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Hi! My name is Barbara Elbe x
Art has always been a part of my life. Oil paintings by both my husband and myself cover the walls of our home. It seemed quite natural that once I found the medium of beads, it would only be a matter of time before I started creating pictures.
My getting into beading was purely by accident. Like so many others, making earrings using size 11/o seed beads was how I started. Brick stitch was the first stitch I learned and is still my favorite. Learning how to sculpture shapes, plus the introduction of "Delica" beads, opened a whole new area of creativity for me. These wonderful beads, available in the US since around 1989, made it possible for me to make light weight designs with far more detail, in a seemingly endless array of colors.
Believe it or not, there were very few books on beading in the early 1990's. This was definitely an incentive to start designing, which really got me hooked on beading! I ended up with so many designs, next came publishing to share my ideas with others. My first two books on beaded earrings, "Beaded Images" and "Beaded Images II," were done through a publishing company in 1994 & 1995.
When I started designing amulet purses, I found a love for making tiny pictures in beads. Delica's couldn't have been a better bead suited for this!
In 1996 I got brave and decided to self publish my first book on amulet purses -- "Back to Beadin'." Two years later, in May of 1998, "Amulet Obsession" was released, completely dedicated to amulet purses with, of course, lots of illustrations and pictures!
In 2002 "Forever In Beads" was added to the group. My newest book has color throughout, with a wonderful mixture of purses, earrings and frameable beadwork.
I am happy to present my work to you by-way-of the new creative medium of the Internet -- where crafters, artisans and other "explorers," can come together, share, trade and build upon our various discoveries!
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