Bead Chat Magazine Summer 2014 | Page 53

started about 11 years ago after I moved to Texas and started selling my beads online. Soon after I was published and have been growing my bead business ever since. It's now our family business and my husband works as my assistant. You have a very distinctive style and brand, how did that materialise/evolve? I think my style develop because I was willing to experiment and try my own techniques. I es mix custom color palettes, carve my own molds from my original sketches and have created a few techniques that are trade secrets to help my y beads stand apart. I have a strong vision for my brand, taking my cues from nature and art history. My beads are my art. I studied painting and drawing and have a degree in Fine Arts, I take that artistic spirit and translate it into beads. You write a lot of tutorials and teach bead & jewelry making in person through your retreats and the bead cruise, what is it about teaching and passing on your knowledge that you enjoy? I love to see jewelry designers embrace art beads and I'm on a mission to help inspire as many as I can! My favorite part of teaching is seeing students learn a jewelry technique and then go beyond the class assignment and find their own spark of inspiration. I love teaching jewelry classes because I am constantly inspired by their creativity. Bead Reteats and the Bead Cruise are my dream vacations, there is nothing like spending time with kindred spirits to renew the soul! No one gets you quite like another bead addict. artisanwhimsy.net