Face to Face – Katja Foierl

Do you also have the feeling the time goes a lot faster once we pass the summer? We’ve reached the last Friday of next month, and that’s when we’re publishing the newest Face to Face interview with our fellow beaders and designers!

This time we interviewed a member from the Beadingschool Club. She has been beading with us for some years and was actually the very first person to sign up for the Beadingschool Academy program in a long-term run. She’s always around with kind words for other beaders and beads (most probably) every jewel released through the theme! It’s wonderful to see her beautifully beaded jewels and lovely ideas for finishing them.

Meet the Beadingschool Club member, beader and kind friend,

Katja Foierl!

 

Please tell us about yourself a bit! When and how did you start to create? How did you learn to bead?

I started my beading journey in  2004. I took a class at “Volkshochschule” and learned to make a daisy bracelet and peyote stich. I loved that and started to buy all kind of beads. At first, of course, all the cheap ones, but after I bought some kits from Sabine Lippert, I recognized that a good quality beads are a must have. Later, NOHTBA with Erika helped me a lot with developing my beading skills and I learned something new with every single design and every single theme of the Academy box.

 

Is beadwork your hobby or profession? How does your average day look like? When do you have time to create?

Beading is my hobby. I live in Frankfurt, Germany with my husband and our 15 year old son (who is currently in the USA on a highschool year). I’m working part time in a travel agency for business travel from Wednesday to Friday. So Monday and Tuesday are my beading days and sometimes I bead every single free minute. Besides beading I love music (I listen to it while beading), reading, cooking, traveling and hiking.

 

 

What did beading bring to your life?

Beading brings me so much joy and sometimes it’s like meditation for me, when being in my flow. The beading community is absolutely nice. All fellow beaders in the Beadingschool Club are so kind and it really feels like a family. I’m happy being a part of it and I made friends from all over the world.

 

Tell us about the piece of jewelry you are the most proud of!

I have lots of jewels I am very proud of. First thing I was very proud of was when I attended my very first NOHTBA. We beaded Ice flower earrings. It was the very first time when I picked colors on my own from my stash. I always had kits before that. After that I started to love choosing my own colors.

I love turtles, they are my favorite animals. “Bead a turtle” kit was my very first order from Erika. I had no idea how bead embroidery works and I put it in my stash. I learnt the basics 3 years later  and my turtle hatched 🙂

I am also very proud of all my Mini-challenge entries for the Beadingschool Academy. I my opinion, this is a very good creativity booster.

 

 

Where do you like to create? Do you have a designated area in your home where you keep your beads?

I don’t have a beading room. I bead at the dining room table and leave a mess like my husband says…. Luckily, we are eating in our kitchen as the table there is big enough 🙂 My bead stash is in little or sometimes bigger boxes stored in a container my son used for his toys.

 

What is your favorite stitch? Which colors do you like the most? On the other hand, is there any color or color combination you try to avoid?

I really love Peyote. There are so many possibilites with this stich. RAW and CRAW are also favorites of mine. Beloved colors are turquoise in combination with gold. And all kinds of blue in general. Some colors area bit out of my confort zone like orange and yellow. But there are no colors I wouldn’t use.

 

 

Do you follow instructions or do you like to develop your own designs? How would you define your style?

I mostly follow instructions. A big dream is developing some own designs.

 

Who are your favorite designers? Why?

There are many. Erika of course for her inspiring creativity and all the other Beadingschool Unicorns.

Sabine Lippert was the first designer I started my beading journey with. I had a lot of questions at my very beginning, and she was absolutely nice and kind and explained all to me, when I bombed her with messages 🙂

I love love love the designs of Ruxandra Puscas . They are so multilayered and for me it’s absolutely relaxing beading them.

Vicky Roberts, I love her designs on Youtube. And I love the cute 3d designs from Lynsey James of Threadabead.

 

Do you have a favorite design by Erika? Tell us about it!

The “Shooting Star” for sure 🙂 I beaded already 12 of them and put together beads for the next ones 🙂 And I really love beading earrings.

 

 

Which is the bead / component in your stash which you treasure the most? Do you already have plans on how to use it?

I hoarded some very nice art cabochons. Sometimes when I see a design I know exactly what cabochon I would use for it.

 

If you could design something for a well-known person or maybe a fictional character from a film or book, who would it be, and why?

I really would like to design more jewlery for all(!) men. My husband is very proud of a brooch I made for his jacket he wears as a magician.

 

What are your plans for the future as a beader? Is there something you would really like to learn?

I wish I have more time to improve my skills in bead embroidery.

 

 

Where can we see and buy your designs?

I post my work in the Beadingschool Club in Facebook and sometimes on Instagram in my stories . I went to a litte local creative market twice and sold some my jewellery. But normally I gift them to friends.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for answering our questions, Katja!

We look forward to keep beading with you, looking for more inspiration and growth together. We’re thankful for having you in the community, seeing your beautifully beaded jewels you create and share with us all.  🙂

 

Dear beading-friends and beadwork admirers, please, use the comment section if you have more questions you would like to ask, or greet our Katja.

Stay tuned for more interviews for Beadingschool.com by Erika Sándor!