If you cruised with us last year, you had the pleasure of meeting Rachel Nelson-Smith. For those who signed up for her classes this year you are in for a great time. Rachel is a wonderful teacher and her designs are intricate and colorful.
Here is my interview with Rachel. Enjoy.
1.What inspired your project for the bead cruise.
Both the Sea Star Bangle and O. Bersten Component were born out of the 2005 piece Ootheca Cuff in which right-angle weave and tubular even-count peyote stitch come together. In each of these two new projects, two of the endless possibilities manifest into these structures where right-angle weave provides the base architecture and tubular even-count peyote covers the form. 
Now, the extreme nature of the Sea Star Bangle in orange measuring about 2.5" from the wrist when worn was inspired by an outgoing New York beader named Suzanne Golden who extends beading limits in her work. From the very beginning, the piece was going to be extreme. The turquoise-colored sample was created to show the design in a more subdued, less time-intensive setting.
When the O. Bersten Component came into being, it was an adventure. Initially, the goal was to make a button using the RAW and peyote combination. When it did not work into a button, it sat for several months as something I could not yet identify--incidentally, in the exact form it is now taught. Shown at a local bead nite, the component dazzled long-time bead friend Mary Fraser as we mused over what the piece was. A button face? A cover for a wine bottle stopper? Eventually more were made and linked together and it was finally apparent it was a component, meant to be used with other components. Is this your first bead cruise?
Share a bead adventure. Something fun about a class you taught.
The first original beadweaving class I taught was named Rachel's Netted Necklace by the owners of 3 Beads & a Button where I worked at the time. It was a tubular even-count 5-drop netting piece uniquely finished with two 8mm glass beads and wire, and featuring a heavily embellished tube of peyote which served as the centerpiece and slid over the 5-drop netting body. With the first class in session, during a break in the instruction action a question was asked. Nancy, the student to my right, inquired where the inspiration of this design came from. I explained the design began nearly over a year previous as I was working in the bead store. A customer came in with questions about how to work a beadweaving project she had going at home. While describing it abstractly she realized I could help her if I had the directions and that I'd also benefit from knowing how to create this stitch. Now, this was before it was widely know that photocopying and sharing directions was unethical. So, the customer promsied to return bearing directions. At home with the stitch on my mind that very night, the Rachel's Netted Necklace was born. When she returned with the directions, she was please to find immediate assistance in finishing her project. And, at this, in the midst of class, Nancy who inquired about the origin of the project we were now working on, excitedly exclaimed with a smile, "THAT WAS ME!"
4. What is on the horizon in your bead world?
I'm hoping to have the continued opportunity and inspiration to design with seedbeads and wire, as well as the opporunity to teach and travel. Future designs and bead advantures not yet drempt of are always something to look forward to. Very exciting is the inclusion of my work in Masters: Beadweaving set to release in Fall 2009. It is a book of eight to nine page beadweaving artist profiles curated by Carol Wilcox Wells. In addition to offering the talk "Evolution of a Design: merging stitches" to the Bead Society of Greater New York and San Diego Bead Society among others, I look forward to offering it to other bead societies and groups around the country. Every day and with each bead, a new adventure presents itself that either previously seemed out of reach or simply had not yet materialized.
You can see more of Rachel's Designs at her website.
Interviewed by Beverly Herman
