Notes from a Master Class

Before I start.....let me say that teaching the master class was an incredible experience.  A great big thank you to the Bead and Button staff, Marlene and Jane you made it easy! To all of my talented helpers and to each and every one of the amazing folks who chose to spend three days of their Bead and Button experience with me.

I remember that I was teaching in Toronto when I got Marlene's email asking me to be the 2014 Master Class teacher.  It was July 2010 and it was a pretty exciting email.  Lot's of time to think through my approach, but from the beginning I knew it would involve component design.

I carried on with a loose plan in my head until last years August call asking me if I would be willing to move my class to 2013.  I said yes and began the serious planning.

I had always envisioned a playground of components for participants to arrange into their own visions.  Twenty two students per class meant a lot of playgrounds so that everyone could have effective design time.  This is where I am truly lucky, with many seed beaders I call friends willing to help.

Liz headed up a Detroit group including Sharon, Susan, Sue and Kate who got to work immediately and provided a large amount of components.  Seattle's beaders were Connie, Tracy and Janice and locally Susan, Dee, Agnes, Sylvia, Jody, Viola and Ellen all contributed huge amounts.  They also helped me learn along the way.

The playground was deliberately neutral in palette and then three additional palettes, storm, botanica and rainforest were added.  I encouraged all to bring beads from their own stash and many made excellent contributions to the colorways.  Gabriella and Shannon volunteered to bead up some samples from each of the three color choices.

Thanks also go to Susan Kolovson who graciously offered to proofread the master class booklet.

On day one I introduced the subject of component design and talked about the structure of the class.  This was all done presentation style and the pdf of the presentation on my ipad worked seamlessly.  Thank goodness for technology.

Folks soon got busy arranging pieces and then we printed them out their visions.  Photo cube is not necessarily the best photo printer, but it got the job done and it was small enough to carry with me.

Many took the opportunity to create components that matched their photo and others morphed their vision along the way as we tried new things.  I get visibly excited about the process, often oooh oooh ooohing as each person brought their designs along.

Among the many special things about doing this class was the intimacy that one developed over the course of three days.  I felt that I got to know everyone so much better in that time frame.  There was also a wonderful synergy between the students as the days progressed and they shared their designs with one another.

I was so pleased that 32 people created pieces that were distinctly different from one another.  A few people wore their creations out of class and many were on their way to finished pieces.  I wanted to show you the breadth of design variations, so a few strings still attached.  As time goes on I hope to see many more finished pieces and I will share them as I do.

This was Pat's well executed vision, a folded carousel over a rope with a crystal studded center bead.

Mandi took the pearl out of the center of the Cassandra component, adding a soft lavender luna cab and a ring band.

Sandy put together this beautifully symmetric piece using spirit flight and the craw pendant.   The purple she chose for either side of the the pendant really sets off the design.

 Mary Ann went into her bead stash to produce the 2001 commemorative bead adding a carousel and spirit flight to the top and finishing it with the perfect ribbon.  Job well done, wish I could find my pendant!  She also bezeled a large glass pendant and has plans to add a pale Cassandra necklace to her Christi Friesen dragon, I can't wait!

Victoria made a modified Cassandra, added the excellent touch of green, and used the graceful properties of craw to 'draw' a beautiful pendant to go along with her design. Victoria is a prolific beader and I can't wait to see her future designs.

Joanne left class with a finished pendant, a pair of earrings and was well on her way to bringing her original design idea into fruition.

Nancy folder her spirit flights, bezeled her fancy stone, and dropped a modified Cassandra from the bottom  which was finished up with two 3 sided romantica medallions.

Deb, added daggers to her spirit flight, a pacific opal fancy stone, and a craw pendant.   The colors she chose to accent her kit were perfect and as we left she was thinking about adding a crystal necklace.

Justyne turned Cassandra over, connected five of them for a large center focal, added a bezeled topaz teardrop and used a previously beaded craw zig zag necklace, stunning!

As time goes on I will add more photos and more finished photos.  Suffice it to say the pieces were all brilliant.  I loved every minute of the experience.

Big Big thanks to the Bad Liz, Gabriella and Lisa who were all instrumental in the classroom and make things so much easier!