Beginner's - ArtTrader Magazine

Art TRADER
m a g a z i n e
First I choose a color, or a two-color
combination; very seldom do I start
with a theme, an image or an idea.
I put on my table everything related
with this color, beads, threads, fabric,
paper, paint, appliques, and I start
playing with it. After a while, I leave
the room, do something else, then
come back, have a look to my work,
arrange the elements differently, add
new ones, remove some others, get
out of the room, and this process can
last for half a day, or more! Then, when
I have an idea of the background and
the emotion that comes out of it, I start
to think about what kind of sense,
significance, feeling or direction I
want to give to this piece. This time
of thinking (giving a significance to
thepiece and also finding the title) is
stretchable from one piece to another.
Sometimes, the elements “talk” to me
very clearly, they just lead me and
show me the way; sometimes, they
just keep quiet! And that can take
a very long time to make them talk,
sometimes, weeks! I look at them, try
to see through the lines, just like when
you try to guess somebody’s secret
thoughts, I get patient, then lose
patience, then get angry sometimes,
then start another piece! And come
back once in a while to see if the
reluctant piece has finally something
to say. It happened once that the
piece never talked to me! Then guess
what! I chopped it into ATCs pieces,
embellished them and traded them all!
Tell us a little about how you create your work: How many methods of embroidery do you
incorporated into one piece? And can you explain what “Shisha” is?
Karen: My first pieces of work were the first pages of the Beading Journal Project. I was a real beginner
and had not much knowledge on my side to create. So, I was stitching newly learned stitches in front
of my computer, pulling my tongue out of my mouth! I made a lot of use of laces at the beginning, which
brought me a very nice design that I could embellish quite easily. Then, with the time and my many
search results on the web, I got many different techniques I could use to achieve my work. I started to
incorporate paper, silk fibers, paint, glitter, seeds and everything that could fit on the piece. I started
gluing the beads on the round metallic plates that I use for creating my Bubbles series. That was last
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