Artitude is Everything to Bead Enthusiasts
By Leah Stratmann January 16, 2003 Issue

They say attitude is everything. If so, Barbara Steele’s attitude about Artitude, her bead studio in Shoreline Village Mall is an example of how a former leisure activity can become a means of making a living. After more than a year of operating a beading business and classes out of her home, Steele took a leap of faith in herself and opened Arti-tude in May 2002.

“Not only do I teach beading, but I create pieces from other people’s designs as well as my own. Old jewelry can be restrung to create a new piece and the process is relatively simple,” Steele explained.

The small shop is tucked into the back of the mall and is awash in the color of thousands of beads in every conceivable shape and size.

“I try to specialize in beads that cannot be found elsewhere. I buy a lot of hand-made beads. Bead making is now a big American art form,” she said.

Although there are several ways to make a bead, the lampworked bead is one of the most beautiful.

“An artist holds long thin rods in a fl ame and the then rolls the glass around the mandrel (the device that makes the bead’s hole) until the desired shape is achieved. Finished beads are often encased in glass to make it look like a marble or while the original vessel is still hot, another color is used and shaped into the desired decoration,” Steele said. The fi nished beads are so smooth, they seem machine, rather than hand made and the variations are end-less.

Most of the beads in Artitude are either lampworked or fused. Fused glass beads are processed in a kiln and made on a sheet with a bottom layer. After a cool-ing period of at least 24 hours, another layer can be added.

“The more layers used, the deeper the bead. You can then see actual scenes inside a bead. It’s interest-ing to note that the shiny material inside is called diachronic glass, which is the same glass as is used in a camera lens,” she said.

“Diachronic glass is as thin as gold leaf and is a superb light catcher because is has both refl ective and refractive qualities.

”Refl ective and refractive beads can be seen by looking into one of the kalei-doscopes in the shop. There are several examples of kaleidoscopes made by several artists using both lampworked and fused glass beads. The intricacy and beauty of the pieces give them hefty price tags as well, but one look inside explains why the toys are costly. The viewer holds the device and turns either a crank or in some cases the whole kalei-doscope. Not only do the images change color and shape, the heat from the holder’s hands causes a melting effect of color that is extraordinarily beautiful.

The soft-spoken Steele makes a lot of the jewelry in the shop and teaches classes to those wishing to learn the fi ne art of beading. Students pay a modest fee of about $20, choose and pay for the materials they wish to use and after a three or four hour class, in most cases leave with a completed piece.

When beading was still a hobby to Steele, she taught herself. She began by taking apart necklaces and putting them back together in new ways.

“I downloaded everything from the Internet on how to make jewelry, how to use the beads and what tools to use. I wasted a lot of materials and made tons of mistakes, but I never gave up,” she said. Today, she helps novice beaders avoid waste and mistakes and start on the road to successful jewelry making with the right skills.

Steele says there are a lot of fused glass artisans in the area and her shop features some of the items made by these crafts-men. If you have a hankering to try your skills at beadwork or simply to see the work of accomplished craftsman, drop by Artitude, where the attitude is

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