Have you heard of the Beadworkers Guild? They organise exhibitions, publish a journal and encourage the public to try their hands with beadwork. 2018 was the fifth year already that they organised a Beading Week, which grew from a series of events limited to the United Kingdom to an international happening for beaders all around the world. This year they asked me to be one of their ambassador for International Beading Week, and of course I said YES!
How do beaders celebrate? With beading, of course 😀
And if possible: beading together! I designed a new project for the International Beading Week: the Star Anise. It can be worn as a pendant, but also as statement earrings. Everyone around the globe could (and can) join in and bead it, as it’s available to download from the web of the Beadworkers Guild and also from here. All you need are some GemDuo beads, Miyuki Quarter Tila and seed beads, Czech glass fire polished beads and a rhinestone for the centre.
I was inspired by the generous package I got from Beadsmith, as member of the Beadsmith Inspiration Squad. I made two colour combinations right away, as I couldn’t make up my mind which GemDuo beads should I use: the Tutti Frutti Carambola or the Tutti Frutti Cherry. Both are summery, happy tones and can be combined easily with my favourites – turquoise and metallic bronze.
It’s fun to bead the same design and see each other’s combinations published on a Facebook page, but isn’t it even better when we can do the same while sitting in the same room? To truly enjoy International Beading Week I invited my fellow beaders from The Netherlands (and beyond) for a bead-along in Amsterdam. We’ve met on the 4th of August and had a really fun time together. Check out the pictures below to see how did it go!
I had a special guest for the entire International Beading Week! Tereza Soukupova of PotomacBeads.eu was in Amsterdam, together with her husband Pavel. Tereza opened the European warehouse of Potomac Beads in spring, and traveled here to tell us about their exclusive bead shapes. She didn’t come empty handed: Tereza brought a very generous sample pack of Potomac exclusive shapes and one of the most popular Potomac beading tutorials. Here we just finished packing the goodie bags!
View from the offices of our host Container Solutions
We’ve met in the offices of Container Solutions, a young and dynamic software consultant company who agreed to host us. A perfect place: a short walk from Central Station, with beautiful view over the Ij! On the other side you see the A’dam tower (the tall building on the left, previously headquarters of Shell). You can climb up and enjoy a swing over the edge of the 20 floors high building. Would you dare to?
Besides beading I love to bake and cook! During the past year however I managed to gain (and with hard work, loose again) 12 extra kilograms, so nowadays I limit myself to occasions when I can share what I make. Meeting with over a dozen beaders was a great opportunity to prepare my special extra gooey chocolate brownies. It’s a guilty pleasure, but at least I accompanied it with healthy snacks: fruits, thinly sliced vegetable and hummus of different flavours as dips for the baby tomatoes and carrots.
The festivities began! Some beaders already knew each other, some got to know a lot of new friends.
Some beaders came already with a colour combinbation they put together at home. Others took advantage of the GemDuo beads Beadsmith sent us to use in our Star Anise pendants. And if it wasn’t enough: Monique of Limited Edition set up a mini bead shop with all the necessary material for the design. I was drooling over her selection of rhinestones, Quarter Tilas and GemDuos! She even had the Pomegranate coloured fire polished beads Tereza told me about earlier, and it was an love at first sight, I already ordered several hundred of them 😀
Opening the goodie bags
Debating about colours. Never an easy decision!
Especially when there is such a wide selection of beads as in the gifts from Limited Edition and Francois Parent
There is no end to learn new things about beading. This was a great opportunity to ask each other questions, share knowledge and talk about everything bead-related.
One of the new tools I got to know are the ones sent for us by Ivonne Kronenberg of Beadhouse.nl. These tools come handy when you make a Peyote or Herringbone spiral. You keep the wooden stick inside the tube (it doesn’t slide in thanks to the little ball glued to it), so it’s easier to work on the spiral.
Having fun around the exhibition of jewellery from Tereza and me.
Beautiful Star Anise pendants made by the ladies from The Hague
A nearly complete picture of beaders celebrating International Beading Week in Amsterdam together
I enjoyed hosting the International Beading Week in Amsterdam very much, and I am looking forward to meet fellow beaders from The Netherlands (and beyond) again!
Hope to see you again soon,
Erika
Would you like to join us next time?
Join the ‘Beaders of The Netherlands‘ Facebook group!
Thanks for the hard work of the Beadworkers Guild for the International Beading Week!
My fellow International Beading Week ambassadors in 2018 were:
United Kingdom
Annette Bolton
Melanie de Miguel
Lynn Firth
Steph Gibbs
Sarah Gwyer
Jane Halls
Heather Kingsley-Heath
Old Bycicle Shop (Davida and Duncan)
Patty McCourt
Claire Madder
Maureen Russel
Fiona Scott
Kerrie Slade
Africa
Prudence Ngum
Sweden
Anna Lindell
Germany
Thorsten Grotke-Wegner
The Netherlands
Bianca van der Molen
Sandra Scholte
Erika Sandor (me :D)
Switzerland
Cath Thomas
USA
Marcia de Coster
So wonderful! I wish I was there with you!.
Maybe one day it works out, Ileana 🙂