Robin Atkins
s e r u s a e r T d e d a e B
a must have book!
The technique written in this book is a very versatile technique. Depending on which beads, treasures and cord you use, you can create designs that are simple or complex, elegant or funky, modern or ethnic, sweet or sizzling and everything in between. Necklaces, bracelets, tassels, straps, belts… all possible! Ideal for your lightweight polymer clay beads. Especially good for using lots of one-of-a-kind beads, bits and pieces, wonderful treasures including buttons… don’t we have them all? We interviewed Robin Atkins, the author of this book.
Washington all the way to a bead shop in Blackfoot, Idaho, each spending about $400 on beads! What drew me to them? Who can explain “love?” At first I suppose it was a fascination with all the beautiful colours and shapes. Later, as I learned more about beads, it was the history and ubiquitous nature of beading that further delighted me, knowing that beads as adornment go back to first man, studying ethnic and historical beadwork, collecting old beads. There’s no end to it. As soon as I think I know about beads, someone shows me one I’ve never seen before!
What drew you to beads as a medium? I remember loving beads as a youngster. My tubes of “Indian beads” and my little wind-the-warp loom were precious to me. I had six opaque colours of beads (red, aqua, blue, yellow, green and white) and the loom instructions came with pages for graphing designs. Intrigued with the winding warp feature of my bead loom, I kept beading my design until I ran out of one of the colours. What began as a bookmark, turned into a 5-foot strip that hung on the door frame to our kitchen for many years. I flirted with beads on and off for the next three decades, trying macramé, metalsmithing, and weaving. In 1988 I took a class from Carol Berry, a wonderful artist with a unique style combining metalsmithing and beads. She had been collecting unusual beads for several years, and graciously shared them with the class. I went bonkers! I fell headover-heels in love with her beads! She and I, bonding over our mutual delight in tiny glass treasures, began serious bead shopping. In those days there weren’t many bead stores. One weekend, we took a trip from Seattle,
What is your favourite technique? For the past ten years, bead embroidery is my favourite method with beads, stitching beads on fabric, leather or felt! Although a sense of harmony and contentment fills me when doing other types of beadwork or other handwork like thread (or ribbon) embroidery, it is never so pervasive as when I’m beading on cloth. As I stitch bead after bead, I feel like a contemplative, whole, complete, and totally honest. Where do you find your inspiration? I work improvisationally – that is, without a plan or design. Many times I don’t know what my bead embroidery piece will become until I’ve worked on it for weeks. Yet, it’s not just random. The inspirations come from some intuitive level, maybe a “play instinct,” permission to let myself choose fabric and beads to sew them on the cloth without input from my brain. Because I work this way, I don’t generally try to understand or analyze the inspirations behind my pieces. However, if I must be more specific, I’d say I find inspiration from the colours and designs
of the fabrics I use, animals and plants, symbols, my bead stash, folk art, childhood experiences, people I love and respect, my students and teachers, life issues, and important decisions facing me. Where did you learn the weaving technique shown in this article? I first saw the technique in a necklace from Nepal and another from Tibet. Then I took a class in needle-weaving, noticing that the core weaving looked very similar to the basis for the two ethnic necklaces. From there it was a matter of experimenting with the basic weaving technique, finding new ways to attach beads and design jewellery. Getting started: Material: • Corkboard • T-pins / sturdy pins with large heads • Fray check™ (available at fabric & quilting shops) or super glue • A weight or the clamp of your pastamachine • C-lon cord For a bracelet you take measure 5x a strand of 2 mtr (for a necklace you’ll need 5 strands of 4 mtr). Bundle your strands and tie them wit a simple over-hand knot at the center point of the 2 mtr. Now you’ll have 10 ends. Stiffen your ends with Fray Check or super glue. This will allow you to bead without needles. Let them dry. When dry, snip the tips at a Sharp angle. Pin your cords to the corkboard through the knot at the very edge of your board. Half the strands are coiled and unused at your working surface. The other five ends hang off the edge of the corkboard. Use your clamp of your pastamachine to keep all in place as you work and weave. Now let’s start the basic weaving… Working with the five strands hanging off the edge of the corkboard, you will be weaving close to the edge of the board, with your hands positioned under it. Put a pin in the right hand side of the corkboard at a sharp
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