Beadwork Jewellery - By Gillian Ashwell

About Me

I have been fascinated by and working with beads since I was a child. My interest was probably triggered by my paternal grandmother - not because she worked with beads or indeed had any particular interest in them - but because when as a child I visited her room she used to give me a box of old beads to play with. Her intention was probably to keep me quiet, and it worked - I¹ve been fascinated by beads ever since!

I began exploring and experimenting with bead stringing, threading and weaving techniques when I was in my teens, and I clearly remember acquiring my first bead-loom when I was about twelve. I also became intrigued by the antiquity of beads and the impact that they have had on the history and evolution of man, and now in my teaching and talks try to give an overview of this to my students and my audiences.

I learned all I could in those early years, but although my interest remained the opportunities to explore, experiment and work with beads lessened as the pressures of work, marriage and motherhood took over.

Eventually, in my early thirties I was able to return to beading, and it was then that I decided I would like to pass on what I had learned. I was acutely aware that if the skills and techniques of bead threading and weaving were not handed down, I could foresee a time when they would be forgotten and lost, and so I decided to begin to run classes.

With hindsight, I need not have worried about the fate of beadwork, as today it is more popular than ever, and the one course of classes that I began nearly thirty years ago has expanded beyond my wildest dreams. I now run courses and workshops extensively throughout Bedfordshire as well as further afield. These range from short courses of five or six weeks, to ten week courses, and one- or two-day workshops. I also teach residential weekends and summer schools.

My weekly courses are usually centred on teaching the skills and techniques of beadwork, but are open to students of all levels of ability - beginners, improvers and the more advanced - there is something for everyone. One-day workshops are usually on a specific piece, and two-day workshops on a specific topic - for example Flowers and Butterflies in Beadwork or A Beadwork Christmas.

My students have an incredible appetite for new designs, which I really enjoy satisfying. I am never happier than when designing, and with my background in the fine arts I revel in the challenge and the process of working up new pieces, finding new ways and styles of using techniques. I have a constant flow of ideas in my head and as sketches, jostling to be made up, but never enough time!