Mingei
Museum, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA
10
a.m. until noon
This month we are featuring famous bead artist Heidi Kummli as our
speaker. Her presentation is about Heidi’s journey with beads.
Heidiʼs journey with beads started in the early
80ies when she was first gifted a small container of beads. She had no idea
these amazing little pieces of glass with holes in them would be her lifeʼs
passion and way of making a living.
The slide show follows the changes and growth
of her work over the years following her life’s journey and her spiritual
connection to the universe
Heidi has written two
books The Art of Bead Embroidery coauthored with bead artist and good
friend Sherry Serafini and her latest book TheSpirit of Bead Embroidery.
In the Spirit of Bead Embroidery, Heidi pulls the reader in to explore the
spiritual side of life and how to work this into our bead work and art.
Heidi hopes to share
her knowledge of Bead Embroidery and the peace and beauty that surrounds her in
daily life with her students and those around her.
May 18 Sunday, Class Mosaic Necklace with Twisted Fringe
Students will start by learning how to make a
beautiful mosaic center
piece using two part epoxy clay.
After mixing and spreading
the clay into a metal setting they inlay a vintage button
and various beads and components. Heidi will teach various ways of adding
components such as using a beading needle,
tooth picks, popsicle sticks, or a crystal
katana tool.
While the clay takes a few hours to cure, once the inlay is done and glued to the suede foundation the students will learn making twisted
fringe. The fringe is added on a separate
piece of suede to be attached later.
This can be challenging to learn at first but once you get the feel of it, it's fun to do. With the fringe done and the clay dry, next you learn
basic bead embroidery techniques to add beads and cabochons around
the mosaic center piece.
Last step is to learn to line the pendant with cardboard, add the suede backing
and coiling for stringing later, attach
the fringe and complete the piece with a simple
edging.
Heidi tries to design
her classes so the student
goes home with a
finished piece but sometimes 6 hours just isnʼt
enough. With the detailed instructions included in the kit, you can finish later if necessary.
The kits are offered in three color ways and
designs shown in the pictures below.
 |
Starfish |
 |
Butterfly |
 |
Honeybee |
