Getting a Klew

The Olsen's learn from one of the top bead artists in America

October 2005, Heartland Bead in Lenexa, Kansas

e left Dubuque for Kansas, City on a Friday in anticipation of a three day intensive workshop in bead making from one of America's masters of the art of polymer clay, Karen Lewis. After e-mail correspondence and discovering she was traveling from her California home to Kansas for this class with 20 bead artists from the Kansas City area, Linda and I became students 19 and 20. It was a seven hour drive from Dubuque, but it was worth it. We had seen Karen's work (her nom-de-bead is "Klew") in a bead publication, and we had actually met Karen on a craft cruise we took last spring. Her work is not only celebrated among bead makers and collectors, but she is also a masterful teacher of her extraordinary art.

The workshop was held over three days at a great bead retailer in Lenexa, a suburb of KC, called Heartland Beads. It's a great spot with loads of room for learning opportunities, and the owner is just a peach. While Karen gave her demonstrations, she allowed me to take photographs. I also took pictures of the students' work which is spectacular. The bead above is one of the demonstration beads Klew made during the class. It has translucent qualities, gentle blends, and fine details that are all sculpted in the clay using a cane veneer method.

If you click on any of the thumbnails below, it will enlarge a printable image that will download into your browser window. All photos by Gary Olsen.


These photos will obviously make sense to experienced bead makers. But even if you have a passing interest you'll see how clay is blended, sliced, and colors combined to create subtle effects. Canes start out comparatively larger and then they are reduced through careful kneading, rolling, stretching and then slicing. It becomes empirically obvious as you examine these photos.

For example, look below at the green cylindar that becomes a leaf cane. Note how cutting the round cane in half and repositioning the halves create the veins of the leaf.

At right and in the series of images, Klew conducts demonstrations for our class.

 
   
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