Jean Power
by Sigrid Wynne-Evans

Jean has lived in London her whole life. Her family is Irish and she has the opportunity to visit often.

Her first "proper" job was in the NHS and she has stayed in this field ever since. She now works part-time as a computer/ software trainer which she enjoys since she travels around south London helping people to get to know their clinical software systems.

Jean has always been interested in arts and crafts and remembers being fascinated with her "mum" knitting and doing tapestries. Jean began her artistic endeavors as a painter, which she still loves to do, when she has the chance.

Sampling of Jean's Designs:
Click on an image to view the pattern information.
 
          

About ten years ago Jean got into cross-stitch and embroidery, another hobby she still enjoys. Jean used to visit a shop around the corner from her work which was half dedicated to stitching and half to beading. She used to look at all of the beads and bead books etc but had no clue where to start since she knew nothing about bead sizes. So she just bought cross-stitch and blackwork kits, most of them are still unstitched!

In February 2001 Jean went to a stitching show and Daphne Ashby and Jackie Woolsey were there selling their "Why Not Make a Beaded Amulet Purse?" book but with an added bonus - beads to make a purse were included! This took all the confusion out of it and Jean knew that she had to buy it. Jean's sister said she wouldn't let her because she had too many hobbies already so she waited until her sister went to the loo then snuck back and bought it, and she is so happy that she did!

As soon as Jean got home, she opened the book and made her first brick stitch amulet purse. Soon after, Jean went back to the bead shop and actually had some idea of what to buy. For a long time Jean mainly beaded brick stitch purses because she had no idea how to make anything else. The amulets she first made became huge fringe embellished things since she wanted to play around with color and design. Fringe was all Jean knew how to experiment with. Gradually, Jean started to teach herself other stitches and began to look on the internet for other ideas. The first design she tried was a peyote stitch piece, which she tried to bead on a loom!

Jean began finding suppliers and buying kits to learn from. She has also taken many bead and art classes and loves learning new things. Jean says: "I have no time for people who are proud to have never taken a class and proclaim themselves to be self-taught as though that is something to be proud of. I feel you can learn so much from a class - whether it's a technique, new ideas for colours or even see how other people teach and how different people learn. I think that all of the classes I have taken have added to my education and make me the designer and teacher I am now. Whether or not I finished the project or ever used the technique again I think I have learned something from every class I have taken."

Jean has certain designs that are uniquely hers for which she is known for-and most proud of, mainly her "Cubed Cubes", "Peyote Bobbles", "Fabulous Fringes"' and "Honeycomb Beadwork". All of these began as a basic idea and have developed into series of work leading on one from the other. Jean is currently working on a series she calls "Geometric Studies". She really loves these projects, but unfortunately each piece takes a long time to bead and she is coming up with new ideas quicker than she can design them.

In all of Jean's work, she is interested in getting the most out of an idea, or technique, stretching what she can do and seeing how many variations she can get out of one idea, stitch, or technique. This, combined with her constant quest for an easier, quicker way to learn and do things influences a lot of Jean's work and what and how she teaches. Jean not only shows someone a technique, she wants to also show them 101 things they can do with that technique and how they can combine it with anything else they know. She knows how hard it can be to stray from exactly what you've been taught so she wants to help people make that step and realize they can do it too.

Jean's Creations:
 
   
 
   

Jean felt the need to design her own pieces because she found that the patterns that were available were delicate for her. She desired bigger and bolder pieces. Jean says: " I find that I swing from having periods of doing lots of wirework and chain maille until I find I can't bear just working mainly in silver and need more colour and a canvas' to play around with- that's when I open my design software, and get out my pens, loom and beads. I love geometric designs and taking something I have seen somewhere and translating it into a beading pattern I like. I am fortunate to live in London and have easy access to lots of beautiful artwork, museums and galleries and find I am influenced by everything from the colours in Kaffe Fasset's work, to an Islamic tile pattern in the V+A museum to patterns on gravestones."

Bead-Patterns.com was found by Jean not long after she began beading and it was this site that she always returned to looking for designs and patterns to bead. Once she was happy with her work and skills she would put it on paper and show others, it was the logical place to offer her designs.

Sampling of Jean's Designs:
Click on an image to view the pattern information.
 
          

Jean wishes to continue teaching and travelling, and get as many of the ideas she has in her head out and beaded! She is also working on setting up a kits company in her spare time!

In late 2006 Jean has two books coming out. She worked on them with other people and she is eagerly awaiting them. Additionally, she has had projects published in beading magazines and more to come this year.

Jean's words of encouragement for beaders:
 
"Don't be afraid to stray from the path and try new ideas, new beads, colours etc. Many people in my classes express surprise at my work and say they could never have that inspiration or come up with that colour combination, but once they start beading, I say the same things about their work. People always come up with the most wonderful colour combinations and ideas that I would never think of yet they don't see it that way - so look at your work in a different light- see the way your own influence goes into each piece bead by bead. Also don't give up on a piece at the first hurdle- people are often unhappy when something doesn't work right away of within the first inch, a lot of work needs tweeking or bead for a little longer to see how it will really develop.
 
But mainly never forget designers don't get everything right straight away as well - you only get to see the work we're happy with and choose to show you - you're doing all your experimenting in class in front of us and others - all our mistakes and hundred of bad experiments stay hidden at home!"

Jean's Creations:
 
      
   

In my spare time I'm setting up a new website: http://www.beadinginlondon.co.uk to help beaders living in or visiting London to find out what's going on and where they can buy beads, and also organising the first, hopefully of many, London beading Days, for this December (2006). The website should be up and running by the beginning of September.