FEATURED ETSY SHOP - THE BEADED LILY

MIRKA COLLAR

by

THE BEADED LILY

Sarah of The Beaded Lily has some truly unique and exquisite jewelry in her shop. Do yourself a favor and pay The Beaded Lily a visit after you've read Sarah's interview below. She has something for everyone!

What led you to start creating your art/craft?

I've "always" been inclined towards art and craft. It started with crayons and making my own little coloring books, progressed to drawing and fiber arts and dabbling in so many things .

How did you decide what medium you wanted to work with?

I ended up with beads because I'm good at it. I've never had the patience and determination it takes to keep working with things that I just don't have a knack for. I first picked up beads when my cousin shoved her stash at me to calm my nerves during a family crisis. I immediately loved the feeling of peace it gave me. My mother bought me $200 worth of supplies and I started working things up. People loved them. They wore them. Eventually they wanted to buy them. As I worked on technique, I came to appreciate how special wearable art is, and the magic of the bead. Now this is what I do, it's part of who I am.

What aspect of creating your art/craft do you find the most enjoyable?

When it starts to come together. I love that feeling. The thing is, each piece has a different come together point. For some it's when I gather the final odds and ends materials wise and I can see the piece in my head. For others it's when I hit the middle bead of a symmetrical design. Others wait till I add the clasp or the very last embellishment.

If you had to choose a fruit OR a vegetable, to describe your art/craft, what would you choose, and why?

Pomegranates immediately come to mind. Why? They're built around the seeds-- very much like a piece of jewelry is built around the seed of an idea. And it's not just the one seed, but hundreds of seeds, encased in their own little bits of perfection, side by side, coming together to create a segment, and the segments come together to create the fruit. And the fruit is one of the most beautiful, tasty, wholesome things you can eat-- and so few people even have a clue that it's there, much less how perfect it is!

If you had to choose one other medium in which to display your “creativity”, what would that be, and why?

I might sew. I've done some of it, and I'm pretty good. You can create marvelous things with the right fabric, cut and trim. It's also all about personal adornment, wearable art.

What message, if any, do you want to convey with your art/craft?

My ultimate goal is to connect you to the thread of artistic personal adornment that is almost as old as humanity itself. I want to connect people. To me, to each other, to history, to the artisans who make the beads and the earth that forms the crystals, to the very first human to pick up a feather and put it in their hair, to the cultures that figured out how to turn gold into wire, to the voice inside them that whispers "I'm me."

What advice do you have for other artists/crafters?

If you don't have to do this, don't. If you have to do this, don't stop, ever. Whatever you do, let it be you, an extension of yourself, your core beliefs. And just keep doing it.

Great interview Sarah, and beautiful creations! One can feel your passion in what you create! Thanks, for taking the time to share your thoughts and creativity with everyone.

To see more of Sarah's work be sure to visit the links below.

THE BEADED LILY BLOG

TWITTER

FLICKR