"At last! A book for the intermediate to advanced beadmaker ... Any beadmaker looking for that kick into a different direction will find this book quite useful."--Debby Weaver"The Glass Bead" (06/01/2012) I have read this book cover to cover at least four times and sat there thinking where the hell was this book when I first started? You do need to know a basic knowledge of lampworking and the safety required for lampworking. It's not for total novices in my opinion. The gallery of pictures in this book are breathtaking and get your artistic juices flowing and inspire you into making your own style or showing you how to take nature and other artwork and convert them into works of art in glass. I love the techniques it shows you too. When I first started it took me a while and quite a bit of wasted glass to learn these techniques myself. The use of bicarbonate of soda I had done before but as encasing in glass so the bobbles were inside the bead. If you have trouble using shards there is a bit in here to show you how to add them to your bead and even a quick tutorial on how to make your own. Personally, I love this book and it does give you inspiration. It certainly made me create beads out of my comfort zone which I think the book is intending. Fantastic read!-Bead Society of Great Britain Need a cure for lampworker's block? Lampwork artist Louise Mehaffey rounded up seven fellow lampwork artists, presented them all with a "challenge" (such as "Italy", "four colors", and "fall foliage"), and then built this book around the resulting beads. You'll be amazed how different they all are! The focus of this book is inspirational, although instructions for a few special tecniques are provided.-Bead Design Magazine