Face to Face: Meet Laura Embrey

Our newest Face to Face interview with our fellow beaders and designers is here! We keep introducing beaders from the Beadingschool community.

As the time goes we can’t stop wondering about how many talented beaders and designers bead and share their talent with us in our Beadingschool Club. Seeing their jewelry photos shared in Club or submitted through the Academy Mini Challenges make us realize our journey as “tutors” stops and their journey as designers starts – spreading their wings of creativity and inspiration, and flying… We’d like to take this Face to Face interview as an opportunity to introduce our friend-designer who’s Beadingschool Calendar Jewel is coming next week!

We’re happy she’s beading with us, sharing her creativity, sweet personality, kindness and love for design.

Meet the Beadingschool Club member, talented musician, and passionate beader,

Laura Embrey!

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

I first started beading when I was 12 years old. My mum bought me a magazine with a free packet of beads attached and I loved learning about all the different techniques. I enjoyed starting off with simple string necklaces and earrings from head pins, but soon found bead weaving, which became my real passion. I came to bead embroidery and soutache much later, when I was 18, and now I enjoy mixing these into my jewellery. I enjoy learning from books, magazines and tutorials, by a range of different designers. Everyone has a different style and it’s wonderful to be able to try new things!

 

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

Beadwork is my hobby, but it has become such a big part of my life that it’s probably more accurate to call it an obsession! I’m a professional violinist, so I have quite a varied work life, and irregular hours. I love to come home after a day of orchestra rehearsals and relax with some beading after dinner. When I am working on a big competition piece, I bead in any breaks I get from my violin practice and rehearsals to meet the deadline!

 

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

I am most proud of a recent piece that won third prize in the Firemountaingems contest Crystal category. I called it ‘Renaissance Queen’. The design was inspired by a diary cover, and I had a very strong idea for how I wanted the design to turn out, but found it difficult to realize my ideas in beads. In the end it took many, many hours, but looked exactly how imagined, which is the greatest feeling for me.

 

 

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

I bead on a fold up table in the living room, often whilst I am watching tv with family. The table is not really big enough to contain the multiple projects that I have on the go at any one time, so I frequently get to the stage where I have to tidy it because there’s simply no more space! I like to have one large project on the go, and some smaller ones that I can finish in a couple of days. It’s just too messy at the moment for me to take a photo!

 

What is your favourite stitch? Which colours do you like the most? On the other hand, is there any colour or colour combination you try to avoid?

It’s difficult to pick a favourite stitch! I love herringbone and right angle weave as they’re very structural and grow quickly. I’ve recently rediscovered peyote though and I’m exploring this more in a 3D context. It’s a new challenge and I’m really enjoying it. My favourite colours are probably black, gold and white- they’re so dramatic. In terms of crystals, I love the opal colours! One of my favourite things about Beadingschool is trying new and challenging colour combinations that come from every theme. This has really expanded my horizons in terms of colour. I don’t usually like matte bold colours, like yellow and orange: if I’m going to use them, it will be alongside some sparkly crystals and contrasting deeper colours! Having said that, I really enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone with the Jardin Majorelle theme!

 

 

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

I do both! I love creating designs for Bead and Jewellery magazine. When I’m creating tutorials, I like to bead the design a couple of times, to check that it’s enjoyable to bead. One of my proudest moments was to be asked to contribute to the Beadingschool Calendar 2024: this was overwhelmingly exciting and I loved creating my earrings!

I also like to create pieces that challenge me, so last year I entered competitions, like Battle of the Beadsmith and the Firemountaingems contest, as well as Beadingschool mini challenges. I’d like to think of my style as being bold yet elegant, and very sparkly.

When I’m designing, I do a lot of frogging, and like to feel really switched on creatively. One of the best things ever when I’m tired is to stitch a lovely Beadingschool design and then I can just relax, follow the instructions, and I’ll finish with a beautiful beaded motif.

 

You joined and succeeded many beading challenges and competitions. Which win (personal or awarded by jury) do you treasure the most? (Does any of the jewels have a background story you’d like to share?)

I feel very lucky and grateful for every win that I have had. The Battle of the Beadsmith Earrings competition was a very big achievement for me – I never dreamed that my peacock earrings would come runner-up! These were inspired by the shape and colour of my Ginko beads, and the design grew from there. I actually discovered Beadingschool through a competition in 2021: I feel very lucky to have won a prize in the Preciosa category with my Twilight Lotus Necklace. I then discovered the wonderful Academy boxes so this competition was the start of a very special journey.

 

 

Who are your favorite designers? Why?

Of course Erika Sandor and Zuzi Hake, for their amazing creation of so many beautiful designs that I want to bead! Certainly Ruxandra is also one of my favourite designers. I’m amazed by the intricacy of her pieces: they’re so lacy and beautiful, yet also structurally brilliant! I also love the work of Laura Giusti and Anita Kozinko for their amazing competition pieces.

 

 

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

I have two particular favourites that come to mind. Recently, I simply loved beading Invierno from the Winter Tale theme. It was such a satisfying bead, that I started playing with the integral components of the design, and after a lot of repositioning, finally put together my Mini challenge piece! My other absolute favourite is Astra. I paired this with Zuzi’s wonderful Lotus design to create a huge necklace over Xmas 2022: it’s one of my all-time favourite pieces, and was so satisfying to create!

 

 

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

My Beadingschool clasps are the most treasured components in my stash. I save them for my best work! I bought a Foxy clasp in Advent so I’m really looking forward to using that… I’m thinking of a necklace with some bronze seed beads and some sparkly cabochons, perhaps with an autumnal feel, maybe even a bead-embroidered Foxy!

 

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 love creating pieces for characters in films! A couple of years ago I made a necklace for Cruella, in line with the movie release- it’s all black and white soutache with red crystals, and it was so much fun! I love the jewellery of the character Moira in Schitt’s Creek. Her necklaces are outlandish and opulent, and I’d love to create something for her in future. 

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

3-dimensional beadwork is a target for me this year. I often work in two dimensions, and I really want to expand my work to have more depth and layers. I’d also like to experiment with more shaped glass beads: I find some of these quite challenging to work with because of the unusual geometry, but they can add so many possibilities to designs!

 

Where can we see and buy your designs? 

I have an Etsy shop where you can buy tutorials at https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LozuraJewellery: I am currently in the process of expanding my tutorial collection. I also share pictures of my creations on instagram @lozurajewellery and Facebook: Lozura Jewellery.

Thank you for answering my questions, Laura!

We wish you lots of ideas for new designs and joy on your creative journey!

 

Dear beading-friends and beadwork admirers, please, use the comment section if you have more questions you would like to ask, or greet our Laura. Her Calendar Jewel for April is coming next Monday!

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