Passion turns hobby into a career…

“My love of beading starts with my passion…” for growing orchids. I went to the Hamilton Garden Club one cold February Tuesday in 2006 to do a talk on orchids. A nor’easter snow storm blew in and I ended up the guest of the garden club president for 3 days. As it turned out, Tisha Lock was also a master beader! And so my first stitches in bead weaving were learned and my love of beading grew into a new passion. One that hasn’t lost it’s fascination in the five years that I’ve been beading. When I first started beading I was happily learning new stitches and patterns using seed beads. Then I discovered wonderful glasswork beads, stone cabs, fossils, buttons and other great finds at bead shows and shops.

Soon I was beading around anything that caught my fancy (my husband said I’d even bead around a turd and I would if it was fossil dinosaur!) Recently I incorporated Victorian photos in my jewelry and even beaded a skateboard for a company in the same building as my studio (see gallery photos.)

In 2009 I began playing with precious metal clay. I was certified in PMC with Rio Grande in the same year and have been using some silver and bronze in my pieces. As exciting as the results were, I was very intimidated by the clay so I took some classes. I highly recommend this to anyone starting in this new and quickly growing field as the silver is expensive (we won’t even mention gold!!) and the bronze is tricky. I took classes with Lisa Blackman, Holly Gage, Terry Kovilcik and others and my confidence grew. I won’t say that PMC still doesn’t intimidate me but I know some tricks now too! I’ll continue to experiment with PMC because I like the new dimension it gives to my work. Challenge is good!

Recently my friend Jackie moved her beads into the studio and beads with me whenever she can (I’m retired, she’s not.) We love beading and it’s even more fun when we do it together. Look for “Jackie’s Jewelry” in the gallery page. We plan on doing shows together and some open studio times. The calendar will keep you posted for the dates. If you feel up for a challenge and for newbies a possible new passion, sign up for a class.

I love visitors but I ask that you email a day or more ahead to make sure I’m available. In beading, as in life, the possibilities are endless. Happy beading!

Judi