Average user rating:  |
| Not worth the cost of an issue |
| This magazine suffers from many problems: poor editing, incomplete and incomprehensible instructions, failure to respond to concerns and questions from their subscribers - just to name a few. There are several other magazines that fill this area of interest so much better, Bead and Button and Beadwork for two. Stay away from the hassle here. Try the other quality & professionally produced magazines, you'll be glad you did. |
| Jewelry Crafts Magazine |
| And one star is really too much for this magazine. I surely agree with Amybeader about this magazine, I got the first issue when it came out in the early 1990's and fell in love with it, but I have watched it lose its alure in the last few years, but I stubornly held on untill this year -2003 in hopes the editors would wake up and and see how far down they were sliding and get it together and put out something better,but they haven't. and I too didn't renew my sub.this time, as I become so frustrated with their "instuction" for a project that would make me want to scream.I thought I was the only one that was having a problem with the magazine and I appreciate amybeader for telling it like it is.They even quite publishing letters from thier readers which I never saw a magazine do before,guess other readers felt like I did too. There are much better magazine out there that make you feel good about your talents - Expression is one of the best and they offer a wide range of jewelry and clay designs along with other projects that open your world up and inspire you to incorporate other objects and media into your designs that you wouldn't normally think about mixing together. Two other new mag. are Polymer Cafe and Bead Style . All three of these new magazine are worth their weight in gold and jewels.The new bead Style is published by Bead and Button magazine and is great for beginers and advanced jewelry designers and beaders. They offer projects that can easly be achived. Well, thanks for reading this and much thanks again to amybeader for sharing - as a avid beader and jewelry designer myself, it is always hard for me to see a magazine go down, its like losing a close friend , but when all one gets from reading a magazine is frustion then it is time to let go and move on as hard as that can be - Life is too short and frustrating every day - we need inspriation and projects that make us smile and feel good about pur talents and encorage us to try new things.I do know when one door is closed there will be a bigger window opened with a much more beautiful view. |
| Magazine in desperate need of editing |
| Although some beginners may find this magazine useful, I recently dropped my subscription because of poor writing, lack of editing and proofreading, and poor layout. I have been a technical editor by profession (20+ years), as well as an avid beader (8+ years) and finally came to the conclusion that the poor writing and editing in this magazine caused me such irritation and frustration that I was better off not wasting my time and money on it. The most disappointing part of this is that back in the late 90's Jewelry Crafts made great strides to improve their overall quality (better photographs, more variety, printed on higher quality paper). But either they cannot afford a good editor/proofreader or they do not care. I have written them letters and even bought an extra copy and edited it, sending it to them with a cover letter explaining what I was doing and why. I have seen some very small changes that might have been in response to my letter, but the overall quality has not improved. So my advice is to save your money and subscribe to Bead and Button, Beadwork, or both; they are much better magazines. |
