The addictive world of beading The last five to seven years have seen a rise in popularity in beading that rivals many other craft forms. Today, most major shopping centres house at least one specialist bead store, most craft markets overflow with handmade creations and the amount of related books, new beads and accompaniments is constantly expanding. At its heart this flood of attention and popularity is not so hard to understand. Man, and most definitely woman, has been stringing beads in some form or another since ancient times. But what makes it so popular and why do so many beaders use one word - addictive - when they discuss this topic?
There’s no question that anyone can string beads. The basics of the technique are often taught at kindergarten. Hands up everyone who has a spray painted macaroni necklace stashed away somewhere! However the switch from simply stringing to understanding design principles, becoming au fait in the technical construction of jewellery items and, finally, having the eye and imagination to create beautiful, wearable works is another sphere.
Kathryn Wardill represents a growing Australian pool of exciting artisans. A jeweller, metalsmith, maker of lampworked glass and a teacher, Victorian-based Kathryn says she has always had a keen interest in jewellery making and, even before leaving high school, was attending a private goldsmith’s school on evenings and weekends. This led her to study metalsmithing at university and she says, “I feel lucky to have found my calling at a very young age and been able to pursue it for so many years now.”
In the USA bead artist, Robin Atkins, also feels she’s found her home within this field. A respected teacher, artist and author, she instructs students in improvisational bead embroidery, finger weaving and generally shares her passion for beads with others. A woman of many talents, Robin says she’s had three careers. First, she achieved a Masters in Counselling Psychology and worked with disturbed youth, next came a short time in customer service, “and the third, and by far the best, is all things beady!”
“When I started in 1985, a veteran bead importer/shop owner told me that the bead business ran in seven year cycles,” says Robin. “In the 10 years following that (to 1995) beads as a business grew very quickly; more and more shops, more and more books, more and more importers and exporters. During 1995-99, I felt a little dip in the business, and thought we were on a decline. But, the dip was soon over and growth picked up again. We saw internet bead shops and bead magazines and bead conferences begin to sprout everywhere, as well as continued growth of stores, classes and books.
“From 1985 to the present, I’ve seen a steady improvement in available beads, beading supplies, technical skills and opportunities for learning beading,” she explains. “Museums and high-end galleries are beginning to view some beadwork as art... There must be at least 500 times as many professionals as there were when I started. Personally, I’ve made a decent living with beads for 20 years and enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes it takes a little of this and a little of that (teach, lecture, write books, sell beads and make commission pieces) and for me it’s not a 9am to 5pm scenario... but that all increases the excitement of it.”
Bead embroidery has always been Robin’s favourite form but she “plays” with other forms of beading and enjoys using her skills to make journals, books, framed art and sculptures as well as some jewellery.
In contrast, Kathryn Wardill has focussed on making her own beads. She has studied lead-lighting, kiln glass (fusing and slumping) and glass casting but it was in a lampworking class in Brisbane in 1993 that she found what she really wanted to do with glass. “I have been developing my glass and metal skills... it is an aim to bring the two materials together into successful jewellery pieces,” she explains. At the moment I am interested in boats made from metal and glass. These were inspired by a trip last year to Cadaques in Spain, a small fishing village filled with the most beautiful small wooden fishing boats. I have also just finished a series of pieces for a group exhibitionin the UK themed on Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Tempest’, where I made a ship wreck scene (piece) from metal and glass. It included a swirling glass sea with fragments of the ship wreck including a life boat, the ship’s wheel and anchor.”
Kathryn is a woman of many firsts including being the only Australian artist featured in the book ‘1000 Glass Beads: Innovation and Imagination in Contemporary Glass Beadmaking’ plus she was the first Australian speaker at the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB) Conference, USA in 2006. She says that, early on her career, it became clear she needed to get her work published through exhibitions, books and magazines. “I dedicate a lot of time to filling out applications and sending out information about my work and sometimes I am successful,” Kathryn says. “Speaking at the ISGB Conference was one of the most nerve racking experiences of my artistic life... Both the book and the conference have been incredible opportunities to share my work with a large international audience.”
Similarly Robin lays claim to some remarkable achievements not the least being her role as founder and steward of The Bead Journal Project (BJP). Run from a central website the BJP sees a group of women and men dedicate themselves to creating 12 beaded journal pages, one per month, for a year. Explaining her personal bead journal pieces, Robin says: “A fabulous challenge for me is to tell a story, visually portray an emotion, event or passion with beads. For example, I did several projects for Margie Deeb’s recent book on colour (‘The Beader’s Guide to Color’ - American spelling). One was a strung necklace. The idea was to capture the essence of air with the design and colour of the necklace. I loved this... so that’s often how I start - with a word or concept that seems compelling to me. Then I just try to illustrate this word or concept with my beading.”
Attempting to explain the unique appeal that beads and beading holds, Robin says, for her, it’s the “history and ubiquitous nature” that attracts. “Plus, I love the meditative nature of working with beads, the amazing variety of beads, and the infinite possibilities of what I can create with them.”
“Scale, relationship of parts and poor finishing” are the three most common problems Robin sees in amateur work on her travels. “When it comes to scale I think in terms of visual weight. You need to make sure all parts are balanced,” she says. “For example, a visually heavy (not necessarily large sized) pendant should be supported by one or more strands of beads that can visually carry the weight of the pendant. In terms of the relationship between parts, again I advocate that one strives for balance and equality of the parts. For example, a quality pendant should be put together with beads and findings of equal quality. Finally, when it comes to finishing, you need to take the time to learn quality finishing techniques.”
Kathryn also identifies the development of skills as the “foundation to good work”. “I think that it is essential for anyone wanting to get ahead making jewellery to attend classes to improve their skills. After attending classes, you should also realise that these skills need to be practiced,” she adds.
The life of an artisan can be a challenging one but it is never dull. “I spend hours each day working with my hands at the jeweller’s bench or at my glass torch and, while I work, I listen to audio books,” says Kathryn. “I think that listening to someone tell me a story while I work helps to relax me and make the tedious repetitious nature of some pieces easier... I am often up late running the kiln and drawing to unwind and relax. I am also a very active teacher so there is always teaching preparation to be done. Teaching is a great way to travel and my students are usually very interesting people from very differing backgrounds. I enjoy sharing my skills and teaching balances my life as working in my studio alone can become very isolating.”
At the moment, among other things, Kathryn is working towards her own book on work and techniques. Her workshop schedule (all round Australia) is regularly updated via her website.
Robin is also immersed in the world of books as well as beads. From the start, she says, she was “a little different than most bead teachers and authors” because she is not a “project person”. “I don’t create an object and then teach others how to duplicate it,” she says. “Rather, my goal is to empower my readers and students to tap into their own huge store of creativity, to gain confidence in their own design ideas and to develop their own unique artistic style.”
Her new book ‘Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery’ includes ideas, suggestions and inspirations for creating unique, personal and engaging beadwork. It also includes 20 bead embroidery techniques that the author especially enjoys using in her own work. “These techniques are not in other bead embroidery books,” she says. While her dance card is quite full at the moment, all of Robin’s movements can be charted via her website and blog.
Find out more:
Kathryn’s website
www.wardill.com [wardill.com]
Robin’s website
www.robinatkins.com [robinatkins.com]
Robin’s blog
http://beadlust.blogspot.com [beadlust.blogspot.com]
Australian shows
www.beadandgemshow.com.au [beadandgemshow.com.au]
and
www.beadfair.com.au [beadfair.com.au]
Australian Glass Beadmakers Guild
www.aussiebeadmakers.com [aussiebeadmakers.com]
Please Login or Sign up to share, vote, favourite or comment.
