Jade the Beaded Mannequin

Jade, the Embeaded Mannequin

I know I haven’t posted any new embeaded art in a while. That’s because I have been working on a huge beading project. Jade is a life-sized mannequin that was commissioned by John Bead Company. The tropical embeaded design was a collaboration between myself and John Bead’s Creative Director Fernando DaSilva. Fernando presented the tropical theme, and gave me the specific motifs to use. We worked together to refine the design as I worked down Jade’s body.

“Represent the lusciousness of a tropical land,” he said.  “After you submitted several sketches, I was impressed on how well you captured my vision and make it into reality.” It took more than a year to fully complete this project, thousands of seed beads, and hundreds of hours doing the beading. Jade the beaded mannequin has already seen more of the world than I have, I think!

It was a real pleasure to work with Fernando and the staff at John Bead and I hope to do it again! If you are in Toronto and you have never been to their warehouse or the Outlet Store, it’s a beader’s paradise, at 20 Bertrand Avenue, Toronto. Visit www.johnbead.com for hours/directions. The warehouse is wholesale only, but their Outlet Shop is open to the public, and if you are a bead fanatic like me, you will love it.

Let me know what you think, and please feel free to share this link if you like my work: http://blog.johnbead.com/?p=9493