Amanda Bielski-Wright
Meet the Designer-Artist
Where do you live?
I currently live in Queen Creek, AZ. I am formerly from the Rochester, NY area.
What inspires you as a designer-artist?
I'm inspired by many things. Natural patterns in rock, animals and leaves. I also find inspiration in more manmade treasures such as fractals, petroglyphs, Native-American art, African art, Asian art, artifacts from Ancient Europe and the Middle East.
What medium do you work with mostly?
I work primarily in seed beads doing bead embroidery, but also work in wire and polymer clay. I am beginning to work with metal clay and hope to master that medium as well.
Why did you become enchanted with this style of jewelry-making?
Years ago when I was a teenager, while walking through a festival back in Rochester, I remembered seeing a necklace that someone had on display that was entirely all bead embroidery. I puzzled how it was done and decided I would find out so I could do it myself.
Where and How do you sell your jewelry?
What is the name of the piece you submitted with your success story?
The name of this piece is Green Fantasy. It took Silver Medal in the 2012 Fire Mountain Gems Metals competition.
What inspired this design?
The focal cab of this piece is malachite cut by a friend of mine. I wanted to honor his work with something special. I adore wire filigree and big sweeping designs.
How did it come together?
I never seem to design on a small scale and very rarely work from a preconceived design or draw out my designs. This design, like so many others, started out smaller and morphed into something much more grandiose. In this case, I laid out the focal stones and the wire seemed to want to just flow into a pattern around the stones in my head. So that's what I did.