Enjoy the amazing intricacy of artist Kathy King’s stunning jewelry collection. See more of her work by visiting her website.
Using needle and thread, I weave tiny glass beads together to create unique wearable pieces of beaded sculpture. The signature component of my designs is my bead quilled work.
Bead quilling is a weaving technique I developed where the holes of the beads and thread are exposed, allowing the thread color to become an integral part of the final design. The other main component of my work is my beaded bead, where I create intricate beads by weaving hundreds of smaller beads together.
My work is strongly influenced by my engineering background. I love the fact that the bead quilling allows me to weave together very sturdy structures, which I can then further embellish and build on. For inspiration I enjoy looking at historical architecture and cultural patterns from around the world. Their use of interesting shapes and color combinations can be very unique and inspiring.
The color and texture of the beads themselves also provide inspiration, seeing how color and bead finish combinations work together. One of the things I love most about the beads is the huge selection of color choices I am offered.
My one constant goal is to try new things and continue to push the boundaries of bead weaving. I like to see what new shapes and structures I can build with the beads. I also plan to continue sharing my love of the medium with others, teaching classes locally and nationally.
Currently I am working on creating a production line of beaded pieces to sell wholesale to galleries nationally. I still plan to create many one-of-a-kind pieces, but look forward to offering my jewelry to a wider audience through wholesale.
Even with my production pieces, I strive to make each piece of jewelry unique in some respect, creating slight variations in either design or color. I like every owner of a piece of my jewelry to feel they have a unique wearable piece of art.
As far as designs go, I am working on creating new 3D pieces, working with the construction ability the bead quilling technique allows me.
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