Thanks Floor!
my 3 books are all out of print, unfortunately, but pop up frequently on Amazon, etc.
look for "Beads! make your own jewellery" or "The Bead Jewellery Book" and you may find copies...
Wherever possible design with beads that have similar size holes and create a cord with as many fibres as you can fit- dont bother with bought needles but make your own with soft finest fusewire bent double and twisted together.
Beads with big holes on cable or wire shift from side to side, grind against each other and dont hang in a symmetrical, centred way.

most of this advice is obvious and i believe you could eventually work it out for yourself!

the other thing would be to come to one of my classes... (I live in London)