My name is Lucie Avramova, in the Internet world I'm also known as Lucie Luuthien. I'm from the city of Plzen, Czech Republic, from the country where glass beads have been produced for centuries and which is one of the main glass products exporter today. First time I learned about beads when I was about 10 years old. My relatives were from Jablonec nad Nisou and therefore beads were everywhere in our home.
Then I was so young and I did not know techniques like beadweaving or bead embroidery, at that age I prefer painting, singing and playing piano. I've been very busy with my activities and I did not develop my beading skills as such. In my youth, during my studies at high school, I started singing in a heavy metal rock group. I've been a big rebel and beading and other hobbies gone away. Paradoxically, but my last liking was the reason why I returned to beading...
It was in 2008, in the beginning of my studies at the West Bohemian University. I really needed a black necklace in gothic style for my performances with my rock group. I was looking for something over the Internet and I discovered fler.cz (Czech equivalent of etsy.com). I remembered I had a box with beads at home! The same day I found it and made what I wanted. Soon I created some more bracelets and necklaces and I even started to sell them on fler.cz.
I've studied for 6 years and beading filled every free moment of my life. I started with simple threading, but I understood that I could do more. I admired (and I still admire today) beadwork by Betty Stephan, Miriam Cielo Shimon, and Zoya Gutina, and by many others and I wanted to bead like those artists. First, I learned main beading techniques - peyote, herringbone and brick stitches; then I tried to weave around cabochons and last, I learned bead embroidery. Today I can use many beading techniques but I think I'm still a beginner because I'm learning something new all the time.
I graduated from my university in 2012 and continued doctoral studies. During the first year I wised up to my mistake. Anthropology - my field of study - was very interesting, but it wasn't what I really wanted to do. After the first semester I started thinking about my previous life and about beading as an occupation in my future life. The situation on the labor market facilitated my decision: there were no job vacancies for the anthropologists in my country; therefore, I started a small business. Today, I'm a master of anthropology but jewelry design became my work that allows me make money for living.
I love colors, music, theater, nature, the fantasy world - as in the books and films, autumn, flowers, rivers, elves, dragons, world of J.R.R. Tolkien and G.R.R. Martin, rivers, mountains, leaves, butterflies, fairy tales, the sun, stars, forests, autumn rains, summer storms, owls, well-being and silence, unexplored lands, pagan world of Celts, Normans, Germans and Slavs. All of these is my inspiration as well as my customers. I often make commission jewelry work for brides and for different occasions.
Sometimes I feel mixed feelings. On one hand, I make black jewelry which is intended for balls dancers, theater visitors and for gothic girls. On the other hand, I love colors and its combinations and I make jewelry of my own design which I don't repeat. Sometimes, I need to make anything magnificent and then the work swallow me up and I cannot stop...
My favorite material? Everything from glass! I prefer our native Czech glass seed and fire-polished beads. I don't work with plastic beads since I don't like them. Cabochon from glass, metal, wood, ceramics and natural stones complement glass beads. My favorite colors are the colors of autumn, from nature and shades of violet.
The process of creation is different depending on the circumstances. Once, I have the idea and if I want to exactly implement it, I draw it. Another time I create a piece from scratch without any sketches and I don't know in advance what the result will be then. These two approaches have the right to exist, and I use both of them or their combination.
You can see my jewelry in my two e-shops and other Czech and Slovak galleries similar to etsy.com, in the shops in Prague and Plsen; I take part participate in craft shows: Holesovice Fashion Market in Prague, Folk Festival in Domazlice which is the largest festival of its kind in the Czech Republic. I like participating in the Battle of the Beadsmith tournament, Rokajl Fest bead contest held by the Fashion Colorworks sponsor OKTAbeads.eu and other smaller contests we organize in our beading clubs for our pleasure.
I'm a member of several bead communities; and the Fler Beadweaving Team is the most important for me. The Czech Republic is a small country but we have a lot of beaders and most of them are in this club, and many of them participate in the Battle of the Beadsmith. We organize themed contests - almost all my big necklaces were created for them. I would even say the contests induced me to start creating bigger pieces and therefore I could develop my beading skills.
My motto is: Beads are the most amazing material because you can create whatever you want, it only depends on your imagination.
My gallery on MyLovelyBeads.com
About author:
| Lucie Avramova, Plzen, Czech Republic | |
| Email address: | luuthien@seznam.cz |
| Website: | luuthien.cz |
| Online Shop: | gothic-sperky.cz |
| Facebook: | facebook.com/luuthien.cz |
