HOW TO BEAD A ROGUE ELEPHANT

…A Guide For The Aspiring Bead Artist
by Warren S. Feld
blog.landofodds.com

Excerpts From This Ever-Evolving Tale.....

I don’t mean to drag a poor Elephant by its tail, kicking and screaming, into our bead world against its wishes. Nor do I perceive the elephant to be a threat, like you might see an Elephant in the boudoir, or the fine china store. And I don’t want you to shut your eyes and pretend not to notice that this Elephant is here, standing shoulder to shoulder with every beader and jewelry maker around.

The Elephant is not a joke. And the fact that it is “Rogue” makes it more important than ever to figure out why it’s here, among size #10 English beading needles, and Czech size 11/0 seed beads, and Austrian crystal beads. It seems so worldly, yet other-worldly, our Elephant. It’s not our muse. It’s not our Cassandra. It has no secret plan or strategy. It does not depend on its size to make its point. It does not hesitate to stomp and chomp and clomp because the beads before it are raku or glass or gemstone or crystal or metal or plastic. But a Rogue Elephant in the middle of our craft room forces upon us a completely different logic, so that we can make sense of it all.|

CURRENT ROGUE ELEPHANT BLOG ARTICLES

CBJA Today
Part Four

Our program of education at Be Dazzled Beads – what we loosely call The Center For Beadwork & Jewelry Arts, in 2007, was in it’s 9th year. The program still hadn’t clicked, but it came a lot closer to clicking than the early years. We have 12 instructors, each committed to our professional and comprehensive and developmental approach to teaching. We could employ more instructors, but they are very difficult to find – given our high expectations for them. And we are able to attract a steady flow of students, though recruiting students is still very difficult. We’ve been around long enough that some of our original ideas have gained some local legitimacy.

So Rogue Elephants watch out. Some of our students are going to be coming for you. And they are going to bead and be-jewel you like you’ve never been beaded and be-jeweled before.