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Are you in need of inspiration? Looking for design ideas for those beads you've just purchased at your local bead shop? Look no further!
The BeadSmith Inspiration Squad is a carefully selected unit of highly trained and lethally talented bead artists from around the world who want nothing more than to inspire you to beading greatness!
Need inspiration to create with all of the new bead shapes you've been seeing in your favorite bead shops? Our carefully selected group of Beadsmith Inspiration squaddies have had a go at creating with many of them.....Click Here
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 Leslie Rogalski - BeadSmith Creative Director Seed Bead Specialist
Leslie Rogalski (aka Sleepless Beader™) is the creative director for The BeadSmith and a BeadSmith Inspiration Squad designer. Specializing in (but not limited to) beadwork, she has been an editor for leading bead magazines, a designer for several bead companies, and is widely recognized for You Tube and Facebook videos as well as TV appearances on jewelry making programs in the US and UK. Leslie sells her work, kits and tutorials at leslierogalskibeadworks.com. Follow her as "Doodlebeader" on Instagram, too!.
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Leslie Pope - BeadSmith Creative Designer Seed Bead Specialist
Leslie Pope, a.k.a. “Twisted Sistah”, has a PASSION for BEADS and FIBER!
As a fashion design student at Drexel University, she managed to work beads into most of her collections, winning the J.W. Smith Most Saleable Daywear award for her senior design collection of beaded knitwear. Since graduating, she is almost always seen with beads and fiber in hand, a source of great joy in her life.
Leslie became Twisted Sistah when she opened her traveling/web-based bead business in 2002 and hasn’t looked back since. Her business is devoted to BEADS and FIBER and offers a wide range of seed beads, threads and supplies that support the creation of BEADED WEARABLE ART.
Her love for her craft is contagious, as her ever-growing list of happy customers will attest.
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Anne Dilker Kumihimo Specialist
Anne came to jewelry design via ceramics. A studio art potter specializing in home
decor for 25 years, she started making porcelain beads and pendants in 2002. A need to showcase her beads as finished pieces, along with no knowledge of traditional jewelry making techniques, lead her to the use of textile techniques in her designs. The interplay between the soft textiles and the hard surface of the beads, stones and metals creates a juxtaposition that she finds appealing. And exploring the transition of textile techniques to jewelry design is one she finds endlessly intriguing. As a full-time independent artist, Anne is fully committed to assisting other micro businesses and is developing a business series specifically for jewelry makers. A line of silk and nylon suitable for use in jewelry is under development with a local mill and her new Artifacts & Spirit of the Celts lines of
bronze and silver jewelry design elements are being hand cast by a small art casting company here in the United States.
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Paul Ricks Ricks Beading Loom Specialist
Paul is the inventor of The Ricks Beading Loom, exclusively distributed by The BeadSmith.
He has created many designs and kits to be made on his loom and is also a frequent guest on JTV's Jewel School. Paul frequently travels the country to present classes and demonstrations using his invention. The Ricks Beading Loom is the loom with only two threads to weave back in when your project is finished. The first chapter of "THE RICKS LOOMATIKS" has recently been founded in New Jersey and more are being started every day! Paul is a retired Police Officer (Deputy Chief of Police - Colorado Springs Police Department) and also a former professional musician. He and his wife, Charlene, (and their two cats) currently divide their time between their summer home in the beautiful Black Forest region of Colorado and their winter home in the desert of Casa Grande, Arizona.
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Amee K. Sweet-McNamara Soutache & Bead Embroidery Specialist
Ask Amee K. Sweet-McNamara why her fine-art jewelry business is called "Amee Runs with
Scissors" and she usually just laughs and says, "Because it sounds a whole lot sexier than
"Amee Eats Paste." Working out of her southern New Hampshire home, Sweet-McNamara
makes one-of-a-kind pieces of wearable-art textile-jewelry using a technique called
Soutache & Bead Embroidery which involves hand-stitching yards and yards of soutache
braid and hundreds of tiny beads. She is inspired by curvilinear shapes and unexpected
color-combinations wherever she discovers them; fine art, movies, architecture, advertising.
Sweet-McNamara writes and teaches both private and group classes at venues across the
country and is a proud member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.
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 Apollinariya Koprivnik Jewelry Design Specialist
I am 25 years old student of architecture, young wife, quite an easy going person and I am obsessed with beads. Natively I was born in Russia, I am a real Siberian..sort of "beads are in my blood".
I am writing my Masters degree this year and cooperating with art store in our town, making tutorials and teaching people to explore beading and other techniques. Our small family lives in Slovenia, the city of Maribor, this beautifull country is full of inspiration. Nature, architecture, people... everything as a source for ideas. I am working in beading embroidery technique for three years, love to create interesting and rich color combinations, to try new shapes and to explore new materials and techniques. I never make a sketch for an artwork, the idea comes by itself, during the work. All ideas are spontaneous and always the material is the one that helps me to make the right decision.
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 Eva Dobos Jewelry Design Specialist
Eva Dobos is a Hungarian Bead Artist best known for her numerous intricate beaded beads and rings. A self-taught beader whose unique designs has earned her a spot as a renowned teacher in her country as well as abroad and been featured in countless magazines and exhibitions. Her work has participated in many competitions, with her most recent entry finishing in the top 6 of The Battle of the Beadsmith 2013.
She started to make jewellery in 1992. Has been teaching since 2004 when she published her first book and instructions for a magazine. Since then she has her own pages in that magazine and published more then 65 instructions so far. She had a lot of extremely talented students over the years, who are now teachers and well known artists themselves recognized by the beading community around the globe!
She uses almost every beading technique and combines them within her pieces as well as materials. She loves experiencing, incorporating new and strange materials into her jewelry.
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 Miriam Shimon Soutache Specialist
Miriam Shimon is an award-winning Israeli bead work artist with a penchant for working with Soutache. Born and raised in Denmark she now lives in Israel where she regularly teaches jewelery making and soutache workshops. She has been published in several books and magazines, and won numerous awards for her work around the world. You can follow her blog at www.cielodesign.blogspot.com.
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Betty Stephan Bead Embroidery Specialist
Betty Stephan's mom was a seamstress and taught Betty and each of her 4 sisters how to sew at an early age. It wasn't until she was in her 50s that Betty combined this skill with the art of beadwork in the form of bead embroidery. After retiring from her "real" job as an aide to special needs preschool children in 2005, she became a full time bead artist. You can find Betty travelling throughout the US with her husband in their RV and exhibiting her intricate pieces at fine craft shows during the summers. During the winter, you will find her in her "dungeon" madly beading away – warm and toasty and shielded from the heavy western New York snows.
Her work was published in Showcase 500 Beaded Jewelry as well as being pictured on the cover. She has won numerous international awards and contests and her designs have been published in Bead&Button, Beadwork, and Ornament magazines. Betty participated in both 2012 and 2013 Battle of the Beadsmith.
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Melissa Cable Mixed Media Jewelry Design Specialist
Melissa Cable is a mixed media jewelry artist, instructor and author who thrives on developing new designs and techniques with traditional and non-traditional materials, from metal, leather, and plastics to wood, clay and found objects. She is fascinated by the translation of techniques between materials and shares this love with students in her workshops around the world.
Melissa enjoys documenting her experiments on her blog, Create Recklessly. She is the author of Spotlight on Wire (2011), Metal Jewelry in Bloom (2013) and Beautiful Leather Jewelry (2014) and her work has been featured in Art Jewelry, BeadStyle, Stringing, Wirework, and Step-by-Step Wire magazines as well as Showcase 500 Art Necklaces. In addition to creating her own products under her Create Recklessly brand, Melissa serves as a consulting design for Faux Bone and is on the design team for Patrik Kusek's Woodland Chic.
She resides in the Greater Seattle area, where she calls Fusion Beads her teaching home. When she is not chasing after her young daughter and son, she might be found writing, running or rambling.
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 Denisa Kangas Bead Embroidery Specialist
Denisa Kangas has been beading for 5 years. She was born and lives in the Czech Republic with her American husband and two little children. Even though her country is famous for beads, she was introduced to their beauty by her American mother-in-law. In her busy mom life, she still finds time for her passion: beading. Her favorite technique is bead embroidery, because it is like painting with beads. She enjoys designing beaded works of art as well as every day accessories. Denisa has won or was placed in top positions in several beading contests.
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 Akke Jonkhof Jewelry Design Specialist
I live with my family (husband and three teenagers) in a small village in Holland. I've always been a creative person but when I discovered jewelry making in 2007 I became addicted in an instant. This addiction intensified over the years as I began working with tiny beads.
In regards to creating jewelry, I'm basically self-taught. All I know, I learned from books and the internet. I love playing with tiny shimmery things and discovering new structures and color combinations from which I can create nice jewelry. In general, the structures of my jewelry are simple with just a few types of beads in them. At the moment, I am challenged by all the new forms of beads that are currently on the market. I love to discover all of their possibilities!
About three years ago, I started blogging & posting pictures of my beadwork online at www.akkesieraden.nl and in late 2012 I started an Etsy shop, www.akkesieraden.etsy.com, to sell patterns of my creations. In addition to my bead-related work, I also work for 18 hours a week in health care for disabled people.
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Laura Graham Beadweaving Specialist
Laura studied and worked in the art and photography field from a very young age until being diagnosed with Lupus in 2007. Making jewelry became her way of coping with the disease, and now she is an award-winning designer and practices beadweaving therapy every day. The creative and technical aspects, the new two-hole beads as well as the endless possibilities keep her very busy and creativity flowing. She lives in Las Vegas with her husband, has an Etsy shop, and has started teaching her designs. You can reach her at desertstarcreations.etsy.com or at laura@desertstarcreations.com.
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 Ella "The Admiral" Des Jewelry Design Specialist
Ella Des is a self-taught bead artist from Belgrade, Serbia. She always loved sewing, knitting, and painting, but didn’t think she could find success with her creativity. So she worked in marketing and PR, but eventually decided to leave the rat race and sail around the world with her husband. As a self-proclaimed “Admiral,” she is now living and working on her yacht, where she has reconnected with her creative passion.
Ella started to design beaded jewelry, working mainly with seed beads and using many off-loom techniques. She wrote her skedfirst step-by-step tutorial with pictures, because a friend a her how to make a bracelet. Since then, Ella has created more than 200 designs with tutorials.
She has her own Etsy shop and web site, ellad2.com.
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 Carolyn Cave Beadwork Specialist
A self-taught bead artist living in Alberta, Carolyn enjoys the endless creativity derived from stringing and stitching “little round shiny things with holes in them”. This is both a frustrating and exhilarating way to fill in the spare moments of her very full days as a wife, mother of three young ladies, and musician. Creativity has always played a large role in her life, from sewing clothes for Barbie at a young age, to experimenting with a wide variety of arts and crafts; from earning a Degree in Music and playing several instruments, to making jewelry. Her creations are inspired by a wide variety of things – the colors and shapes of the natural world, works of vintage and antique beaded art, the encouraging comments of her family, and the many hours spent “composing” with needle, beads and thread. Her work has been published in Bead&Button and Beadwork magazines, and she has been a winner in multiple categories of BeadStar every year since 2011. Her first book, Beautiful Designs with SuperDuos and Twin Beads, was released by Kalmbach in 2014. Visit Carolyn’s Facebook page: Lady Beadle Designs or visit her website: www.ladybeadledesigns.com!
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Isabella Lam Beadwork Specialist
Isabella Lam started beading in 2009, living and working in Israel. Beadwork became her profession over the years; creating new designs of beaded jewelry using new beads in unique combinations is always an opportunity for challenge. She enjoys sharing her passion and love for beads and inspiring her students to share her love of jewelry making. As a leading beadwork designer her fans all over the world have the opportunity to learn and create many of her off-loom projects. Isabella believes that if you are interested in giving beads a try, she will help you create elegant and unique beadwork jewelry which will most certainly get you noticed. You can find over 100 different kits and over 120 tutorials in different levels from beginner to advance. Visit www.isabellalam.com or www.etsy.com/shop/bead4me.
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Christina Neit Beadwork Specialist
Christina Neit, aka Good Quill Hunting, is a born-and-bred Mainer and proud parent of four children. Growing up in a self-sufficient home where she learned needlework at a very young age, she specializes in unique statement jewelry made using gemstones, crystals, and seed beads, with a passion for Vintage components. She enjoys incorporating unique textures and fibers, when possible, like metal stampings, porcupine quills and horsehair. She’s been teaching the art of beadwork, designing, creating and vending at various venues for ten years. Chris, Dave and their three dogs currently make their home near Denver, Colorado. She has been published in Bead Trends, Perlen Posie, Bead Unique and Beadwork magazines where she was one of the Designers of the Year 2014.
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Carol Dean Sharpe Peyote Stitch Cuff Design Specialist
Carol Dean Sharpe (aka Sand Fibers) is a self-taught bead artist who is best known for her flat peyote cuff work. She aims for designs that are accessible for many different types of women, from the young college student who just wants playful adornments to the business woman who needs accessories that will go from business to dinner. She has been published in Step-by-Step Beads as well as in Perlen Poesie. Her work has also been featured in books by American, British, and German bead artists. While Carol Dean can be found happily beading and designing in her New Mexico home, her extensive and ever-growing library of patterns (and the occasional kit) can be found at www.sandfibers.etsy.com.
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 Bianca van der Molen Jewelry Design Specialist
About ten years ago I came in contact with beads, during a small workshop at my job. Since then I was completely hooked on the beads. Over the years I taught myself to bead, from “just” stringing (with a bit of wirewrapping) beads, bead embroidery and then to beadweaving! I just love it that you can make the most intricate but yet simple jewelry by just weaving the beads with different techniques. At the end of 2012 I began writing my first tutorial, Star of Kallista, and opened my Etsy store www.biancmolendesigns.etsy.com. I’ve made several more since then and was published in two magazines in 2014. At my website www.biancmolendesigns.com you can also find a few free tutorials.
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Erika Sandor Jewelry Design Specialist
I am a jewelry designer, a writer and a passionate traveler and adventurer.
A gypsy spirit: longing to see all the close and distant corners of the world and transform the impressions into beaded and written memories.
At the age of 29 I sold my successful bead shop in Bratislava, Slovakia. I returned to my roots – art, creativity and traveling. I design one-of-a-kind art jewelry. The necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and headpieces are inspired by foreign cultures, special places, persons, feelings and much more.
You can follow my work at www.thestorytellingjeweller.com. Looking forward to see you there!
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Diana Miglionico-Shiraishi Jewelry Design Specialist
Diana Miglionico-Shiraishi began her creative life as a floral designer for her mother’s flower shop, where color, texture and design remained an inspiration into jewelry making.Her travels led her to Japan where she discovered the art of kumihimo, the “gathering of threads” that so clearly brings all her skills together in this ancient technique. Diana’s Jasmine Tea Designs Etsy shop fulfills her vision for an intimate boutique of handcrafted beaded kumihimo jewelry, ideas to share and kumihimo supplies, so you can do the same. Her designs reflect the inspiration she finds in nature, art, and memories from her childhood. Diana is a founding member and an instructor for The American Kumihimo Society. Visit her web site www.jasmineteadesigns.com, Facebook page facebook.com/JasmineTeaDesigns, and Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/JasmineTeaDesigns. TO SEE SOME OF DIANA'S WORK CLICK HERE!
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 Anna Lindell Jewelry Design Specialist
Anna Lindell is a self-taught bead artist from the Stockholm area in Sweden, who loves to create lifelike designs and share her passion for beads with others. Anna stumbled upon the vast world of beads in 2007 when she wanted to make her wedding necklace, and in 2011 she quit her day-job to run her business Tigerguld. Anna loves mixing materials and techniques into story-telling beadwork, she’s curious about everything and feels there is always new things to learn and people to meet. She’s been in the Battle of the Beadsmith since beginning, her work has been published in several magazines of which Bead & Jewellery Magazine is the most regular, and was featured with her Wicker Bangle design in one of Starman’s ads during her time as a Starman Trendsetter. Today, Anna enjoys developing fun ideas, writing comprehensible tutorials for all levels of beaders, and teaching her designs across Europe. You can find her tutorials at www.etsy.com/shop/tigerguld or visit www.tigerguld.com for more information.
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Cora Sparidaans Jewelry Design Specialist
Cora Sparidaans lives in a small village in the Netherlands with her loving husband and two sons. In 2014, she came across a beading store and her love for beading was born. Not long after, she started to design her own pieces and teach classes for both beginners and advanced beaders. Her passion is designing new pieces and trying out color combinations. Cora also loves to share her passion with others. Her work has been published in the Perlen Poesie and in Bead Art & Embroidery magazines. Now she has her own online bead store where she sells patterns, kits and beading supplies. You can visit her at www.csbeaddesign.nl or on Facebook - facebook.com/csbeaddesign/"
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 Debora Hodoyer Bead Design Specialist
Debora Hodoyer was raised in Sardinia, a beautiful island in the middle of Mediterranean Sea she became a passionate traveler and now, back from those beautiful experiences, concentrates on the valorization of culture, language, protection of the environment, archeology, traditions and ancient history of her island, which you’re welcome to come and visit.
Debora is also a bass guitar player, and her adventure in the bead world started with wire when she needed a hobby at a time she wasn’t playing bass so much. Her attention was attracted by those little sparkling pretty things named seed beads and she just channeled being disciplined in music into a different form of creative energy. Debora says that her jewelry is made of music, art, nature and something that comes from a remote past. Over time she developed her own designs trying to combine ancient traditions with hints of modern style. She now sells beading instructions in her Etsy shop called CrownofStones, and has had designs published as well as interviews in major beading magazines including Bead&Button, Beadwork, Perlen Poesie, Bead & Jewellery, Beading Polska, and DIY Beading Magazine, and Creative Beading books. Visit Debora’s Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/CrownofStones and Facebook page www.facebook.com/DeboraHodoyerCrownofStones/
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Martha Mollichella Jewelry Design Specialist
Martha Mollichella studied jewelry design and goldsmithing at the Art Institute of Rome where she graduated as an art teacher in 1991. Circumstances led her to work in the commercial sector of an Information Technology company and for almost 18 years she was involved in creating new business plans, searching for potential customers, purchasing, managing, taking care of clients and much more. Then her life took a new direction. After having three children, she decided to be a stay-at-home mom and during this time she re-discovered the joys of various creative arts as a way to entertain not only her kids but herself as well. She began sewing with great enthusiasm and stumbled across soutache and beads in a sewing ideas project. That was the spark that renewed her passion for jewelry making and she has been beading every day since 2013. After many years of artistic studies, Martha’s passions have changed and evolved. She loves to create primarily unique pieces and small works of wearable art. Visit her website: www.marthamollichella.com.
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Rangashrii Santhanam Beadweaving Specialist
Rangashrii Santhanam is an award-winning designer who started beading in 2009. Her designs have been published in magazines such as Beadwork and Bead and Jewelry. She is inspired by nature and quite a few of her designs mimic flowers. She travels with her beads as much as possible. Rangashrii lives in Atlanta, GA with her son and husband and two very spoiled cats. Her hobbies are reading and gardening and she loves board games. She sells her finished jewelry in craft shows and to private clients. You can find her designs and kits at www.shriidesignsllc.com or follow her on Instagram @shriidesigns. She can be reached at shriidesigns1@gmail.com.
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 Barbara Lepak Embroidery Specialist
Barbara Lepak started beading in 2013, though her mum introduced her to the craft and joys of embroidery in her childhood,
and later on cross stitching (which she still loves doing.) Using the internet and some magazines she learned basic bead weaving techniques and just few months later started designing her own patterns, but it took five years before she made her very first tutorial. Earrings are her favorite piece of jewelry and you can see her doing those most often. Among her works you'll also find bead embroidery, soutache and bead crochet.
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We remain grateful for the generosity and creativity of Inspiration Squad members who have stepped aside to pursue other endeavors.
Many thanks to Nancy Dale, Cynthia Newcomer Daniel, Kinga Nichols, Kris Empting-Obenland, Ioana Sava, Liz Thompson, Beth Stone, Linda Roberts, Sigi Contreras, Maria Rypan, Amy Katz, Paulette Baron, Diane Whiting, Nealay Patel and Julie Romero
for sharing your talents with us,
and good luck on your new paths. |
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