Barb_VanDusen

Barb_VanDusen

As a beginning jewelry maker, I'm taking lots of workshops and trying to discover my vocabulary. An interest in vintage jewelry in my teens grew into a love of beads, which I have collected for more than 20 years. For a long time I enjoyed stringing beads, but my frustration grew with the lack of availability of imaginative findings. This lead me to take a silversmithing class where a whole new world opened up to me. Now beads are an embellishment to the pieces I make instead of the focus. Which is kind of a shame because I have more beads than most bead stores. The most important theme for me is color, which has lead me to experiment with mini-mosaics. I've had a class with Jean Stark in enameling (byzantine) and will be taking another at the Boca Museum Art School. I don't understand when people say that they are afraid of color, I've never met a color I didn't like! There are very few combinations that don't work, and I refuse to limit my palette for fashion sake. The hydraulic press and microfold brake are two tools that I am really looking forward to exploiting after a couple classes next spring. Shape and dimension are also important to me. I've met some of the greatest people I know thru taking workshops and classes, and I'm looking forward to meeting more thru this forum.