March | 2014 | The Bead Show

Sometimes you read a blog or article that puts into words exactly what you are thinking and just can’t imagine writing it better yourself. We were looking at doing some featured blog posts and immediately came up with this one from Neva Brown that captures what many beaders go through on their beading journey.

Neva is a Sydney based bead artist and contributes to the Bead Maverns blog. Neva has been beading since a child, but took it up more seriously about ten years ago. Since then she has worked in many mediums and successfully sells her work at art shows. A range of tutorials is about to be released too. Neva has been a fundamental part of beading in Australia over the last decade, actively supporting online goups and giving her time tirelessly to the beading world. She is an avid supporter of The Bead Show, which we love !

Here is the blog entry Where Do I Begin?

The points that we particularly like are

The need to meet up and connect with like minded people, and how to do this.
Challenge yourself, just start beading and don’t over think it or doubt yourself.
Participate in events and competitions everyone is worthy.

We (Prue and Jo) met through a bead meet up, so we’d not be doing this (The Bead Show) if it wasn’t for that.

If you are part of an online group or any other beading groups and want to meet up at The Bead Show, email us the details and we’ll set aside a table for you.

Neva has a website, Nifty Creations and a facebook page.

Bead Maverns is a collaboration of international bead artists that promote and share ideas, and tutorials.

‘Victoria’ by Neva Brown, currently featured in a well known beading catalogue.

When Denise When Denise Smith decided to take a stained glass making course in 2003 she had no idea it would lead to making and selling glass beads. We had a chat to Denise to find out more:
“I did the stained glass course and then went on to do the Fusing and Slumping class, which taught me how to join pieces of glass together and then shape them,” Denise explained. “My tutor suggested I could also make glass beads but I was skeptical – I didn’t think I would be all that interested.”
Luckily for the beading fraternity, Denise was wrong – she loved it! “I fell in love with the process. There is just something really special about the melting glass and the flame that really appeals to me.
“I am not much interested in making jewellery, it is the bead making that I really enjoy.
“Lampworking is a centuries old technique of making glass beads. Older traditional methods involved the use of oil lamps, hence the name ‘lampworking’. And even though lamps and bellows have been replaced by propane and oxygen fuelled torches, the magic remains the same. Denise now makes beautiful glass beads with either floral or intricate abstract patterns and sells them via her website, Etsy and the family picture framing business where she works four days a week. All her beads are hand made in her studio in Sydney and go through the proper annealing process. She primarily use soft glass from Italy and the US for their quality, vibrancy and colour range.
She finds that having the beads on display at her workplace and also selling the beads at expos such as the upcoming Bead Show in Sydney is really helpful as customers love to touch and handle the product. It helps to not have the stand too cluttered so people can get the full effect of each bead,” she said.

Denise will be at the Sydney Autumn show.

Check out her new facebook page which is just up and running

Featured article – Where Do I Begin?

Exhibitor Focus – DKS Lampwork