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Fire Mountain Gems and Beads 2008 Beading Contest
Finalist
Fire Mountain Gems and Beads' Contest 2010 featuring Seed Beads
Finalist |
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Meet the Designer-Artist
Where do you live?
Abbeville, Louisiana
Describe your artistic style.
I enjoy playing with unusual yet wonderful color combinations, but I am also a perfectionist, so my work is often colorful, yet symmetrical and planned out.
What inspires you as a designer-artist?
I see one non-standard color in a piece of clothing or other item and I try to see what other colors I can find to compliment that color.
What materials do you most enjoy working with?
Glass pearls and faceted Czech beads are an economical way to add volume to a piece and the right color seed beads make a piece go from cute to WOW!
What is the name of the piece you submitted with your success story?
Beauté Conduite Par Chaine
What inspired this design?
I saw the cosmic rings in the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads catalog and was inspired to combine them with beaded loops to make a large-scale crystal chain mail.
How did it come together? For example, did you plan it out or did it define itself once you began working?
I placed the cosmic rings where I wanted them to sit in the bust and then sized the beaded loops to secure those locations.
Share Your Background
When and how did you begin making jewelry/beading?
I made my first pair of earrings in 2006 and used projects in beading magazines to make my designs more and more complex.
Who introduced you to beading?
My sister was making jewelry long before I started and she showed me how to make my first pair of earrings.
Do you have an artistic background?
My grandmother is a well-known impressionist painter, Joan Colleen Baker, and my sister Mary Melissa Baker, sculpts and paints. I needle-pointed for most of my life until I discovered beading.
How did you discover Fire Mountain Gems and Beads®?
I asked a vendor at a festival where she got her beads from and she said "Fire Mountain Gems, online."
What other hobbies do you have?
I enjoy weightlifting, inventing and gardening.
Do you belong to any beading societies or beading groups?
I do not yet belong to any beading groups, but I subscribe to beading magazines, I network and keep my fans up-to-date on my "Lucy Joan Designs" page on Facebook and my new online store, www.lucyjoandesigns.com, is under construction.
Beading Success
What role does jewelry-making play in your life?
I've always been good at anything I've tried, but I want to be great at just one thing so that I can feel like I have maximized my potential--and that is beading.
If you used jewelry-making as a way to bring in income, how are you selling yourself and your jewelry?
I regularly attend local festivals and sell jewelry there and I am creating a new website and catalog for finished jewelry and beading kits.
Any advice for aspiring jewelry-artists?
Use the color wheel to aid in designs. The right color combination make the difference between a really ugly well-made design and a gorgeous well-made design.
View all of Lucy's designs in the Gallery of Designs. |
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