I cannot remember a time that I have not done some form of handwork. My formal introduction was in Brownie Girl Scouts with counted Cross-stitch. I am descended from a long line of multi-talented needlewomen and remember many hours of making little “pillows” out of scraps while staying with my grandmother.
I was introduced to beads in 1995 when a friend loaned me Creative Beadweaving by Carole Wilcox Wells. That was all it took for beads to begin to take over my life. I finally found what I wanted to do when I grew up!
As a self taught beader I have been fortunate to take classes with Carole Wilcox Wells and David Chatt, but most of my “bead” education has been from gleaned information and techniques from books and the internet. I think that this “self-taught” method combined with a shortage of supplies in the area where I live led me to be adventurous with my beading. I didn’t always have the beads needed when I started a project so I had to improvise. Improvisation led to designing. Creating with beads for myself and friends rapidly led to selling my work and teaching others.
I began publishing patterns of my original designs in 1997 and opened a bead store in 1999, Blue Bear Beads. In 2004 my life took a new path when I closed my shop, sold my condo and took life on the road full time in my RV. It was a great adventure, but after a year I was longing for a little more space and settled down in the Asheville, NC area.
Life took another unexpected turn when I went back to work at a “full-time day job” and discovered clay. I have been exposed to the ceramic arts for the past 4-5 years by my sweetie, Les Powell, who is a ceramic artist, but I had never put my hands into clay until I started working at a Ceramics School. Now I have added this new passion to my repertoire.
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I cannot remember a time that I have not done some form of handwork. My formal introduction was in Brownie Girl Scouts with counted Cross-stitch. I am descended from a long line of multi-talented needlewomen and remember many hours of making little “pillows” out of scraps w...
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