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Welcome to BSGC's Members' interviews and profiles
- AN INTERVIEW WITH THE INVENTOR OF THE BEAD CRIMPING PLIERS
- GINA LAMBERT - VAROOOM
- JENNY BEZINGUE - AN INTERVIEW
- ELYSE KOREN-CAMARRA - CIRCLE OF SILVER
- CINDY JENKINS
- ELISABETH AND SCOTT BARTKY
- JOANN BAUMANN - FROM BEADS TO BEADS
- SHIRLEY COHEN - ADDICTED NEEDLE WORKER
- AN INTERVIEW WITH NADINE BUCK
- MARLA GASSNER - INSPIRED BY BUTTERFLIES
- AN INTERVIEW WITH SUE KENYON
- DONNA ZAIDENBERG - A PROFILE
The following is a fictitious interview with the inventor of the bead crimping pliers. I have chosen this genre to express a number of my random thoughts about the bead industry much like Neil Simon writes a play in order to publish his latest one-liners. I apologize beforehand for the fiction but, in my defense, the scripted interview is endemic in politics and places me, if not in good, in company anyway.
Q: When did you first get involved with beads?
A: In 1990 my wife, Elisabeth, and I purchased a jewelry supply business which also sold beads. Prior to that we were collectors and my wife had been making beaded jewelry since coming here 30 years ago. In that same year we joined the Bead Society of Greater Chicago and attended the second International Bead Conference in Washington DC. In looking back, the 90s was a wonderful if not the best time for all of us: collectors, writers, teachers, wholesalers, retailers, designers, artists, scholars, bead stores, bead societies, bead makers and publishers. Collectively we all LOVED beads and wanted everybody else to love them as much as we did. A case in point was Alice Korach who founded Bead and Button Magazine. Her first issue in February 1994 contained no advertising whatever! Parenthetically, the first issue had an article about the bead crimper.
Q: When did you invent the bead crimping tool?
A: In September of 1991. It was a classic case of "necessity is the mother of invention". I had been thinking about it for several months after stringing a three strand branch coral necklace using Tiger Tail wire and French crimp beads. I hated the look of the crimps and ended up carving pieces of coral to hide them thinking while doing so there had to be a better way. Over the next few months I came up with several designs rejecting them as they didn't meet my all my design criteria. When I finally conceived the approach it only took about 15 minutes to make a prototype. That same evening Valerie Hector became the first person to use the tool. I still have the original tool and the first set of crimps that Valerie, my wife Elisabeth, and I made that day. A few weeks later I engaged a patent attorney.
Q: When did you introduce it?
A: In February 1992 at the Tucson Gem and Jewelry Show. It took off immediately and it has been growing ever since. I was recently told that the crimping pliers, by making it easier to string, contributed significantly to the growth of the bead industry. I'm probably the only man that can say that since 1992 over a million women have had my tool in their hands.
Q: When did this present interest in beads first start?
A: Although not a historian, I would put the start of this heightened interest in 1974 with the publication of The Bead Journal, later to become Ornament Magazine, and the 1975 founding of the Bead Society of Los Angeles, the country's first such society. My personal vote for the "father" of this revolution is Robert K. Liu who published The Bead Journal and was one of the founders of the Bead Society of Los Angeles.
Q: Weren't beads just as popular back in the 60's?
A: Perhaps, but this latest craze is different in that the bead is now worthy of respect. In 1987 Lois Sherr Dubin, whom I consider to be the "mother" of this revolution, published The History of Beads. In this wonderful and beautiful book she elevated the bead from a simple piece of adornment to an object of archeological importance as well as an exquisite work of art.
Q: Just how has it grown since the 70s?
A: Initially it grew through collectors, jewelry artists, importers and scholars all of us sharing a common interest in beads. One important importer at the time was Picard Beads who started importing African beads in 1969. The Picards, John and Ruth, have now published seven volumes of beads from their collection of over 50,000 beads now contained in the Picard Trade Bead Museum. In 1985 the Los Angeles Bead Society, in celebration of its 10th anniversary, sponsored the first International Bead Conference. During the 80s a number of important bead societies started up: Seattle and Washington DC in 1983, New York in 1988, Great Britain and Chicago in 1989. In 1984 Gabrielle Liese opened The Bead Museum in Arizona which now houses an international collection of over 100,000 beads. In 1989 the Society of Bead Researchers which was founded in 1981 published their first scholarly journal. By the mid 90s the Washington DC Bead Society had sponsored the second International Bead Conference in 1990 and the third in 1995 and the revolution was well underway.
Q: And where are we now?
A: Beads are big business. New bead stores are popping up all over. The number of books and magazines are increasing exponentially. Walk into any bookstore and all the bead and jewelry craft magazines are on the racks at eye level. The growth rate is astounding anywhere between 30 and 40 percent every year since 1992 and shows no sign of slowing down. Remarkably, it grew at these 30 to 40 percent rates right through the recession and the dot com bust and has caught the attention of venture capitalists. A case in point is Aspire Media, LLC which is totally financed by private equity firms.
Q: I never heard of Aspire Media. What do they do?
A: Aspire Media bought out Interweave Press in 2005 and has been on an acquisition spree over the last year. To date they now own Bead Expo, the Gems Group from PrimeMedia which includes Lapidary Journal, Colored Stone and their trade shows, Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper, and even the Needle Arts Studio Television Program.
Q: Where is the money being made?
A: Those that have a unique product or offer a unique service are making money. Hence suppliers taken as a whole and well known teachers and authors are doing well. If quantity is an indicator of profits, then magazine publishers seem to be raking it in. I think that the schools are also doing OK since I'm seeing more and more advertisements for them, but I really don't know. Then there are the large multi-day bead shows the biggest being the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. They are growing in number, in attendance, and in the number of dealers. The formula for success is to combine workshops and dealers into one multi-day show. I had hopes that some of these new shows would also include lectures but sadly, speakers are overhead and do not produce revenue. Bead Expo is the only show in the US which still presents scholarly lectures but, since they are now backed by private equity, I don't hold out any hope they'll continue doing so.
Q: I've heard stories that bead stores aren't doing as well as they had been. If it's really a big business, why is that?
A: Its a combination of increasing competition from new bead stores opening up, the internet, craft stores and bead shows. There are simply more and more places for the customer to buy components and services. In economic terms, it's a buyer's market. The high growth rate has attracted suppliers faster than the growth in the number of customers. Ironically, even some of the older suppliers are experiencing increased competition. Its not only bead stores and component suppliers that are being impacted by the expansion taking place but also bead societies are being hurt.
Q: Bead societies too? I would expect they would be increasing in size.
A: A few are but mostly their membership has been relatively constant or slowly falling. There are several reasons for this. First it is getting harder and more expensive to bring in good lecturers and teachers. The "stars" can make more money than they ever did in the 90s teaching and selling their books and or kits at a few large multi-day bead shows. Second, the societies in urban areas are losing members to smaller (and free) groups set up by local bead stores or just a group of neighborhood beaders. Third, if the society sponsors a bead sale, they face competition not only from the bigger trade shows but also from other shows sponsored by community art organizations, vendors, or even local bead stores. Actually if you look at the charters of most bead societies, half of their mission of fostering public interest in beads, is a "done deal".
Q: What's the second half of their mission?
A: To support the dissemination of knowledge about all aspects of beads e.g. archeological, historical, cultural, aesthetic, technological, etc. usually by means of grants, lectures, public expositions, and publications. Of course all this takes money and commitment both becoming increasingly scarce in a number of bead societies. It also takes a board which celebrates scholarly studies, an attribute also becoming rare in our profligate world.
Q: Is your society doing well?
A: Sadly, no - since 2001 our membership has fallen from 368 to 276. Every year we lose about 50 more members but since we only add around 35 new ones, we are slowly dying. Clearly we are not satisfying our membership, not surprising since for the first time since the early 90s we have no workshops scheduled for this year. Another hit to our finances is the falling attendance at our annual bead and book sale. Attendance has dropped from 1200 in 2001 to just 690 in 2006. To be sure we still maintain a superb lending library and continue to put on book sales several times a year. Also our annual "Art of Beadwork" where our members sell their creations is a great benefit to the beginning artist. But since these are not major revenue producers, the future is bleak.
Q: Are there any societies that are doing well?
A: I'm sorry but I really don't know the answer to that question but it is an interesting one and one which should be studied. I have been told the Portland one is very good as is the one in Seattle. For me, the most impressive one is in London. They have over 1000 members, are associated with an archeological department and produce a 20 to 24 page colored newsletter five times a year.
Q: What, in your opinion, are the latest trends.
A: For my wife and I, the most exciting thing happening right now is seeing the bead revolution getting underway in the rest of the world. It is almost a repeat of the 90s, the only difference being the internet which will facilitate a more rapid expansion. In Istanbul in November, 2007 there will be an international bead conference modeled after the three international conferences held in the United States in 85, 90, and 95.
Q: What do you think will happen in the future?
A: Clearly the growth cannot continue at this crazy rate forever. It'll have to slow down and the entire industry will retrench. During the retrenchment inefficient suppliers will fail or be bought out by larger more successful ones. There will still be large multi-day shows with workshops strategically located around the world in major cities. The internet will finally come into its own as the number of younger artists become a larger proportion of the beading industry.
Q: I'm not sure what you mean "coming into its own". Isn't the internet already well established?
A: Only if you think of the internet as just e-mail, paperless catalogs, and a source of information. In January of 2003 when I reported to my board on the status of the website and databases, I made six predictions for the next four years. My batting average as of today is 50% but significantly, all the ones I missed had to do with the internet, a subject I should be familiar with. It became obvious to me a few years later when I observed that the BSGC board's peception of cyberspace was cypherspace. They simply do not think of it as an asset to be used. Indeed, it is the only organization I know which, after having a website for over 8 years, does not incorporate its address into its letterhead. I've actually met members who did not even know we had a website!
Q: How else could the internet be used?
A: One of my 2003 predictions was that in the future, there will exist a virtual bead society. Members would pay to receive streaming video workshop lessons with part of the proceeds going to the instructor much like movie residuals. Prior to the web-cast all the bead store members of this virtual bead society would be alerted as to what materials will be required and where to order them. The revenues could be quite good for this operation with click-throughs to instructors and suppliers. Hopefully, it should be run by a non-profit group with part of the proceeds going for ongoing bead research. God help it if publishers or venture capitalists get a hold of it.
Scott Bartky
webmaster 3/13/07
This article appeared June 6 & 8, 2003 in the Lifestyle section by Kim Lovejoy-Voss. It is reprinted in its entirety with permission of the Liberty Suburban Chicago Newspapers.
“If you hear a Harley-Davidson motorcycle rumbling through Berwyn, look to see if the driver is wearing a lot of jewelry.
It likely is Gina Lambert of Berwyn, who recently learned how to ride a motorcycle and purchased a Harley-Davidson 88FXR for her birthday.
‘When I turned 40, I decided I wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle,’ Lambert said. ‘My boyfriend, Nick LePore, has been riding for 30 years so I learned how to ride and I just love it. I thought I would zip around town but it has become a big passion for me. We are planning to ride around Lake Michigan this summer.’
Until then, she will be zipping around Berwyn with her many pieces of jewelry blowing in the wind. Lambert owns Queen Beads, a wholesaling bead business she runs from her home and enjoys creating jewelry and sculptured pieces from the beads.
‘I have enjoyed making jewelry since I was a teenager and I have always been a jewelry lover,’ she said.
‘Making jewelry is a good way to express your own statement with the individual (jewelry) piece and the style of the beaded beads.’
Lambert said every beaded piece is unique because the beads and weaves differ, resulting in new creations.
‘The best part about beading is it is so easy to learn and you can’t make a mistake. If you do, it just becomes part of the piece,’ she said.
‘I’m also doing some sculptured pieces where I incorporate silver into the pieces,’ she added. ‘I took a silversmithing class at College of DuPage and have created a series of sculptured pieces that involve the heart. The sculptural pieces are usually made through personal choices and are more meaningful for me. A lot of the work I really treasure because it is just expressing my emotions. I couldn’t bear to part with them.’
However, Lambert does leave them at home when she heads out on her motorcycle, which provides the artist with a whole new perspective on life.
‘Riding a motorcycle allows you to see the world in a different way,’ she said. ‘You are not looking at it through the frame of a window, but you are a part of the world and I just love that.’ ”
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
Like a sunburst, this redhead is bursting with creativity. The energy of Jenny Bezingue (pronounced “Beh-Zing”) seems boundless: she is an active member of BSGC and Co-Chair of the upcoming premiere of our Pajama Party, founding member of the Polymer Clay Guild, bead artist and full time employee at Roman, Inc., a gifts and collectibles manufacturing business, where she works as a copywriter and webmaster and pitches in with product development and marketing! How does she do it all?
Well, let’s take a look at Jenny’s life, which seems to revolve around creativity. She grew up in a family that was always crafting. Her grandmother taught her to crochet when she was 4 or 5. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t crochet,” says Jenny. “As we got older we were indulged in different craft activities. I learned that the fun of crafting is in the doing, not so much in the results. It is the process that is important. At a young age, some of my potholders may have been ‘lumpy’ but as long as I enjoyed the steps along the way, it was okay. My aunt and grandma were naturally creative and always had ‘busy hands.’ They taught me to get satisfaction from making things that take a long time to complete. I believe that there is value in working long and hard at something intricate. To me it is more valuable because it is unique.”
Nearly three years ago, Jenny began teaching bead-crochet at Blue Frog Beads in Elmhurst. She had discovered a few of her grandmother’s old crocheted ropes and she has found that her students enjoy making them because they are strong, comfortable to wear and it is a portable project. “Teaching these ropes makes me feel closer to my grandmother,” says Jenny. Jenny adds her polymer clay beads to the ropes, as she is very interested in the multi-media approach in her crafts. “Next, I plan on making polymer clay purses with bead-crochet straps,” foresees Jenny!
With a project always in the works, Jenny says she usually has an idea of how the finished project will look and then she sits down and makes it. “I am not the type of person to experiment or make swatches; I solve the technical problems as I go.” Jenny feels that by tapping into both sides of her brain, the analytical and the creative, she gets better results that are more technical and more interesting.
Before she joined BSGC in 1995, Jenny had been working in polymer clay and was doing some elementary bead stringing. “I joined in order to meet other people who did polymer clay. I resisted a lot of the beadwork and I remember telling Alice Jenks, “I’ll never use those little beads!” Just look at her now and hopefully you did see her wonderful creations at our January “Show and Tell.” Jenny doesn’t sell her work and says, “I keep everything for myself because my works are very time-intensive and complicated. By the time I finish them, I get really attached!”
The Chicago Area Polymer Clay Guild was formed in 1996 out of the interest of many BSGC members. 40 members attend the monthly meetings. Jenny has been an officer since the Guild’s inception and has really enjoyed the camaraderie of sharing with people of like interests. “I love polymer clay because it is so versatile,” explains Jenny. “I can make a tiny, intricate bead or a large box or vessel. There are so many applications. It is tactile, it can be rolled, stretched and feels good in my hands. There are periods of time when I don’t have time to do polymer clay and then I think, ‘Why do I do this?’ My answer is simple: I pick it up and fall in love all over again! Working with polymer clay is a skill that can be learned easily and then taken to any level. It has color, texture and instant gratification. Just 30 minutes in the oven and voila, it’s done!”
Jenny reflects back on her first days of attending BSGC, “It is intimidating the first time, walking into a meeting with so many people wearing fabulous jewelry. I certainly felt I had nowhere near the level of talent of most of the other members. But as I attended meetings regularly and got to know people, their encouragement boosted my confidence. For instance, Donna Zaidenberg personifies this friendly attitude. Donna is a talented artist with a national reputation; yet she is a genuine, ‘regular’ person who has a kind word for everyone. I hope all of the well-known beaders in our society realize how much their sharing means to everyone. I hope I will be thought of in the same way someday.”
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
Silver necklaces purchased at separate times in Cuernavaca, Mexico, by the same artist drew Elyse and I together for the first time back in 2000. We had a fleeting conversation at the Textile Arts Centre exhibition, "Chain Reaction," and I didn't remember her last name. When Judith Schwab told me that Elyse rarely gets to a Bead Society meeting, I didn't think I knew her, but when we talked again, Elyse reminded me that we had met and then I recalled the necklaces, one-of-a-kind pieces that we both own.
Elyse and I both were nurses in past lives, so the bond that we share continues to circle round. Helping hands, talented hands: I have found it quite common that many nurses enjoy needlework or hand work of some kind.
Elyse began life surrounded by a grandmother who worked for a furrier and a mother who was trained as a home economist. Rhinestones, jewelry, bits of fur and creativity abounded in her household and Elyse was very interested in using what was available to embellish little pieces of clothing. The styles of the 40's and custom-made clothing were the norm in her surroundings. Elyse admits to feeling a bit like a "foreigner" because she didn't have "regular" cookie cutter clothes like her friends.
First and foremost, Elyse is a bead collector, an interest that started with a trip to Santa Fe in 1982. She specializes in ethnic, tribal beads and has Chinese and metal bead work. Travels to India, Nepal, Thailand and Italy have augmented her collection, which also includes a huge number of Karen Ovington beads.
Later, her profession as a nurse-massage therapist paid Elyse's way through art classes and she fit them in wherever she could. Always a "textile person," (years ago a friend on a commune got her interested in weaving), the office for her massage practice was located directly above Caravan Beads. It was there, in 1997, that she discovered Delicas and glass bead making and began coming to BSGC meetings. At that time, her interest in weaving was applied to doing woven bracelets, a type of textile technique in beads.
Again in her life, Elyse's role as a holistic health nurse has served as a transition for her into the art world. She was working with a group of Japanese women and through the process of caring for their health, strong friendships developed. As a result, Elyse was approached by Dr. Alice Murata, Chicago historian for the Japanese-American Historical Society to be an Artist-in-Residence last summer for a quilt project held at the Senior Retirement Home, Heiwa Terrace. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, many Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast were interred in detention camps. Offered the chance to relocate in the early 1940's, many of the project participants began their new life in Chicago. The project, a kimono, a visual journey through this process, including historic photo transfers, is currently on display at O'Hare Airport, Terminal Two and will be there for three months. "The retirement home has many classes and a great art space," explains Elyse, "so the women are used to expressing themselves artistically. Even though the average age woman in this project was 80 years old, they are still very hard working and counted among them were two clothing designers, a ceramist, a graphic designer and three quilters.
The influence of her own family's experience in Italy surely had a great influence on how Elyse related to the Japanese women. Her grandfather was born in Trieste, Italy, just 5 miles from the Slovenian border. During the Mussolini Movement, the Slovenian culture was completely suppressed. Her family, being Innkeepers and in opposition to Mussolini, could afford to come to America, leaving everything they had worked for behind. Italian immigrants, like the Japanese, were also interred in detention camps, thus a historic connection, as well as an artistic one for Elyse.
Currently a professor of Art and Women's Studies at Roosevelt University, Elyse received her Masters Degree from the sister programs of the Art Institute/Roosevelt University in Women's Studies and Art. As a member of the Illinois Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA)*, based in Washington, D.C., Elyse's pet project has come out of this involvement in women's studies. She plans to conduct oral histories of women whose work centers around fiber and material studies. "So often the area of fiber art is put aside and only considered as something "'cute,'" says Elyse. "I want to learn from female textile artists how working in fiber connects to their lives and about the process that they enjoy so much. The Bead Society is packed with women who investigate art and create wonderful pieces. I plan to research within the membership."
For several years, Elyse has been studying metalsmithing and is currently at work on "past cards" - messages created by stamping sterling silver cards with bezel-set gems added. She says she has figured out how the silver beads on "our" necklace are constructed and will be making some of those soon. This vibrant woman lives through her art and I have a feeling art lives because of her!!
*NMWA is in the process of mailing a call for entries for their next exhibit to be held in March 2003. Elyse invites any and all Bead Society members to request an entry form for the All-Medium exhibit. Entries will be available for downloading on the NMWA site: www.nmwa.org. Judith Schwab will also have a number of brochures available.
from her bio accompaning her lectures
From the time I was a little girl, I have enjoyed "doing crafts." Every birthday and Christmas when I was growing up, my relatives and friends could always anticipate some sort of homemade gift. Of course, some were pretty scary, but that was never the point - the fun was in the making.
As far back as I can remember, I was always encouraged to be a nurse. Even though I won a summer scholarship to art school at age ten, it never even occurred to me to study art or that you could make a living with crafts. I ended up getting a bachelor's degree in biology and worked for many years in Nuclear Medicine and Medical Technology while continuing my craftwork at night.
Although I loved working in a laboratory (a bit of the mad scientist, I think), I always sort of planned to get out before my 30th birthday - not that I had any contingency plan. Just after my 29th birthday, I quit my job and used all my savings to travel for a couple of years. I wore out my welcome with every family member and friend I ever had. During this time, the opportunity to open a stained glass franchise came up. Having no business background and absolutely no idea what I was doing, I jumped right in with funding solicited from friends and relatives. Delta Stained Glass opened in August 1984.
What a learning experience! Opening and operating a retail store is absolutely the most difficult thing I have ever done. Aside from all the business and customer service things I had to learn, there was also a lot about glass I didn't know. When I wasn't cutting and assembling stained glass windows, waiting on customers or teaching, I began experimenting with heating glass in a kiln and eventually a torch.
During this time, a good friend who was working for me started getting me interested in beads. Before too long, I was carrying a line of glass beads in the store and showing my customers how to run wires through them and solder them on to their stained glass, in addition to the usual jewelry applications. Soon I was dangling beads from lamp bottoms, using them as shade pulls, box handles, in kaleidoscope wheels, and even putting them on my shoelaces. Nothing was sacred.
As my obsession grew, I couldn't help but speculate on how these glass beads were made. I knew a lot about different aspects of glassworking, but beads were a whole new thing. I began to wonder if I could make glass beads myself. That thought eventually changed my life.
I began to experiment with the materials I had on hand. With a lot of trial and error, I managed to make some crude beads by melting strips of stained glass over a torch from a hardware store. I was elated. After a year or so of fooling around, I found an actual class about glass beadmaking at Penland School of Crafts. Two weeks of beadmaking in the mountains was pure heaven.
By this time, people had begun to take notice of my "back of the store" beadmaking experiments. My customers were clamoring for a class and I knew I had a potential winner. I spent a year trying to find a simple torch with which I could teach, but I had no success. I decided to approach some torch manufacturers about helping me produce a torch specifically geared for melting glass. Many prototypes later, the Hot Head Torch was born. This simple, inexpensive torch allowed me to teach at a hobby level with students coming from all the surrounding states and some even flying in for classes.
Old customers were resurfacing and new ones were flooding in. Beads were hot!
My teaching snowballed and soon all the students were asking for a book.
Because no books on glass beadmaking techniques existed at the time, I decided to write and publish one. You Can Make Glass Beads (mid 1993) was well received in the stained glass industry.
I took classes from as many beadmakers as I was able to squeeze into my schedule (Brian Kerkvliet, Patty and Dinah Hulet, Loren Stump, Tom Holland, Patricia Sage) and this furthered my own teaching skills. Eventually some of my students began to teach and that helped establish a lot of beadmakers throughout the Chicago area and eventually the United States.
By this point, the bead end of my business had grown so much that I sold my stained glass store (Dec. 1993) and launched a new business. Hot Head Glass (named for our torch and not necessarily my personality) is a mail-order business for glass beadmaking supplies. I started to teach classes nationally and wrote Making Glass Beads, published by Lark Books and available around the world at many retail bookstores, bead stores and stained glass stores.
As part of my ongoing bead promotion, I have taught all of my friends and family (who couldn't run fast enough) to make beads. I bring in instructors from all over the country to teach their signature techniques and I continue to teach formal classes on occasion because I love it.
I have also become involved in a project for disadvantaged women in Brooklyn,
NY. Urban Glass founded The Bead Project, a scholarship program for low-income women interested in learning glass beadmaking as a skill to help supplement or provide income. The project pays these women $5.00/hour to participate. Because most of them cannot afford to rent studio time at Urban Glass or the expense and space of setting up an oxygen-propane system of their own, my Hot Head Torch seems to be the solution. It allows them to set up inexpensively and make beautiful beads out of their homes. Once I became aware of this program, I was able to help by donating torches, books and supplies.
I tend to put beads on everything and am an avid bead collector. I show in a few small galleries but generally don't have the time to produce a lot of beads and jewelry. Right now, I'm concentrating on writing a new book called Beads of Glass, covering the giant leap in glass beadmaking over the past five years. My books and kits have been sold by Lark Books, Book of the Month Club and most recently appeared in the Hammacher-Schlemmer catalogue.
When I started making glass beads in the late 1980's, there was hardly a beadmaker to be found. Now with sales of my torches and books topping 50,000 each, there are thousands of people making glass beads and even an international bead society specifically for glass beadmakers. My book, Making Glass Beads, is a Lark bestseller. Business is booming. I can't wait to see what's next!
Scott may have been initially "dragged" into business with Elisabeth; but by all appearances, he's "skipping" now! Here is Elisabeth's story...
I cannot claim to have played with beads since a tender age. There were no beads in either my childhood or teenage years growing up in Austria; and strangely enough, there are still hardly any to be found there. My aunt loved to sew and started me early on helping her with easy tasks. As I got older, I began to crochet, knit and do needlepoint, silk printing, rug hooking, as well as restore old and damaged oil paintings. My career in International Banking started at the Headquarters of the largest bank in Austria. I loved it, but when I was offered an opportunity in 1976 to move to Chicago on a two-year contract with the Austrian Trade Commission, I quit my job at the bank, packed 2 suitcases and took off to a place I had never been before, with no apartment or friends!
Once in Chicago, I got myself established pretty fast and searched for a new hobby. I ended up in a craft store somewhere on Clark Street where my beading began with a purchase of some beads, shells, string and a clasp. Materials and supplies were hard to find in 1978, so for a while I stopped beading until I found International Beads and Ari Imports. In 1987, I partnered with two friends in a new retail store venture devoted to decorative and art glass and jewelry. Called Crystal Adventures, it was located in Christiansted, St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. Since I had already saturated the jewelry demands of my friends and colleagues, I saw the opportunity for a much more substantial outlet for creations and got hooked on their idea. I took a three-month leave-of-absence to prepare for the store opening and made close to 200 necklaces and earrings using mostly Swarovski crystal combined with onyx, coral and some semi-precious stones. It was fun starting the business and I had my demo table at the store entrance where I engraved paperweights and glass objects with dates and little messages the customers wanted. My return to my job in Chicago was an adjustment after the totally different lifestyle in the Islands, but I was busy making more jewelry and trying to decide which road to take in my career: stay in Chicago or move to St. Croix?
At that point in my life, Scott made an impact! He had been the neighbor of my business partner and a good friend for years. With degrees in Math and Physics and a job in instrumentation and electronics, he took a 3-year assignment in Cambridge, England and I housesat for him. When an art glass buying trip to Austria was planned, he was invited to join us for a vacation after the work was done, in order to show him the country of our birth. As fate would have it, my friend could only stay a few days due to a death in the family. Scott and I traveled for 2 more weeks during which time we enjoyed the scenery and each other's company! We married that same year, so I never moved to St. Croix and eventually dissolved the store partnership.
Shortly before Scott's return to Chicago from England, I was offered Ari Imports by it's ailing owner but declined as I had grown to love my job at the Austrian Trade Commission, doing market research for Austrian companies in the automotive industry. Ironically, it turns out that Scott eventually ended up becoming the owner of Ari Imports and I had a new outlet for my love of beads and jewelry! For a while I made jewelry for galleries, I even got written up in the Chicago Tribune!
Shortly after taking over the business, we changed the inventory from beading supplies and tools to ethnic components and Czech glass beads. We spotted a bag of red glass beads in a store window, purchased them, strung them up and were surprised by their popularity. A trip to New York was quickly planned where we found old Czech and German beads in the basement of a bead store which prompted us to go on a fact finding mission to the Czech Republic to find the sources. Having grown up only a few hours driving time from Jablonec helped and we quickly established contacts with some factories that at that time still operated under the management of the cartel. The inventory shortly grew from one bag of red beads to 12 tons of Czech glass beads, which are being replenished with two buying trips a year. . We also love and collect studio art glass, attend shows and auctions to add to our steadily growing collection, so eventually my output became limited due to lack of time. Time spent collecting old ethnic jewelry, old beads and bead art brings us both the status of bead and glass "addicts."
I always felt guilty that I dragged Scott into this business and diverted his energy from his previous callings. However, he enjoyed the new challenge and channeled his engineering talents into a new creation by inventing the bead crimping pliers. This tool had quite an impact on the bead industry and added one more to his list of over 40 patents!
Never letting his creative mind go idle he worked on new molds for glass beads, purchased a CNC (computer numerical control) table top machine, wrote the computer programs and made some prototypes. He also has written kiln control programs as he plans to do some pate de verre glasswork "when he has a lot of time". The new popularity of beads since last year has left Scott little time for working on his fun projects and me little time for beadwork. Just recently he has sold the entire inventory of Czech pressed glass beads, except the lampwork ones. He plans on devoting more time to his creative endeavors.
We came in contact with BSGC in 1990 through Sue Kobos, our Founding President, and have been members ever since. We greatly enjoy being members of our Society; and we would never have come in contact with the interesting and great people we have met over the years otherwise.
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
You may have often heard, or said yourself, "I'm not an artist." Take heart, if that's you and you wish you could think of yourself as an artist.
JoAnn Baumann's first career was in social work. She really always wanted to be an artist, but she couldn't draw, so art was not encouraged. "I was a good cook, so food was always my art," explains JoAnn. "I tried all kinds of crafts from weaving to metalsmithing, to bead stringing. I sewed clothes for myself and for my kids. I come from a family of seamstresses and my grandmother was a milliner."
Once married, JoAnn was glad she could give up social work. "I disliked making decisions that affected other people's lives," she said. "It didn't feel right." About 1984, JoAnn parlayed her interest in cooking into a job at "Foodstuffs" in Glencoe. "It was my job to keep good smells wafting through the store so customers would buy the cookware products," JoAnn explains. "What we found was that the customers wanted to eat good food, but preferred someone else to prepare it! My responsibilities changed and I was put in charge of homemade breads and cookies for sale. For ten years I cooked and baked and I found it challenging, rewarding and physically taxing!" After leaving "Foodstuffs," JoAnn did some catering on her own for a while.
Around 1992, JoAnn saw a peyote pouch created by Susie Starr. "This technique really struck me as an art form and I immediately sought out classes in bead working. I met Carol Wilcox Wells, but before I could study with her, she had moved. NanC Meinhardt took over Carol's classes, and it was at that point that I jumped in with both feet! I took classes from everybody and anybody."
NanC told JoAnn about the BSGC and she says, "I remember Alice Jenks' class on tassel making was the first one I took with the Bead Society." Now a teacher herself and a designer whose passion pays the way for her many adventures, JoAnn says, "I make a conscious effort to have my income from teaching and the sale of my jewelry pay for my expenses." She started as a teaching assistant at NanC's Art Center class and it was there that she met Tina Blumenthal. She and Tina now teach together twice a year, at Embellishment and Bead & Button, even though Tina has since moved to Scottsdale, AZ.
All of the classes offered by JoAnn and Tina revolve around original design pieces, including "Elegant Elements," which are beaded beads; "Can-Can," a cuff bracelet and "Free-Form Sculptural Brick Stitch," a technique class. "Some artists' work is pictorial," explains JoAnn, "mine is not. I prefer to have the forms that I create evoke something in the minds of those who view them. It doesn't have to be the same thing I am thinking."
"I dedicate most of my time when I am home to beading," says JoAnn. Her specialty is freeform, unsupported structures. "I do not bead around a form," JoAnn explains. "I would rather use stitches in ways that allow them to move. Usually my finished pieces look like sea-creatures or flowers. Sometimes an idea evolves, at other times I get an idea and sketch it. To my surprise the finished piece actually looks like the sketch! The ideas pop into my head faster than I can execute them. I use several methods to get to the finished product: drawing, notation or just asking myself, 'how far can I take this with needle and thread in hand?' I love what I do and am grateful that I am free to create everyday."
JoAnn has lent her talents to BSGC as board member, as well. "In my second year as a member, I became membership Chairperson, an office I held from 1994-2001. Since then I have been the Recording Secretary. It is important to me that the Bead Society thrives and continues to grow because the programming and the workshops have been invaluable in my education."
JoAnn encourages others to participate: "Each Society member should 'stick their toes in and try' to offer some kind of help to the group. Getting involved is necessary in order for the group to remain established. We must all work hard for it to continue. I have met wonderful friends through the process."
Most of JoAnn's work ends up as jewelry, but she would like to have more time to do sculptures. She sells her work at Art Fairs including the 57th Street Art Fair, from her dining room table and by word of mouth. Check out JoAnn's works of art and you're sure to find something gorgeous and original to add to your own collection!
JoAnn will be at the 57th Street Art Fair on June 1 and 2.
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
When I told her a phone interview would take about an hour, Shirley Cohen exclaimed, "My whole life story wouldn't take an hour." Her modesty greatly diminished the real truth!! A self-proclaimed addict, it sounds to me like the healthiest addiction around!! A stay-at-home mom during her children's formative years, Shirley maximized her opportunity and explored all aspects of needlework. Now, at retirement age, Shirley has three part-time jobs and is looking into starting up another! She may have her time-line a little backwards, but the results of her lifetime addiction to needlework, make me think that she had the right idea.
At age three, Shirley's Viennese mother started her daughter on needlepoint. That has to be an all-time record! Shirley has samples yet today of towels and tablecloths she made as a little girl. As a child growing up in a Chicago neighborhood without other children, Shirley was content to bake cookies and bread, and to sew alongside her mother to pass the time away.
An avid needle pointer, her Needle Arts Guild brought Carol Wilcox Wells to teach about 7 years ago. On a trip to Asheville, NC, she saw Carol's "Gilded Cage" which is an amulet bag inside a cage, and was inspired to add beads to her needlework repertoire. Ever since that time, Shirley has been taking classes with the "Humming Beads," Wendy Hubick and Sue Jackson on Monday nights. "Everyone does their own thing," says Shirley, but usually there are only 3 to 5 of us in the class and with two teachers, we get some quality instruction."
While her children were young, Shirley took knitting lessons from a local studio and at one point; she knit everything she wore. "I made my clothes and then showed them in fashion shows in restaurants," says Shirley. "When I decided to divest myself of the knitting, I must have donated over 100 hand-knit garments to the Salvation Army!!
Shirley then taught herself to crochet and concentrated mainly on making Afghans. About 20 years ago she tried "Stretch and Sew" and got really obsessed with sewing. How did she do so much? Shirley explains, "When my kids were pre-school age, I kept them up until midnight so they would sleep until 11:00 AM. I then had 3 hours to myself each morning to do my handwork."
About 15 years ago, Shirley learned how to do 3-D needlepoint at "Needles Excellency" in Evanston. Extremely inspired by the owner, an expert needle-artist from India, Shirley now teaches three-dimensional needlework at the store. "I now combine beads with most all my needlepoint. It is amazing all that can be done these days with needlepoint."
Where beading is concerned, Shirley says she is only interested in seed beads. "I have no interest in collecting larger beads or in stringing them. The big-name teachers that the BSGC has brought to town have been a wonderful inspiration to me. I usually work on about 20 different projects at one time. My ultimate goal is to know all of the beadwork techniques so I can look at anything, such as a tree or even my dog, and duplicate it in beads."
Shirley says she does not consider herself a bead-artist. "I don't think I am a creative person, although lately I have doing what appeals to me and creating a little more for myself. I don't sell my work and my main goal is just to have fun." Anyone who has seen Shirley's wall of needlework can testify that she is a very productive needle worker. For a first-hand view of her work, check www.needleartsguild.com.
With a never-ending enthusiasm for all types of needlework, Shirley has found a way to combine her many and varied interests in a way that works for her. She sells jewelry at the Gem and Jewelry shows; sells estate jewelry at shows and teaches her 3-D needlepoint at "Needles Excellency," along with collecting dolls and antiques. "My life is rather hectic," says Shirley! "I do my needlework in the evenings after dinner and I barely manage to get my "homework" from classes done each week. If I live long enough to finish all that I want to do, I will have found eternal life!"
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
Have you ever sat at a meeting of the BSGC and drawn in all the "electric energy" that fills the room every month from bead excitement? That's how Nadine Buck describes how she sometimes feels.
Retired in June after 37 years as a teacher, Nadine says that it was her job as a teacher to constantly come up with hundreds of ideas to teach art and inspire her students in elementary and junior high school. Even in retirement, the ideas keep coming, says Nadine. "For the first time in my life, my time is my own, but I am so busy. The time just flies keeping up with all those ideas!"
A multimedia artist who continues to explore many creative avenues, Nadine says she has always added to beads to things, no matter which media she is devoting her time and attention to. "I have to use beads in everything," reveals Nadine. "I love beads and I love embellishment. I must have fibers and beads hanging from just about anything I create!"
Nadine's other love is traveling and her personal goal is to visit all seven continents. Five down, two to go!! In February 2002 she plans to go to Antarctica as a celebration of her retirement, which leaves Australia as her last un-explored continent.
Of the five continents she has visited, Nadine confesses that she can't pick just one favorite. "I have loved them all and I find something of interest wherever I go!"
Not only has she experienced a great deal of travel exploring cultures unfamiliar to many, but Nadine's teaching career included opportunities to live abroad, as well. Right after college and in her twenties, Nadine says she was a "free-spirit." Spending two years in Bayreuth, Germany, NE of Nuremberg and one year in Okinawa, Japan, Nadine taught in American schools in both countries. A native of Wheaton, now living in Lisle, Nadine spent the rest of her teaching career in Cook County and Berkley School District #87.
As a teacher, Nadine always found ways to introduce beads to her students. "I would incorporate beads into a history lesson," she says. In 1998, when Nadine was in Africa she visited Zululand in South Africa and was inspired by the Ndebele bead weaving in Zimbabwe. I collected beads, stones and money there and came home and made a necklace to commemorate the trip. I used the 10 different weaves in Diane Fitzgerald's book and incorporated the mementos I collected.
Collage, book making, polymer clay and beadwork are Nadine's latest passions. She explains, "I am making angel ornaments out of a product called 'paper clay' and of course, beads are hanging from them. I am also making journals and incorporating beads as a part of the binding." Her work can be seen in recent issues of Belle Armoire, Somerset and Beadwork Magazines and she has offered her pieces for sale at BSGC's Art of Beadwork Show.
Nadine heard about the Bead Society when she took a beading class at a local store and has been a member for five years. "During a meeting, there is so much knowledge of beads in the room. We have members who are 'movers and shakers' who are known nationally, yet everyone is so nice and friendly and willing to share. The inspiration makes me want to continue to come to meetings."
I think the air at BSGC meetings is even more electric because of Nadine's presence as a member. Her beautiful projects and the many contributions of her work to magazines are a result of her very creative and idea-filled spirit! I would like to meet her, see her beautiful creations and have her name the seven continents for me!
by Donna Zaidenberg
As an only grandchild, at 6-years-old, visiting relatives could be a lonely business. Marla Gassner says it was when an aunt and a grandmother shared their costume jewelry and their cache of buttons in old mason jars that she had something to do on those visits. Eventually she got to take home some of these treasures, and she would separate the buttons and beads into glass baby food jars by color. She then taught herself to string these baubles on dental floss to make her first jewelry.
Her inspiration for color came first from climbing trees in a park near her childhood apartment in the city watching how the light changed the ground. Shortly thereafter the family moved to a home in Evanston. It was here, roaming in the open fields that she learned to catch butterflies with her hands and observed the many colors on their wings. Flitter Studio, Marla's teaching and design business, is the result of these beloved childhood experiences and she uses the butterfly as part of her logo.
Marla was trained as a research technician at Cook County Hospital and then worked at Children's Memorial Hospital, until she married and became a mother. In 1970, she took up 3-dimensional decoupage using techniques she devised herself. Once she learned the techniques she could not stop making shadow boxes and soon there were 70 overrunning her bi-level and her two babies. She took these to a small, one-day arts and crafts show and sold all of them and came home with a mailing list of people who wanted to take lessons from her. This was the beginning of her teaching career that continues to this day.
Marla was juried into the North Suburban Embroiderers' Guild and for several years she just came to the meetings and was inspired. Then she decided to try to do the yearly summer embroidery challenge, entitled, "This is My Family." She won first prize, a 14-carat gold engraved pin. It was one of the most exciting days of her life, she recalls. After that she was asked to join the board where she served as program chairman for the next 4 years. She was an active member of the Embroiderers' Guild for 17 years.
Her evolution continued into macramé. The art of adornment and the psychology of why we might choose to decorate ourselves had begun to fascinate her and brought her back to the happy pastimes of her childhood. She decided to explore creating jewelry in every form she could, first applying the fiber skills, embroidery, needle weaving and macramé. She continued this journey, while her children were growing up, by studying silversmithing and enameling, which led to a yearly sales event called "Designing Women". The shows ran for 7 years and were a vehicle that made Marla realize that the things she created could be a commercial success.
Divorce made her second guess herself about being an artist but a chance meeting with a psychic convinced her to go back to being the artist she feels she is. She has been designing, teaching, lecturing, writing, and selling her unique jewelry ever since.
Her wonderful jewelry is inspired by her study of Victorian, Native American and Oriental jewelry and crafts. Many pieces are multi-stranded; yet interpreted in a light and airy manner with her original and unique techniques and the materials she uses. She designs one-of-a-kind pieces, preferring to create from inspiration alone rather than making duplicates of previously successful pieces. She says she would be bored merely copying, even her own work. Each piece is exotic and unique. It is a wonderful gift to be able to have your own signature work and yet not lose any innovation in the process.
Marla joined the Bead Society of Greater Chicago 11 years ago and chaired the first Bead and Book Sale at Heck's Hall in 1992. She participated in many Bead & Book Sales, in all the Art of Beadwork Shows and presented a program to us in 1996.
Her first book, The Bead and I, One Woman's Journey was published in 1997 and has been a great success. She hopes to have her second book, currently named BEYOND The Bead and I, Book II, will be finished by the end of 2001.
This year Marla will be teaching at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee in May, and lecturing and teaching at Embellishment in Portland Oregon in July 2001. Her lecture at Embellishment, a retrospective of the history and evolution of her work over the past 30 years, is called Necklace Princess. This name was given to her by one of her customers who came to the Designing Women yearly show to buy new pieces of jewelry. (This customer probably has the largest collection of Marla's work.)
Marla says, "The wonderful thing about jewelry is that it has a life of its own, and it gets to go 'out'. Marla may never have gone to the Governor's Ball, but her jewelry has!
Marla now shares the art of teaching with her two grown daughters, Suzanne and Jennifer, both professional teachers. She thinks that when one feels passionately about something, teaching it comes naturally. She says when she seeks to capture the beauty in the color of the light it is with the beads, and that work brings her closer to her soul than any other.
by Gwen Blakley-Kinsler
Before we ever met, Sue and I were crochet pen pals. I lived in Mexico City and she lived in Libertyville, IL. I still remember our first meeting face to face in a restaurant after I returned to Rolling Meadows in 1992. Did we each wear a granny square vest or carry a beaded purse to identify ourselves? That part is hazy! Immediately we were "linked" by our love of crochet. Together we planned and presented the first Annual Chain Link Crochet Conference in 1994 that is now sponsored by the Crochet Guild of America, a not-for-profit organization that was launched that weekend.
Sue says she taught herself to sew in 1967 and to crochet in 1969. "I have taken many classes and workshops over the years and went back to school at Barat College in 1980. I juggled young children and classes and in 1985 I got my BA Degree in Arts Psychology. I have struggled with what or who I am and all of this taught me what I don't want to do. My conclusion: I am truly a fiber person who loves to embellish with beads."
Sue says that she has always sewn and has tried many other techniques, but crochet is the craft that has been the most consistent in her life. "For seven years I ran a business, "Hooked on Sweats," in which I designed crocheted yokes for sweatshirts and sold them at craft shows. One of these designs was published in Crochet Digest Magazine. A friend belonged to BSGC and even before attending a meeting, by happenstance, Sue ended up alone at a weekend conference put on by the Bead Society of Washington. "I decided to talk to everyone and ask them about their particular interest in beads. My first question was to a woman at breakfast and she told me she had written a book called "The History of Beads." I bought the book in the vendor market and later asked Lois Sherr Dubin to autograph it! She then sent me over to a man standing nearby for his autograph because he had written the forward to her book. He turned out to be Robert Liu!!"
Sue's journey to BSGC continued that night in line for the vendors' market, she met several members from Chicago. They invited her to the bar later and encouraged her to pay a visit to a Society meeting back home. The rest is history, but it seems that rubbing shoulders with important bead people at that weekend gathering in Washington was the precursor for all contacts Sue would make, people she would approach and programs she would plan over the six years she was vice president and program chair for BSGC! Sue says, "ignorance was bliss" that weekend in Washington, but the superb programs she has brought to us over the years show that her "ignorance" was short-lived!
Combining two things she loves: fiber and beads has been the mainstay of Sue's work. Early on, she learned to do bead-crochet from Elsie Carl and a version of the Victorian-style rope has become her specialty. She began to take basic beading classes from NanC Meinhardt and along the way has taken innumerable workshops. "I was warned not to become a workshop junkie by Jason Pollen," she says. "Now I am not taking so many classes; after a point they become distracting and it becomes time to get on with one's own ideas."
In 1992 Sue started making her "Enchanted Entities" after taking a class from Jackie Dodson on fetish dolls. "My work has always had a healing effect on me and laughter was an important part of my upbringing. I am sure my father's strong sense of humor got him through his many visits to the hospital. The "entities" are short-term projects that are very satisfying to complete. They helped me keep my head above water when my mom was in the hospital."
Sue says the concept, "Laughter Sounds the Same in Any Language," laid dormant for about two years until she heard about the Anita Mayer project, "Mantles 2000: A Celebration of Women's Journeys." "I immediately went to the closet and pulled out the notes and the materials I had gathered." The six ethnic entity dolls on Sue's mantle represent Ireland, Scandinavia, Native America, Japan, Guatemala and Africa, all places that hold meaning for her. "These particular "entities" reflect the different techniques that I know: crochet, beadwork, cross stitch and machine embroidery. Anita's guidance and encouragement was the opportunity I needed to complete the process and my mantle turned out exactly as I had originally planned."
Admitting that she heaved a sigh of relief as she turned over the files to the new Program Chair, Patricia Jeffers. Sue goes on to say, "It is a freeing feeling to now have more time to myself, but I would not have done this for six years if I didn't enjoy it." I have grown as a person as I have watched the Bead Society grow. I have met a lot of people and we have such a diverse membership that I worked hard to bring lectures that addressed all the interests of our group. It has been a real kick working with all the program presenters; I gained knowledge and learned to stretch my creativity. These are the perks that come from volunteering, but it is time for new blood and fresh ideas."
Asked about what her future holds, Sue says she now has more time to work on her own projects. "Now I am focusing on making another mantle that further explores the concept of laughter. I also plan to do more teaching." Good luck, Sue, and we will look forward to the fruits of your labor!
In 2000 she taught her first class at a national show, Bead and Button. In 2001 she will teach at Bead and Button and Bead Expo in Miami. Last year she had a piece accepted at Embellishment and won second place for finished jewelry. This year she had 2 pieces accepted at the national Object Beadwork exhibit, was again a finalist at Embellishment. Her latest piece, Shoe Horn with Piano Backup, has been accepted to the traveling exhibit Beadwork II: The Embellished Shoe!
The Beadwork Nov./Dec. has a picture of her work in the BSGC article and in the ad for Bead Expo. Bead Expo is using Donna's Blue Wisteria necklace in all their advertising.
Bead and Button November/December, 2000 has an article by Donna introducing the triple Ndebele stitch, the Bead Expo ad and a reference to her article in Alice Korach's column.
Congratulations! You deserve this success.
Signed Judith Schwab