Mys Arbeada
With my daughter Elizabeth. Photo taken by the third leg of our triangle, photographer, Garry Cotter.
I grew up in Elsa, Yukon, a small mining town 500 km north of Whitehorse. I learned to love beads as a child, and spend many hours making bracelets and necklaces out of seed beads. I eventually beaded a tapestry out of seed beads, but was very frustrated with the patterns not lining up due to the slight differences in the bead sizes and shapes.
I turned to cross stitch for a while, but missed the texture and brilliant colours of beads. I then met someone with a beaded brooch. I was amazed at how the beads all lined up and was introduced to delica beads. I went looking for them and found a book by Barbara Elbe, Amulet Obsession. This title aptly describes my next and current beading stage!
I find it difficult to learn a craft from reading, so I just looked at my book and dreamed about what I was going to make one day. Several years ago, I took a workshop on Peyote stitch beaded amulet bags. I learned the basics, and I loaned my book to someone in the class. I have not seen this person or my book since. At that point, I decided I didn’t need the book and would try beading my own patterns. Now I enjoy both creating patterns for peyote stitch beaded amulet bags and beading them.
Mys Arbeada
Arvita Cotter (Grundmanis)
Squamish, British Columbia, Canada
arvita.cotter1@gmail.com