Books by Robin Atkins

Learn how to create beadwork
which is compelling, beautiful, and satisfying to make!

Techniques, projects and design ideas for both beginners and advanced beaders!

Most of following beading books by Robin Atkins are available to order through this website; click under the picture for ordering information. Some of these titles are also available from your favorite book, bead, quilt/fabric, or craft supply stores, and through various on-line book sellers. You may wish to read some of the reviews written about One Bead at a Time and Beaded Embellishment.

Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery
Beaded Treasures
One Bead at a Time
Spirit Dolls
The Complete Photo Guide to Beading
Beaded Embellishment
Finishing Techniques for Bead Embroidery Projects
How I Made Rosie, The Uncaged Hen

Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery Fresh Ideas and Techniques for Creating Art with Beads Published 2008 by Tiger Press ISBN: 978-0-9705538-9-8 Perfect-bound paperback, 80pages 84 full-color photographs, 23 drawings $24.00 Author's Statement You will find my heart and soul in the pages of this book as together we play with all of the special ways I�ve discovered to make bead embroidery personal and exciting. It�s an amazing pathway of art and creativity! Whether you are a beginner at stitching beads or have years of experience, I feel certain you will enjoy this journey toward developing your own unique visual voice with beads... My earliest ideas and notes for Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery go back four years, when several new ideas for telling stories visually came to mind. At the same time, I realized I could no longer teach all the fabulous techniques and variations I know in a two-day class. The answer obviously, was to write another book, a companion to One Bead at a Time. Of all the ways I've learned to work with beads, bead embroidery continues to delight and challenge me more than anything else. Thus, in this book, you will find inspirations and ideas, plus 20 of my newest techniques to give you similar joy and satisfaction with your beading. Robin Atkins

Click here to see pictures from this book. Click here to order this book.

Description of Book
Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery is for beaders, fiber artists, quilt makers and anyone interested in developing their own unique artistic voice. Here you'll find pictures, inspirations, project ideas, techniques and tips to make your bead embroidery distinctive, appealing and fun! Learn how to tell your heart�s stories with beads. Try 20 new stitch techniques for making spiral shells, ruffles, wildflowers, roots, barnacles and other exciting forms and textures.

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Beaded Treasures Finger Woven Bracelets, Necklaces, Tassels & Straps Published 2006 by Tiger Press ISBN: 978-0-9705538-6-7 Perfect-bound paperback, 64 pages 123 full-color photographs $19.95 Author's Statement You can see how much I adore this finger weaving technique, because I've been developing and teaching it for over 15 years! Many of my students have fallen in love with it too, continuing to work with it far beyond their original class project. I am grateful to my students, for they have been my teachers - from them I've learned how best to communicate each and every step, as well as how to teach about the design process - and they are the inventors of some of techniques described in the "Advanced Weaving" chapter. In this book, I've kept no secrets, held nothing back. Yet the possibilities are endless, the door just barely open. Now it's up to you to see where this wonderful, versatile form will go next! Robin Atkins

Click here to see pictures from this book. Click here to order this book. See also Bonded Nylon Cord, which works well for finger woven projects.

Description of Book
For beaders, weavers, fiber artists and quilt makers, this is a fun, versatile and easy-to-learn technique for making finger woven treasure bracelets, necklaces, tassels and straps. Detailed photos illustrate every step. Includes design ideas and gallery. Create many different looks with this technique, including one that's uniquely your own!

Chapter titles: It all Began, Getting Started, Basic Weaving, Making the Closure Loop, Let the Fun Begin - Adding Beads & Treasures, Finishing Your Project, A Few Clever Fixes, Bracelet Design, Necklace Design, Tassel Design, Making Straps & Belts, Advanced Weaving, Gallery, and Closing Thoughts.

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One Bead at a Time: Exploring Creativity with Bead Embroidery Published 2000 by Tiger Press, 4th printing 2004 ISBN: 0-9705538-2-X Perfect-bound paperback, 56 pages 60 full-color photographs out of print available as free download Author's Statement This is the book I've always wanted to write! I can't tell you how much fun it was to write and design. While teaching this subject for ten years, I've learned to empower my students to reach into their own huge creative capacity, to let go of fears of failure, and to produce something that has "heart," and therefore life itself! Now, it feels absolutely fabulous to have captured what I know and believe about creativity, artistry, work of our hands and hearts, and improvisational bead embroidery in this written and pictorial form to share with many more than I can reach with my classroom teaching. After printing One Bead at a Time five times, I decided to "retire" the book in its bound form. Instead I am making it available, free, to anybody with access to a computer in PDF format. Click above or to the right to open the entire book on your computer monitor! Robin Atkins

Free download! Click above to read and print One Bead at a Time formatted as a PDF file.

Description of Book
In this book, you will see how beads, creativity, and healing are related. You will learn to stitch beads on fabric improvisationally, creating art work which is compelling, inspired, beautiful, fun, and satisfying to make. You will discover ways to break through the walls of doubt and criticism that prevent us from exploring our full artistic potential. This book is about improvisational bead embroidery as a pathway to greater creativity and source for personal healing. My intent is to inspire and to teach.

The techniques of bead embroidery are well illustrated with drawings, text, and photos with arrows pointing to the details of specific techniques. The materials and steps for beginning a project are fully described. For inspiration, see full-color photographs of more than thirty of the bead embroidered works I've created in the past 15 years, including purses and small bags, buttons, framed wall art, quilts, sculpture, artist's books, dolls, and medicine bags.

Click on reviews to read about how One Bead at a Time has helped both beginners and advanced beaders (as well as others seeking art and creativity in their lives) to expand their creative force by breaking the walls around it.

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Spirit Dolls Published 2005 by Tiger Press ISBN: 0-9705538-4-6 Saddle-stitched booklet, 20 pages 38 full-color photographs, patterns, drawings $15.00 Author's Statement My first doll of this type was made for me by a dear friend in 1993, when I bought a brand new car. My friend told me the doll was a "New Car Protection Goddess." I was touched by this delightful and caring gift, and began making dolls in a similar shape for various friends and loved ones. When you make a spirit doll, whether for yourself or as a gift, the idea is to be mindful, perhaps even prayerful, of her purpose. As you sew her seams and embellish her with carefully chosen beads, you are imbuing her with vitality and strength for her intended mission. That's the real difference between a spirit doll and any other doll. Spirit dolls are the sweetest and most meaningful gifts I've ever given. Robin Atkins

Click here to see pictures from this book. Click here to order this book.

Description of Book
This book includes three full-sized patterns, complete and easy-to-follow instructions, detailed photos, drawings, and tips to design and create your own unique beaded spirit dolls. Make spirit dolls as special gifts to yourself and your loved ones for celebrations, healing, guidance, remembering, protection, or friendship and love. Color pictures of fourteen different dolls by Robin will give you lots of ideas.

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The Complete Photo Guide to Beading by Robin Atkins Published 2013 by Creative Publishing International ISBN: 978-1-58923-718-6 Perfect-bound paperback, 224 pages over 650 large, color, step-by-step photographs; 26 projects $24.99 Author's Statement Ever since beading became my passion in 1985, customers and students have asked me, "Isn't there just one book that will show me how to do it all?" They wanted one comprehensive guide to beading, one giving them step-by-step instructions and tips about how to string beads, do simple wire-working with beads, learn several methods of weaving with beads, and show them how to do bead embroidery. Alas, there was no such book in print. Now there is! I'm delighted with how the book looks; in these pages, I have held nothing back, sharing just about everything I know about beading! Robin Atkins

This book is available from Amazon at a better price than I could give you. Click here to order this book. Click here to see a photo essay of pictures from this book. Click here to find this book on Facebook.

Description of Book
This is the first and only comprehensive guide to beads and all types of beading, including stringing, weaving, and embroidery. Within each technique, progressively more complex projects serve to develop mastery and build design skills. Beginners will find everything they need to get started, choosing from many fun and appealing projects that teach basic techniques with easily followed steps illustrated with large, step-by-step photos. Experienced beaders will find design coaching, advanced projects, special finishing techniques, tips, and types of beading that will be new to them. Nine guest artists join the author, contributing unique projects to delight and challenge the reader, and broaden the scope of the book.

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Beaded Embellishment Techniques & Designs for Embroidering on Cloth by Amy C. Clarke & Robin Atkins Published 2002 by Interweave Press 2nd printing 2003 ISBN: 1-931499-12-8 Perfect-bound paperback, 132 pages 70 color photographs, 50 line drawings, 2 charts $21.95 Author's Statement My co-author, Amy C.Clarke, and I set out to write the definitive book about bead embroidery. We bead in very different ways - my work tends to be improvisational, suggestive rather than realistic, and very textural - hers is rich with a wide range of colors, and tends to be flat and pictorial. Together, we are able to give you a very wide range of techniques, illustrated with many easy-to-follow drawings. We cover the most basic things, such as materials and design, all the way through advanced concepts and techniques. We enjoyed inviting bead artists whose beadwork we especially admired to submit pieces for our "Gallery" section, which became a fabulously inspirational section of the book. I especially loved writing the "History" section, which includes stories and beadwork discovered on my research trips overseas. Both of us contributed step-by-step instructions, drawings and photographs for the "Projects" section. After working intensely for many months, when we viewed the first copy, hot off the press, we smiled ever so broadly with the satisfaction that this book does, indeed, offer you the definitive approach to bead embroidery! Robin Atkins

This book is available at a better price than I could give you from Amazon. Click here to order this book.

Description of Book
Rich on history and technique, this definitive work by two leading beadworkers offers the first comprehensive look at the vast opportunities for self-expression with beads on cloth. Fabrics of all kinds�woven, non-woven, patterned, and plain, come together with beads of all kinds�seed, bugle, art, and novelty. The result is 10 stunning projects that both instruct and inspire. Four basic foundation stitches and their variations are illustrated in careful detail, and useful tricks of the trade abound for developing pattern and image. A colorful gallery of work by contemporary bead artists offers numerous ideas to inspire your own creations. Beaders, quilters, and fiber artists will find this book invaluable for its solid technical information about how to apply beads to cloth, resulting in unique creations that will stand the test of time.

Click on reviews to read what people are saying about Beaded Embellishment.

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Finishing Techniques For Bead Embroidery Projects Published 2001 by Tiger Press, 3rd printing 2004 ISBN: None (available only from Robin Atkins) Saddle-stitched booklet 16 pages, 27 full-color and 4 B&W photographs $12.00 Author's Statement After judging several beadwork and other art competitions, I realize that neat and appropriate finishing techniques often make the difference between a good piece and one with prize winning excellence. My goal in this booklet is to share some successful ways to finish ("or present") bead embroidery projects. Although dealing with one specific type of beadwork, the general principles and many of the techniques discussed in this booklet apply to other types of bead and fiber arts. Robin Atkins

Click here to order this book.

Description of Book
If you have incomplete beading projects sitting around, this may just be the book for you! Finishing Techniques first lists six general principles of successful (attractive and lasting) finishing techniques for art projects. Then special finishing methods are discussed and pictured for each of the following categories: bags, purses and pouches; sculptural pieces; dolls; framed art; wall-hangings, quilts and garments; and jewelry. Atkins also includes tips for testing beads to discover if they are color and light-fast.

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How I Made Rosie, The Uncaged Hen Published 2001 by Tiger Press, 3rd printing 2004 ISBN: None (available only from Robin Atkins) Saddle-stitched booklet 12 pages, 34 full-color photographs out of print available as free download Author's Statement I do bead embroidery improvisationally, without a plan for the outcome. And that's how I began this piece; but once it started to look like a chicken, I let Rosie have her way. Everyone seems to relate to Rosie - she even has the honor of being a "cover girl" (check out 500 Beaded Objects, an amazing new book published by Lark Books), and she's been featured in several printed and on-line beading magazines. In this booklet, you can read about and see many full-color photos showing the process of making Rosie (and her "garden"), from initial conception through putting the last kinky fringe in her tail. I reveal both my artistic and technical processes - not so you can make one just like her, but to give you a nudge toward making your own animal guide, as original and charming as she is. Robin Atkins

Free download! Click above to read and print Rosie The Uncaged Hen formatted as a PDF file.

Description of Book
If you love bead embroidery and whimsey and chickens, this is sure to be an entertaining read! Meet Rosie, a hen who refuses to be caged and loves her garden, through the eyes of her creator, Robin Atkins. Although this is not a pattern book and you won't find step-by-step instructions, you will find inspiration and many useful tips for making a three-dimensional beaded sculpture, as you follow the tracks of Rosie's creation.

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