Designing with wire & beads

Thanks to a Jewelery Instructor Albina Maning I've got a new hobby now - jewelry making! :)

It's all started when I met Albina & her co-workers last February at the J.O.G.S. Gem & Jewelry Show in Tuscon, AZ. They are teaching classes there every year and I was so impressed by the lovely pieces they are creating that I thought, I'd like to try to make some jewelery, too.

So I thought about it and called some friends who'd like to learn jewelry making basics, too. We picked a day & time for the Girls night in Party, got together last Saturday night and hired Albina as an instructor.

I have to say, the class was amazing! We are beginners, and Albina spent a lot of time with each of us, helping to understand the basics better. The result of a 2 hour class was great. I made cute earrings & matching bracelet. My friends left with newly made gorgeous Swarovsky crystals earrings they made that night. I also bought a book* Albina wrote with other talented artists and I am hoping to make at least a couple of beaded necklaces I found there!

Albina is a professional teacher and jewelry making instructor. She enjoys teaching at the Bead Museum in Glendale, AZ. She also does classes at the Beaderie in Chandler, AZ and at the J.O.G.S Gem & Jewelry Show which is occuring every year in February in Tuscon, AZ. The photos of her beaded tree Bonsai Shakkan has been used by Fire Mountain Gems (Beading & Jewelry Supplies Company) both as a back cover advertisement and inside their catalog. In 2009 Albina won 1st Place, the Gold Medal award with Inca’s Gold Necklace in FMG’s wirework category. She has been published in the Art Bead Circle Magazine, as well as the book Mixed Media Jewelry Techniques.

You can visit Albina's web-site www.around-beads.info and her store www.aroundbeads.etsy.com

And for me - maybe, it will became more, than just a hobby! :)

* Mixed Media Jewelry Techniques