Beaded Wild Animals: Puffy Critters for Key Chains, Dangles, and Jewelry (Design Originals) 10 Projects include Butterflies, Hummingbird, Turtle, Frog, Seahorse, Cat, Fish, Bear, and Phoenix

While these patterns may be cute, the directions are the worst I've ever had to deal with. Figuring them out involved a good deal of time and frustration, and for some this meant just ignoring the directions. I'm not sure which is the more ridiculous feature of this book - the fact that it directs you to attach a leg to the middle of the frog's back, or that it teaches basic peyote stitch but doesn't bother to explain what they might mean by "connect and decrease." The fish pattern has one bead missing on half of the fish, which would have resulted in a hole in the fish's back if I hadn't noticed and corrected it, but then it got worse. When trying to join the sides together, I realized that the rows in the tail were long opposite long, and short opposite short, instead of alternating. There was no way to 'zip' the sides together. Without going back and reworking the tail, it would result in either a flat tail with bumps, or a 3D tail with holes in it! Also, one side was a row longer than the other! Luckily, I've been beading long enough to figure out how to fix it, but I don't think I should have to fix patterns that I've paid for. Very poorly done.

I deeply regret not reading all of the reviews before purchasing this book, if i had i would never have wasted my money on it. The book assumes that the reader is already an advanced beader that knows the peyote stitch like the back of their hand. I had thought it would give detailed instructions on how to create the adorable little animals in this book, i have never been more wrong. There is a section in the front that shows you some very basic peyote stitch, which is fine if all you want to make is a square or rectangle, but the shapes are complex. There is no diagram like i am used to showing you HOW to stitch these complex shapes, there are no clear written directions. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to even START one of these damn things let alone complete it. I plan to look into returning this P.O.S. and if that doesnt work out it is so worthless im thinking i will simply shred and burn it.

I am an experienced beader and I find this book's instructions to be horrible. I could not figure out how to actually start the pattern, so I took it to 4 different experienced beaders and they also could not figure out. I have followed many peyote patterns, both even and odd count, but this book has me totally stumped. I keep telling myself it can't be this difficult, but I'm at a loss to figure out this book. My advice for anyone thinking of purchasing this book would be to pass on it.

disclaimer: I am an intermediate beader, and can do advanced projects if the directions are really well written. This book is an intermediate book.

Suzanne does it again, and this one gives me a little zoo of some of my favorite animals! Using primarily peyote stitch (with easy, well-marked drops where the piece is supossed to narrow) Each animal shown includes directions for several other color options, with one color option as the book's example, and the bead lists for other options listed but without a graph. The graphs are easy to follow, and after you've made an animal or two, you'll be able to make without seeming them

You can make key chains mobiles, pendants or a simple zoo for your very favorite kid using this book. As for me, I could have gotten the value for the whole book by using the turtle pattern alone.

My niece LOVES this book! The animals are cute and the illustrations are more helpful than the written text. The text in the book makes some of the instructions a little difficult to follow, but the images are clear and self-explanatory. She uses this book often to make adorable little critters. She's even combining projects to make her own animals. I'm glad we bought it. :)

Basic instructions for even and odd peyote stitch are given at the beginning of the book, but in the patterns themselves the instructions are merely "weave body." The pattern instructions do not even indicate whether you are doing an even or odd count. There are beading charts, but there again, unless you are very comfortable reading basic charts, they aren't very helpful. If you've looked at patterns on Pinterest, you've probably noticed many of them include stitching directions for your thread or have numbered the beads. This book doesn't do that.

I agreed with other puttingup the review. If you are not very experience with beadworking or peyote stitch yet you may want to try some easier project before starting with this book. I haven't try any of it yet but the illustration is clear enough for me becuase I had been beading for years and I do some 3d beading project before so it was not that hard to get a hold of this. Another book to start with possibly will be the Beaded Boxes. It is a very well illustrated book.

My daughter and I had a hard time following along. There is one or two pages of directions and for beginners, it wasn't enough. There were minimal pictures of steps and many steps that were too confusing to just read and comprehend by themselves.

I am an experienced beader and this book has the worst directions I have ever come across. The instructions are ridiculously vague and generic. It's not clear how pieces are joined together and the illustrations and photos don't help at all.

unless you are very experienced with peyote stitch it will be very difficult to make these animals. however they are quite cute