Engineer by day, beadweaver by night (mostly), I like to look for answers to questions.
How do things work? What inspires you? What do you wonder about?
Explore the journey to creativity together.


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Etsy Beadweavers Team

I just joined the Etsy Beadweavers Team. I am pretty excited - this is a very talented group that focuses on the same style of beadwork that I love. I have a link to the team's blog on my sidebar. Check it out to see some excellent examples of beadwork.

Where does the name Asterope come from?

I chose it because I love astronomy. Asterope is the name of one of the Pleiades (which is a beautiful star cluster in Taurus). Though it looks like a single star to the naked eye, a telescope or binoculars reveals that Asterope is actually two stars.

Example of Netted Beadwork



This is an example of a necklace I made using netting, one of the first techniques I learned.

In this technique I string a group of beads, then "pass through" one of the beads in the string again. This creates a loop. As I keep building up the loops, they become a lattice.

Beading

I am an engineer by day and a beader by night. I've been beading for about 5 years now. I favor intricate, hand stitched designs.

Much of my inspiration comes from the natural world - colors and shapes, textures and lighting in the sky, land and water. Sometimes I am inspired by a stitch - the way the beads fit together give me an idea for a new piece.

This is how I got into beading: I was in the library (always a dangerous place). My pre-school aged children were dissolving into tantrums. If I wanted to get a book, I had to do it fast. I saw a new paperback with a beautiful netted bead collar on the cover and wondered, how is that made?

After I checked that book out, my fate was sealed. Once I started beading I fell in love with it. The first time I went to a bead store, my reactions to all the colors, textures and shapes were so intense, I just wandered around for hours (still a problem). I saw visions of new patterns while I was at work. I felt driven to finish a project just to see what it would look like. Then I was off to the next one.

As a result, I have way too much jewelry! (and beads)