Well, it’s been such a busy few weeks and full of new experiences, so where do I start?…I think the launch of my new book at the start of this month is probably as good a place as any! This is all about the new and the old. My beading journey originally began in 2003 when I saw an advert for Arlene Baker’s French Beaded Flower book. I knew pretty much nothing about beads at that stage – certainly I was ignorant of the vast possibilities that beads bring – so to see a 3-dimensional rose made entirely from beads featured on the cover of the book just amazed me. I remember peering at the tiny photo and trying to work out whether that really could be made from beads alone. Having read the book’s synopsis, I convinced myself that it was really the case that one could learn to make life-like flowers from beads, so I simply had to learn. I think today is in fact the 11th anniversary of me making my first beaded flower – I know I’ve spoken about that on here before – so it seems rather fitting that last week my own book about French Beading was published.
Once I had taught myself the basics from Arlene Baker’s book, I straightaway started creating my own designs for flowers and, before long, I was combining them into arrangements and eventually wedding bouquets. I think I made my first bouquet for a bride back in 2004 and I’ve now sent bouquets all over the UK and across the Atlantic to the US. So, I was thrilled to be invited by Vivienne Wells of Vivebooks, to write a book about my wedding bouquets, back in 2011. This may have been an opportunity for me to return to my beading roots, but the process has also been an entirely new experience. This is the first time I have worked with a publisher and also the first time I have been filmed demonstrating beadwork. I have to say that both new experiences were entirely pleasurable! Most importantly, it has been a wonderful opportunity to share the French Beading through video. I have now met a lot of beaders who have either been tempted to try French Beading or have actually done so and it seems that, like me, a lot think that this technique can be challenging to learn from diagrams on their own. I leapt at the opportunity to make an e-book as Vivienne and I have been able to include over an hour of videos demonstrating all the techniques involved, so I really feel that this is going to be such a good way of learning a craft that is very beautiful, but sometimes feels like the poor sister of bead-weaving. So it now remains to be seen whether all you beaders out there agree with me! Most of all though, I have to say a big thank you to Vivienne for all her hard work on the project and her support in ways that extend beyond French Beading!
