How long does it take you complete an embeaded piece?
That depends. A smaller piece can take 12-24 hours. Large ones, between 30-60. I have one piece that took over 650 hours altogether.
You must be incredibly patient!
I hear that a lot but I’m really not! I always say it takes no patience at all to do something you love.
Do you use a needle and thread?
I use an adhesive, and proprietary tools I created myself to develop the technique I use today. A lot of trial and error was involved.
Your work is similar to Huichol beaded art, did you learn about this technique from them?
Actually, I never heard of them until I was 2-3 years into developing embeadery. There are some similarities, but some important differences. They use resins or bee’s wax for adhesive. They tend to put the hole of the bead pointing up, where I put mine to the side. It’s trickier to do it that way, but I like the effect better. And they have very specific designs and patterns related to their culture. They tend to work on a grid, and I do a lot of freehand (my embeadery technique allows for a lot of flexibility). They also tend to stick with solid primary colors, I’ve noticed. There may be other differences as well.
Do you teach embeadery?
Not yet. But I am planning on doing so in the future. If you want to be notified, please click here to sign up for my newsletter. Announcements are very infrequent, and may contain news and information about my other art-related projects. You can also friend me on Facebook, like my art page there, or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Linkedin.