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I have
had a love affair with beads since I was a
little girl growing up in Iowa. During the long, hot
summers, I discovered seed beads at the local hobby
shop, where they were relegated to a tiny corner of a
dusty shop that mostly featured model planes and
trains.
My friend Lori and I collected tubes and tubes of
these beads, which we strung on elastic cord or dental
floss - whatever we could find. Needless to say, our creations were pretty crude. I used a toy loom to
make hip, Native American style headbands (hey, it was
the 70's!) and rings. I quit beading probably when I
hit my teen years, when most of my free time was spent
doing other crafts, reading, and trying to meet the
challenges of the adolescent years.
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After many years without beads, I rekindled
my
fascination with them about 5 years ago after
discovering bead shops. Imagine - entire stores
filled with nothing but beads and beading supplies! I
had died and gone to heaven. But wait - that was only
the glimmer - the real spark came when I took a glass
beadmaking class a few years ago, and learned how to actually melt glass to make my own beads. Hmm, this
was dangerous, fun, AND beautiful! What more could a girl want?
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I was
plain and simply toast after that - there was no going
back. My first beads were really, really awful, but
something inside me kept urging me to keep trying it.
I read everything I could find on the internet on
glass beadmaking, or "lampwork" as I learned it was
called. I read Cindy Jenkins' book, Making Glass
Beads, and also Corina Tettinger's book "Passing the
Flame". The latter I found really, really helpful in
explaining various techniques and styles of bead
decoration, and I practiced everything that Corina
wrote about.
Now I find time several days a week to make beads, and I'm still playing, reading, and learning. One of the things I find so fascinating, so addictive about this art is that the possibilities are endless - countless colors, techniques, styles, and I want to try them all. I feel fortunate to have taken classes with Kate McKinnon, Jennifer Geldard, Tink Martin, and Michael Barley, and I expect to continue learning and growing as a bead artist for many years to come. So, that's my story. I will keep you informed as it evolves.
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