My brother Tony was really the expert on all things bead loom.  In fact, he had all those summer craft things down so well- my pitiful lanyard chain always looked meager compared to his twelve strand snaking creations!

I always perk up when a bead kit or book comes into the office. Maybe this will be the magical kit. My creations will finally look like the cool kids at Camp Winston…anyway.

This week we received Klutz’s new Bead Loom Bracelets book by Anne Akers Johnson.  As with most Klutz titles, it is beautiful to look at with handsome illustrations/photos…just makes you want to get beading.  The book is marked 8 & up which is usually pretty unrealistic when you’re talking about anything but the most basic beading projects–but that’s how most kits/books are marked–so we discount that as a rule.

Sydni, our trusty  and experienced 12 year old tester, gave this book several tries — she too wanted to love it. In the end she found  the projects way too difficult. She noted that she had trouble keeping the string in place. She also suggested that the author should have tried easier projects to start– before graduating to more difficult patterns.