What Inspires Us!

We asked our Etsy BeadWeavers, What inspires your beadweaving? Not surprisingly, their responses are as individual as their creations.

Kim of Regal Beads: I've never really thought much about this before. First of all, I believe that God has given me the gift of creativity.

How things come together for me? Well, sometimes I really love a colour personally and that inspires me to use it in some way. Sometimes I am looking at my beads trying to decide and some colours just jump out! Other times another's work will inspire an idea. (And I am grateful that, when this has happened, they have gladly told me it was fine!)

Beadweaving is one of my main creative outlets. It seems I am forever wanting to try something in the back of my mind, while in the middle of my current project!

Trish of SkyesMedicine: Anything and everything. As I am not an amazing designer like so many of the others out here, I bead what catches my eye. A lot of native influence since that is where my knowledge of beadweaving comes from, but if I like it I bead it...

Ann of Inspired Jewelry by Ann Burke: I get inspired when I see something in nature, in a magazine or anywhere, that looks like something I like, kind of a different thing. That is probably why I like freeform so much. I do patterns sometime and do 2 or 3 to get the hang of it, but always return to freeform. Putting together different colors and shapes of beads, is my favorite.

Dawn of DawnChastain: EVERYTHING, if I see metal work, I wonder how I can get the same shape with beads. If I see a shell I wonder how to attach beads to it. If see a great color combination I try to recreate it with a bead mix.
I find that if I am spiritually "right", not stressed out, mad or worried that I am totally more creative.

Cyndi of Beauty in the Beads: A lot of inspiration comes from fellow beaders, Beadbug in particular. She has always been an inspiration to me. Some of the things she comes up with makes me want to learn more stitches and more techniques. Before I met her, I was strictly a loom beader (for over 35 years)! I now know how to do a lot more with beads than I ever dreamed of! She inspires me to be all that I can. When I see what other beaders can do, it inspires me to try something new. I am part Native American, and I was taught how to loom bead when I was 12 years old by a close family friend (we called her Auntie) who was Choctaw-I actually think she was one of my real aunts. She has since passed on and I am deeply grateful for all the beading knowledge that she passed on to me. Other than a physical inspiration, is nature. Most of my beaded items have a nature theme (Summer Sun, Winter Chill, Ocean Deep, Sea Waves, Earth, Water, Fire, etc).

Bev of NoEasyBeads: Art beads inspire my beadweaving. I like to us them as focal points. Different shapes and size of the beads inspire my work.

Jean of Totally Twisted: There are many things that inspire me to bead. I think the biggest inspiration would be color. I see colors in nature, in fashion, in the beads themselves and I have all sorts of ideas and patterns I want to try floating around in my head. I guess being an artist (abstract painter) I am very influenced by color. I like to play with color and use unusual color combinations to create my jewelry. Another thing that is inspiring to me are other beaders, especially on EBW - when I see the beautiful items they are all making it makes me want to strive to do better - to get to the next level in my work.

Sarah of TheBeadedLily: The same thing that inspires all my beading, the beads themselves. I love the colors, shapes, finishes. I love to form the finished product. I love seeing how one set of beads makes another set gleam. I love that people wonder what the inspiration is when I'm just having a blast with beads. I love that the finished product is beautiful, that it's art.

MaryLou of Time2Cre8: The better question would be, 'What doesn't inspire my beadweaving?' A trip to the garage, and I find interesting bits of hardware that just call out to be incorporated into a necklace or bracelet. A walk on the beach, and I gather stones and bits of glass that have washed up; and then I try to figure out how to incorporate them into a bead woven creation. I love books, and while I don't spend much time at all copying a pattern directly from a book, I do spend a lot of time paging through them and being inspired to create something similar to the pieces I find. Colors and patterns are everywhere, and it's so much fun to try to take plaids, stripes, polka dots, and diamonds and translate them from fabric or paper into beads. I'm never short on inspiration, but I'd love it if there were more hours in the day...

Wolf of Dante's Spirit: Life in general. Sometimes a movie will give me an idea (Calypso's Dream was inspired by The Odyssey), sometimes Nature itself inspires me. Sometimes my imagination just takes over.

Ivey of Enso: My beading is inspired by modernist and minimalist fine art and music, the colors of gemstones and simple forms to best show them off, and by decades of modernist fashion and ornamentation. The expandable, fluid nature of woven forms allow for infinite possible shapes, colors, and scales.

Judy of BeadBug's Boutique: I am inspired primarily by nature as many of my beading involves flowers and leaves, but also by colors. I gravitate towards shiny beads but sometimes use matt.

Esther of Green Envy Designs: Inspiration to me is the beauty I see of this planet. So for my "visual" pieces I use a lot of animal and nature references. For instance my swan handflower or my ocean dream dolphin embroidered necklace. Yet I also find inspiration in many other places! One of my favorites are contests/challenges because they usually give a theme and that always gives me an excuse to beat my best and explore new ways of beading.

Morwyn of Another Country: The natural world, poetry, literature, Impressionist art, classical music, science fiction and fantasy novels and movies, trance music, video games, the history of costume, European decorating magazines, Pre-Raphaelite art, books on color theory, and other beadweavers' work.

Claire of ClaireCreations: Many things inspire my work. Designs I see from other mediums that I try out with beads, the look and feel of different beads combined with different gemstones. Beautiful work I see from other beaders makes me want to create something of my own. Like I said. Many things inspire my work.

Sooz of Sooz Originals: Really the beads themselves. I am amazed that stitching these little ones together one way or another can make such a diverse product! I love the colors, and the finishes and they inspire a piece or a direction.



Melody of Salamander House Studio: That's a hard question. I go in streaks. For a long time, I was working on Greek and Roman myths, and I think that particular obsession was fueled by reading the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. Right this minute I'm very aware of the natural world and the odd color juxtapositions thrown out there by Mother Nature. Vintage fashion is another thing that makes me think in beads, as is geometry. And chemistry- or anything seen through the microscope, I want to reinterpret the very tiny with the very shiny.


We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming . . .