| |
 |
Categories |
 |
 |
Beadmaking |
|
|
Information |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Elizabeth Drake lives in a small, rural village in central Washington.
Surrounded by apple orchards and a menagerie of animals, she creates glass beads and jewelry in her home studio.
Each piece is a unique piece of art.
Her passion for beads flamed to life when she stumbled upon a tiny bead shop 12 years ago.
Finding a large bowl full of assorted beads from around the world, she hungrily sorted through them.
They became an instant addiction.
That day she bought an antique, Venetian glass bead from the store.
Today she uses the same Italian glass to handcraft her fine, glass beaded jewelry.
Elizabeth was introduced to glass bead making on Washington's San Juan Island.
While working at an ethnic artifact and beads store, she became interested in silver smithing.
She shared a very small studio space with Corina Tettinger who was, in 1999, a beginning glass beadmaker.
She says she could spend hours just watching Corina create her beads.
One day Corina gave Elizabeth a chance to try making a bead, it came out pretty round, for a first try.
It wasn't until Spring of 2000, that a friend gave Elizabeth a torch and she began making beads of her own.
Soon after, Elizabeth moved to Central Washington.
One bead lead to another.
She made a few pieces of jewelry to sell at the local farmers market held each Saturday at the community Grange.
Her beaded jewelry was a hit. Locals and tourists couldn't buy enough of her unique pieces.
She quite her waitressing job and started making jewelry full-time.
Elizabeth makes all of her own beads in her home studio.
She travels to Bali, Indonesia to buy her silver from a local silver smithing family.
She insists the bead making process isn't work.
It's just plain fun and there's nothing she enjoys more than seeing her customers find a special piece that makes them feel beautiful. |
|
|
|
|
|
