Share the Love

Remember when you first discovered beading?

How much fun it was to walk into your first bead store and marvel that there could be so many beads? To feel completely giddy about how much that you could do with three little tools or a needle and some thread? To be totally blissed out with the heaven on earth that is a bead store?

It was like being a kid in a candy store…

Now think about being a kid in a bead store.

A kid: a darling little moppet with a love of all things artsy and craftsy, bursting with creativity. Think about all the fun you could have if you were set loose with the right skills! Here at The Bead Monkey, we love kids! We love their creative energy and boundless enthusiasm, and we offer classes and camps with teachers that especially love working with them.

For anybody over the age of 10, (this includes you) try the "Young and Young at Heart" classes. They’re great classes for you, your little buddy or both of you. In “Soda Pop” your little monkey-in-the-making will learn how to use ICE Resin, image papers and transfers along with bottle caps to make personalized pendants, while in “Tile Pendants” you can use fast-drying UV Resin and bails to make pendants out of wooden game tiles! You don’t have to come as a pair but it is more fun that way. Adults welcome and kids can come alone.

       

For crafting duos of all types, we’ve got the “Me and My Shadow” classes- designed specifically for beading teams. Check out “Polymer Clay Transfers” and make professional-looking pieces with a personal touch- or get in on the basics of stringing, crimping and drop earrings with “Elements: Me and My Shadow”. 10 – 15 year olds must have a mentor with them but if you are 16+ and - like Punxsutawney Phil - don’t have a shadow you can attend without a buddy.

     

We’ve also got Summer Bead Camp with different levels to foster young artists along their journey in stringing, crimping, wire work, resin, bead weaving and metal work. This year, we’ve added the all-new Bead Camp 3, featuring more advanced projects and cool new skills. Check back for details coming soon!

If your budding designer is ready to fly solo - they can check out our new kid’s section, full of colorful beads and charms in a variety of sizes and materials! It’s a playground of pieces full of fun for boys and girls.

       

Flower Power!

A little while back, Christy, our general manager, made a necklace that immediately floored me.  This fabulous statement piece featured 10 beaded flowers of various sizes mounted on a chain base. 

It was love at first sight.

I loved the colors.

I loved the textures.

But mostly, I loved the sheer SIZE of the thing.  It was bright and cheerful and in every way a wearable work of art.

I needed to have one for my very own.

This necklace appeared to me for the first time when we were shooting the newsletter photos for the ‘Blossoms Workshop’ to be held in Spring semester of 2011.  By the time we created the Minneapolis Blossoms display, I was poring over it to find exactly the right beads.

At first I was stalled by all the color options-  and the variety of sizes available.  How many big blossoms did I want? How many little?  The labradorite is delicious, while this Czech glass lovely, and the Swarovski briolettes made me positively giddy.

Eventually, I got further inspiration from one of the Swarovski Crystal Cocktails that Kathy mixes up, a tube of muted colors that seemed made just for me.

With that in mind, I set about picking my beads.  I basically grabbed everything I could find in the Light Amethyst, Sand Opal, Golden Shadow, Silver Shade and Light Azore family.  I used the Vintage Bronze Artistic Wire that’s my default metal of choice.

I decided that if one necklace is good- two necklaces is better- so I designed a couple of pieces that were similar to Christy’s statement piece that can be worn together or separately.  I am super excited with the results!

If you are my blossom soul-sister check out the Blossoms Workshop with Katie (we’ve added some in April)… you’ll gain crazy blossom making skills and she’ll go over the techniques to turn your blossoms into hairpins, pendants or a killer statement piece.