Beading Arts

 Tara’s Tiles, 2007. Glass curtain of 1/2″ square glass tiles in 26 colors, with crystals and seed beads. 28″ deep and 81″ wide. View from my master bath. Artist: Denise Perreault Location: Boulder, Colorado Website: Denise Perreault Denise also has a number of articles and two covers published in Beadwork Magazine since 1999, (Interweave Press). Denise, how do you describe your work? I’d describe my work as contemporary folk art, since I strive for a hand-crafted, vintage appearance. That’s why I use size 11 Czech seed beads almost exclusively: those imperfect little donuts are an excellent medium for conveying a sense of naivete and humanity in my beadwork, as good folk art often does. Our home has a growing collection of contemporary and antique folk art that my husband David and 10 year-old son Dustin have been collecting on our world travels. I’m honored if my artwork brings as much delight to others as our folk art collection gives to us. In Prince Krak’s Time, 200

To make a peyote beaded bead without worrying about tension, use a lightweight resin bead as the core. I chose a pretty light purple resin bead in a drum shape, and used crystal aurora borealis size 8/0 beads so that the color of the resin would show through. It’s hard to see the pattern that I’m using on the bead above, so I made a sample bead with higher contrast so that you can see if your pattern is working up properly: Here are the steps: 1. Pick up 1 size 8/0 seed bead and 2 size 11/0 delicas, five times. Pass the thread through all the beads again and tie a knot so that you have a tight circle of beads. 2. Pick up 1 size 8/0 and 2 size 11/0s, and pass the needle and thread through the 2 size 11/0s of the previous row. Continue, allowing the bead to spiral until it is as tall as desired. Slip the resin bead in at any point. 3. Tighten down the last row by adding only a size 8/0 and passing through the 2 size 11/0s of the previous row five times. pass through all the bea

Making Metal Beads by Pauline Warg This is an astounding book! Like all Lark Publications, it is filled with beautiful photographs, in this case close-ups of lovely fabricated metal beads and the steps to create them. Warning: this is not a book on metal clay. Pauline’s book covers traditional metalsmithing techniques, so it’s not for everyone. But if you’ve ever thought that you’d like to try your hand at making metal beads from scratch (or in this case, from sheet metal!), this is the book for you. She has a brief section on doctoring up premade metal beads, giving them texture and more personality, but most of the book covers creating from the raw materials. After covering the basics of sawing, filing, drilling, soldering, forming, and more, Pauline puts all these skills together to show you step by step how to make 40 different gorgeous beads. Some beads start with tubing, some with sheet metal, and some with wire mesh. All are stunning!

Artist: Lori Greenberg Location: Cave Creek, Arizona Website & Blog: Lori Greenberg Bead Nerd How do you describe your work, Lori? The tagline on my web site is “defying the ordinary”. I like to make pieces that are different than anything else you see out there and will keep you coming back to see what I’m up to next. Beads that make you want to look deeper into them or make you wonder, “How did she do that?” I originally named my business “Bead Nerd” because that is what my husband called me when I’d be obsessively trying to learn about beads and the making of them. While looking at other beadmakers’ work I realized that I was getting to know business names but cound not remember who the actual artist was. I decide that I’d rather be known by my name than Bead Nerd so I transitioned into using my name for my business name. I still use the title Bead Nerd on my blog though because it does fit me and how I go about everything glass bead related. What is your creative

Today is going to be one of those “my own opinion” posts! Please feel free to leave comments that share your favorite materials and methods for today’s topic.  And don't miss the link at the end where you can click to download a free chapter of my bead embroidery e-book, Every Bead Has a Story ! Orinoco Flow I am frequently asked for the specifics of how I make my bead-embroidered pieces. You can see examples of my bead-embroidered necklaces here. I’m totally sold on using buckram for my beading layer, rather than some of the more expensive products marketed specifically for beading. Even when I’m embroidering directly onto something like a heavy felt hat, I sometimes still use buckram or another lighter weight interfacing behind the felt. Buckram is a heavily starched woven cotton interfacing, used in millinery and belts. It’s very thin, but holds its shape well and practically never unravels. It can be painted or dyed and heat-set before beading, which is what I do in some o

Artist: Karen Paust Business name: Take me to your Beader Location: Wellsville Pennsylvania Website: Karen Paust Karen, how do you describe your work? I create botanical jewelry and sculpture. What is your creative process like? I usually am inspired by something very complicated, something that challenges me. I do a lot of sketches and watercolors as studies for pieces. I collect material, dead insects even pull moths and butterflies off the grill of the car to use as samples. I would never kill an insect, so my bug collection is a little rough. I used to bead all the time, (sometimes 8-12 hours a day, sometimes 5 or 6 or 7 days a week), now I try to balance my life with other things I love to do. What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry? I am completely self taught as a beader, but I did study painting, and also botany before I went to art school. I have always been trying to merge my love of nature and art together

Trash City Beads Unconventional Lapidarist Cabbing Rough Technorati Tags: handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Materials: V Pendant (available from New Terra Artifacts ) 90 small glass beads, approximately 4mm, in 6-7 colors 20 larger glass beads, from 8-12mm, in similar colors #8 gold-lined seed beads 3 gold beads, 6-8mm 2 soldered gold loops 2 pieces of .015 inch beading wire, each 2 feet long 2 gold crimps Gold hook 2 inches of gold chain 3 headpins Tools: Wire cutters Flat nosed pliers Round nosed pliers File Alligator clips Measuring tape 1 Cut 2 pieces of beading wire to 2 feet each. Center a soldered gold loop on both pieces, and pass all four ends up through a large gold bead and a large glass bead. Split the wires, and string 2 up through each hole in the V pendant. 2 String each pair of wires through a large gold bead. String the rest of the two necklace strands, alternating between small beads and seed beads on a single wire and larger beads on both wires for about 4 to 5 inches. String both wires through several large beads, and finally through about 1/2 in