ZUMA! SPOTLIGHT ON BEADYGIRLBEADS

Tera Belinsky-Yoder's beads always make me grin. In a kind of I-need-to-buy-that-right-now sort of way. They are fabulous, artisan-quality, exuberant, saucy BIG honkin' beads - and once you've seen a Beadygirl bead, you'd recognize her work anywhere. There are many, many fine craft artists out there, but finding one whose work is so unique and whose style is so distinctive is a major coup.

She's loved glass all her life and has been designing and making her own unique beads for over three years now. 

Tera lives in Des Moines, Iowa with "four kids, one husband, one cat and several caterpillars." How that leaves a person with enough time to light up the torch and produce enough to do bead shows and keep up an Etsy store, is beyond me. But then, she's a Gemini and one rarely find a Gemini sitting still. And really, caterpillars are low maintenance.

My favorite quote from Tera? "I think I hear a Terradactyl, outside."

What have designers done with a Beadygirl bead? Here's one of Tera's buttons on a cuff by one of my favorite bead artists, Patrizia Tager of Triz Designs:

and I used one of her focals in this necklace entitled "Hooplazuma":

In addition to Etsy shops you can find Tera Belinsky-Yoder on her own site, here. And click this link for more of Triz's work. I can be found on Etsy under Wild Wicked Beads.