Welcome to our new Learning Director, Linnea Lortsher...

Linnea Lortsher, Director of Learning, beadshop.com

Beading a new path with Linnea Lortsher... 

We are thrilled to have such a talented teacher and beader join our team. Linnea brings a POV that is so valuable in today's trends in beading leaning heavily towards glass, seed beads and beadweaving. 

Linnea is joining us as Learning Director and we asked her to tell us a little bit about her journey in beading.

We want to share some of what we've learned about Linnea, since she joined our team in February 2016.

Do you remember what your first beading project was? 

"My first beadweaving project was an amulet bag stitched in Peyote Stitch using Delica beads. I remember being enchanged with the different colors and finishes, and how delightfully they 'snapped' into place!"

What is your favorite technique?

"I love herringbone for the wonderfully supple versatile structure it makes. Projects that combine stitches are a favorite of mine and I am always excited to learn new techniques."

What jewelry artists do you admire the most and why?

My personal taste in jewelry is pretty subdued, but I love designers who go for fun and funky. Beki Haley's pendants are so lush, and I adore Laura McCabe's playful but punk-rock work with spikes, glass eyes and other unusual objects. I also love what Isabella lam is doing with SuperDuos and of course, I'm smitten with Miguel Ases and his incredible work with brick stitch... and Oh! I also love the work of Penny Dixon and Kay Bonitz."

Samples of Linnea's Superduo pattern work

In mid-March, we are rolling out Linnea's first project with us at beadshop.com. It will be a 4-wide Superduo bracelet woven with Miyuki 8/0 seed beads. Leading up to a project, Linnea works with Janice to develop the best approach. We have specific criteria when deciding on the parameters of a project:

1. Inspire our readers and be approachable to beaders of all levels.
2. Be aware of cost of ingredients and how we want to keep it affordable.
3. Be special and add value that our readers expect from us....don't just do the ordinary!

Linnea will work with our in-house photography and web team, Grace Noland and Karen Marshall, taking the photographs and creating the step-by-step instructions that go into our handouts. The process is fun but can be very technical, so it does take time. Our excitement over Linnea's POV and expertise is palpable. We hare hearing from so many of our customers how excited they are to move with us into beadweaving. So, welcome Linnea and let's get going!

DIY Prairie Leather Wrap

Wraps are so wearable and easy to make. They have become the go-to accessory for both women and men. With our new project, Prairie Leather Wrap, we just took it up a few notches...maybe that's an understatement? Before we knew it, we were going crazy with embellishment...from macramé with seed beads to sliders of all kinds. It really became a team obsession. Start with a few key ingredients and some studio tools and away you go! But, don't say we didn't warn you!

So much of Prairie Leather Wrap is about designing in real time. Build it as you go rather than trying to pre-plan. It's during the process of trying it on, working on it, trying it on again and seeing where the pattern falls around your wrist that the magic happens. Ideally, you want to create interest from all sides and this method of stringing, wrapping and stringing again will guide you in what to do next.

You will be working with the back side of the leather facing up. This insures you don't damage your leather with glue or tape. Follow the steps in our free handout, which includes how to macramé, adding new C-Lon colors seamlessly, tips on gluing and design. It's 15 pages!

From very simple to wild and crazy, we hope there's a Prairie Leather Wrap in your future!

Trail Ride by Janice Parsons

Annie Oakley by Cara Scopazzi

Country by Janice Parsons

Black Heart by Karen Marshall