I am a self-taught bead weaver. About twelve years ago I saw my first bead woven necklace and knew that I had to learn more. I began acquiring all the information I could on bead weaving and the different techniques.
I taught myself everything I could about bead weaving. Learning the process taught me a lot about my style and preferences. Bead weaving can be as complicated or as simple as you want. I desire the look of a simple but elegant piece of jewelry. There are many stitches in bead weaving. My favorite stitch is the peyote stitch. The process of peyote stitching is meditative and soothing to me.
The Native Americans once told my daughter that they sometimes refer to it as the healing stitch which I think is a perfect description because of its meditative quality. When designing my pieces I take inspiration from many places. I look at metal Jewelry and see what shapes I can make in a bead woven piece. My color inspirations come from nature, art or many times just trial and error.
I have discovered that many color variations work together when blended. Selling jewelry was never what I set out to do. When I began bead weaving, I was a mosaic glass artist. My first few pieces I made were major time consuming but I loved the process. Early on people would ask me to sell them a piece of my jewelry and I would laugh and say “No way!” It IS true that it takes 10,000 hours to perfect a craft and that is certainly true with bead weaving.
It takes time to learn the process and the best materials to use but mainly it takes time to develop your own unique style. I now sell jewelry so that I can continue to do what I love and purchase as many beads as I want because, sell or not, I am going to bead weave!
Instagram: @sandraarnoldjewelry
