My adventure into beadwork was fueled by the passion and love of this art form by a couple of great friends who were part of the art group that I was a member of at the time. I’d always been an admirer of beading and the intricate and beautiful pieces of jewelry that could be created and had taken some beginner classes here and there just to learn the basic beading stitches but hadn’t really pursued this because, at the time, I was running my own retail/wholesale business and honestly didn’t have the time – or I thought. It was my two friends that brought me ‘to the dark side’ as I jokingly now tell students.
After seeing a bracelet that one of my friends created, I asked her how it was made – and I soon discovered that I already knew peyote stitch and could make the bracelet myself. Soon I discovered that I already had all the fundamentals for making great jewelry, just that I hadn’t learned how to apply the basics for creating all those fabulous projects that you see in all the bead magazines! I soon found that beading was very therapeutic for me, the best stress release that required minimum space for creating. Once I began experimenting, I was hooked!
I often tell students that learning how to bead is much like mastering the art of calligraphy – once you learn the basic, fundamental beading stitches, you can make almost ANY project! The majority of my beadwork incorporates only four basic stitches which are the ones used in almost all beading projects – peyote, right angle weave, brick and herringbone. Most other stitches are based off of these, and generally these are the stitches that are used for the base of most beading projects. By taking the time to master these simple stitches, how they are built and the correct tension, the possibilities for creating projects is virtually endless.
In this gallery you’ll find just a few examples of some of the beadwork projects that I’ve created over the years – and I hope they provide some inspiration for you to create your own projects! Simply click on any image for an enlarged view or for opening up the slide show viewer.
