This is a book on how to do 8 different chain techniques. Diane reverse engineered the patterns from existing beadwork that she had in her collection, created by the Zulu tribe from southern Africa.
Two of these techniques are familiar, as they are covered in other popular books - the African Helix (which Diane calls the Ladder chain) and Chevron Chain (which Diane calls the Zig-Zag chain.)
I would consider this a book for Intermediate or above. While the techniques are fairly simple, and the diagrams are nice and large, with clear thread paths shown, Diane does make some assumptions that would make it difficult for beginners to work the techniques. (I think in a class situation, though, these chains would be good beginner projects.)
This is not a project book. There are almost no directions shown for finishing a chain into a necklace or bracelet, except for a simple button and loop closure, and although she mentions some possibilities for uses of the chains, there are no specific projects mentioned. Out of the 43 pages, the first 17 are introduction and beading basics, and the last 5 are appendices, leaving only 21 pages for the actual description of the techniques.
I found the placement of the photographs in the book a bit confusing. There is only one picture of all the chains, and they aren't in the same order as the techniques in the book, so you have to do a lot of back and forth at the start to figure out which chain is which. She also has some pictures of Zulu beadwork using techniques not covered in the book, which I found a bit disappointing, as they were interesting pieces that I would have like to know more about.
In general, a good technique book with some very unusual chains. I think a
follow-up book with actual projects using the chains would be interesting.
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