My name is Svetlana Makarova, my fascination with designing jewelry began about ten years ago. Then the "Bijou" magazine started publishing patterns and tutorials and some of the works seemed interesting to me, and I made one piece, then another, the third... and was drawn! At first, I used little of small beads in my beadwork, only as an auxiliary material, the main preference was given to the large ones.
But gradually, as soon as the Czech and then Japanese beads appeared in stores, the priorities changed to diametrically opposite. I think the color palette of small beads is wider, not to mention the areas of their usage. You can create things that look like real plants or animals from them. I love to weave leaves and flowers from beads and I have achieved certain success in this matter for which I'm especially grateful to all people associated with the Fashion Colorworks contest.
I was born and live in the small city of Pervouralsk, in the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, 40 kilometers from the regional center. Our city is located on the 60th meridian, exactly on the border of Europe and Asia, - yes, yes, the border passing through our city is the most correct! As early as 1829, the well-known German scientists A. Humboldt and G. Rose visited the Urals in the vicinity of Mount Berezovo near the village of Talitsa (today it's the suburb of Pervouralsk) and setup the border between Europe and Asia on the pass from the western slope of the Ural Mountains to the eastern slope.
At this place in 1837, in connection with the passage of the heir to the Russian royal throne, the first obelisk "Europe-Asia" in the Urals was installed. The adventurous guides from the regional center are driving the trustful tourists to another place near Yekaterinburg and call it "the border between Europe and Asia" - but that is their fantasy.
Despite the fact that our city is industrial, it's located in a very picturesque area: mountains, forests, fields, rivers - a diverse and never boring landscape. And, of course, the pearl of our region is the Chusovaya River - the most popular tourist route for tourists traveling on water in the Middle Urals.
The Chusovaya River is a stunningly beautiful and unique ecosystem with ancient history, the best holiday destination and source of inspiration. As you can guess, every summer I try to find a couple of weeks for the River. Actually, my sympathy for the flora and the desire to depict live creatures as realistically as possible come from my childhood (my parents regularly took us out to nature - for fishing and for berries and mushrooms pickup).
I'm not a professional beadworker as long as crafting is just my hobby, a means to relieve stress, I'm beading for the sake of the creative process. Designing two or three large beadworks and several small ones in a year makes it possible to work leisurely and carefully. When I start a new item, I never have an exact plan, although as a rule I draw an original sketch. The result at times is very different from the original idea - the beads themselves "decide" how to lie down, and "lead" the work.
Sometimes beads are "capricious", particularly, it was when I created a lizard in my contest work - I had to re-do it three times because my bead reptile didn't want to "dress" in its skin. The creation of the lizard was inspired by the work of Julia Bushuhina which I think is amazing, quite like a living one, but I needed a more "jeweler" version and I chose the Swarovski crystals and the Twin beads.
The very story for the necklace appeared simply - I watched this small creature when the lizard scrambled along the whips of peas in our garden, and she looked around the neighborhood with such pride - just like the princess! The picture was so funny that I wanted to capture it in beads. There was also an immediate link to the Mistress of Copper Mountain from the well-known tale of Pavel Bazhov. By the way, my necklace has one more removable element with malachite, but I did not declare it for the contest because of its colors.
In general, competitions are like a magic push - a very useful thing. They help to mobilize and make a breakthrough in mastery, force to learn new techniques and materials, train imagination. I recommend that everyone who hesitates - participate or not - to test themselves because in order to develop craftsmanship, rivalry is necessary.
I would like to thank from all my heart the organizers and the judges of Fashion Colorworks, especially Zoya Gutina - for her boundless patience to the participants despite all their quirks with applications, and sponsors - for wonderful prizes, and colleagues in beadwork - for tremendous works!
My gallery on MyLovelyBeads.com
About author:
| Svetlana Makarova, Pervouralsk, Sverdlovsk region, Russia | |
| Email: | makarova.sveta.8@mail.ru |
