, and Ms. Bateman's photo gallary demonstrates the prolific talents of many of today's greatest artists. Although only a few finishes/clasps/ending have been illustrated in her book, she has begun to fill a prominant creative void, both in bead and metal work.

There are a number of inovative and enjoyable ideas in this little book. I say enjoyable because these are not the average findings or finishings. It helps to know some basics of beading, however a patient beginner can make these items because the instructions are well done and include picture guides. The rewards of finishing one of these pieces is well worth it. I had to try one more for a friend and got puffed up because she really liked it AND I knew she would not be seeing this bracelet on any one else. I say give this book a chance.

Very dissapointed. I just returned this book.Techniques discussed in the book are VERY basic, almost intuitive. Would not recommend for enyone who already made any single piece of jewelry. No use.

For beaders like me, the practical part of jewelry-making... the findings ... doesn't seem that exciting, but this book gives the subject some pizazz. First of all, the book is attractive, with photos and diagrams filling at least half of every page. Next, it's informative, starting with a little section on the history of how clasps and other jewelry parts were created and used since ancient times. A little section describes the different types of seed beads and which ones are best to use in various projects. A few tools are described, along with their uses.

There is a nice section, which to me was the most useful, on how to create your own earwires, bails and clasps, and how to create some basic "squiggles" and other shapes out of wire, using a jig. These wire shapes can be used in earring findings and clasps.

One section describes how different types of clasps work in their inner parts, and then describes how to attach them.

Quite a large part of the book is spent on using seed beads to create loop clasps, do different types of stitching, such as a peyote stitch, and how to finish a project that has been seed-beaded. The photos used as examples show beautiful projects in-process, and the final part, the gallery, also has a selection of gorgeous projects... no directions in the gallery, but intended for inspiration.

Depending on the beader's needs and interests, this book can be somewhat to very helpful, but I would consider it a good addition to the avid beader's library.

This is an excellent book for those who want to create a complete piece by hand, no store bought items. This book gave me great inspiration for my making my own clasps. I was very pleased.

Donna
Atascadero, CA

this is a great resource book. You don't just get great finding ideas and instructions, but beautiful examples of the work. It inspired some new ideas. Very enjoyable and beautiful.

this is one of the more satisfying Beadwork publications. there is a good amount of information on the subjects of the title, findings and finishings, enough to really help and inspire the beginning and intermediate beader, and also provide the experienced/expert beader with ideas.

along with commercial findings, the book gives examples of and instructions for custom, beader-made findings for bracelets, necklaces and earrings done with beads and wirework. there are projects that use the techniques and most of these are very good. there are suggestions for some quick and fun projects, too, especcially using earwires.

the finishings section includes a couple of fringe variations i haven't seen before, instructions for adding straps and attaching findings.

while none of the various ideas are presented in depth, there is a lot of useful information. the graphs are very good. the section on basic techniques is pretty basic itself and probably wouldn't help a real beginner, but would be be good at jogging the memory of an intermediate or experienced beader.

the gallery secton is, as usual with Beadwork books, worth the cover price. the examples range from fun and funky to beautiful and elegant. most demonstrate the finishing part of the book, with fringing and embellishments; only about half display original findings. since this book isn't about a single technique, it would have been nice to have the the techniques used in the gallery pieces identified (is that necklace crocheted or african helix? or embellished peyote?).

even with its drawbacks, this book definitely belongs in any beader's library. it has a lot useful information in one place (so much easier to use than going through several years of back issue magazines or all the other bead books in your library) and inspirational ideas and photos.