Featured Artist Pam of A Bead Thing

“If you have a teensy bit of creativity in you that wants to come out, open the valve and let it out.” A perfect quote for anyone that would love to tap into their creativity but just doesn’t know where to start from Pam who is a feisty grandmother that loves to create!

Pam is a mother of two grown children, a son who serves our country in the army and a daughter who lives with her along with her grandson; who from talking to Pam, is the light of her world.  Her grandson struggles with ADHD so he takes a great deal of mom and grandma’s time; but it is time filled with love.  When she is not chasing her grandson around or working as a soon to be retired real estate agent, she loves to read and watch cop shows as well as picking around antique markets which bring back fond memories of her grandparent’s farm.

Pam began creating as so many of us did by watching her grandmother tat.  Due to her inability to handle more than one thread at a time, her grandmother wisely dropped the idea of teaching her tatting and handed her a crochet hook and yarn and taught her the basic stitches…before long, the entire family was swimming in afghans!  Her mother was also creative in her own way and sewed clothes for Pam and her siblings, but Pam never really got into sewing herself.

Over the years, Pam and her daughter would collect beads and findings because “they were pretty” and they could make something with them “someday.”  (Don’t laugh, I know a lot of you out there have the same type of stash hidden around your house!)  Her daughter took a job at Michael’s and eventually, after being surrounded by beads and string and instruction books became a jewelry instructor.  Pam got hooked after realizing that there are limitless possibilities when you are working with beads.  You can create a piece that had the “illusion of grandeur, simple elegance, or downright homey.”  Basically, her favorite part of creating is that the sky is the limit and you can create what you like rather than trying to find your vision in someone else’s work.  For now Pam’s work uses predominately seed beads as well as Swarovski crystals intermixed with beads, but she would eventually like to try her hand at metalsmithing and lampworking.  The mother daughter team decided to combine their talents and all that they had learned into an online business and A Bead Thing was born.

Pam believes that anyone considering selling their own handmade creations should go for it.  She firmly believes that taking a chance is better than wondering what if but also cautions that in addition to designing other parts such as photographing, writing descriptions and promoting takes a lot of time!  There are ups and downs and you will have to learn to work with social media in order for your little corner of the internet to be seen; become friends with other artists (even those not in your medium!) and help them promote as they help you.  Also, Pam strongly advises you to always carry business cards and drop them everywhere you go!  You never know who will pick one up and buy a piece from you later on down the road.

Currently, Pam is not selling at local fairs, thought she may jump into that arena one day, you can see her beautiful work online at HandmadeArtists as well as her own site.  You can follow her daily activities on Facebook and on Twitter.

Tags: abeadthing, beading, beads, bracelet, earrings, feature, featured artists, Handmade, Handmade Artists, handmade marketplace, jewelry, necklace

Posted in Featured Vendor, Handmade Mode