Lydia F Borin, The Beadwrangler, has studied
design and color for over 35 years. She was an oil painter for
over 20 years when she
discovered glass beads, and
realized they would better express her creativity with
three dimensional applications. While expanding her knowledge of the many beadwork
techniques, she was introduced to the wonderful world of fiber by Helen Banes.
Combining beads and fiber in art work were the mediums she had always been
searching for, offering both tactile and visual delights.
Lydia joined several bead societies,
served as president for some of them, founded and co-founded many bead
societies within the USA. She also joined fiber organizations and
gained more knowledge from members and workshops she attended. She has
also taught classes for many of these organizations.
When a friend introduced her to the capabilities of bead crochet,
she found the medium she had been searching for to bring to life her drawings of three
dimensional beadwork. She joined the Crochet Guild of America.
Lydia has taught many bead crochet classes at the
National Crochet Guild of America conferences,
including the, Shimmy Shan, a bead crochet doll
and jewelry component project. She has
mastered the basics of knitting and plans to combine these techniques with
crochet and beading in future books.
Beadwrangler Books Currently Available
While teaching bead embellishment courses at the University of South Florida,
Lydia's students requested an
instructional book in addition to the written instructions received for the
class. The result was her
first book, Medicine Pouch Jewelry, A Contemporary Interpretation.
This book covers bead stitchery techniques to include surface embellishment,
dangles and loops. If also contains extensive instructions and illustrations for
using beads to join pieces of fabric. The techniques can be used to create three
dimensional objects in various shapes.
Lydia has worked closely with one of the national distributors to
insure that the latest materials are available to bead store owners to offer to their
customers. When this distributor was getting ready to introduce the new multi-strand
thin flexible wire that could be used with both seed beads and larger beads, he asked
Lydia to develop a book that would show the new beading techniques that were possible with
this new material. The result was her second book, Beadwrangler's Hands On
Bead Stringing with Beads and Fiber.
Beadwrangler Book
Out of Print
Lydia keeps a "Brain Book" or artist's sketch book with
her at all times. Over the course of the last few years she has filled several with
her original designs. Shortly after taking up bead crochet, she realized that she
had many unique bead crochet designs that had not been covered in other books and that,
when taken together, would provide an excellent vehicle for teaching a large number of
bead crochet techniques. In the book, Lydia uses twenty different projects to teach
bead crochet techniques that can be used over and over in future projects. She also
includes lots of tips and tricks that make the book a valuable resource for all future
bead crochet projects. This third book, Beadwrangler's Hands On Crochet
with Beads and Fiber, is out of print.
However, Lydia has created Learn Bead Crochet from Scratch!, a
workshop kit to replace her book. This workshop kit has all the
instructions from her book plus an entirely new section with instructions for ropes and new projects.
All the supplies and tools are included to get you started immediately. Lydia will
help anyone with questions about the instructions via email. Click to
the Learn Bead Crochet from Scratch! Workshop
Information Page for additional details.
Beadwrangler New
Book for Publication
Bead Crochet Plus (title subject to change) Lydia is currently
writing a new bead crochet reference book which will include unique ropes
and other items, additional techniques and projects that use the techniques.
Publication target date is late 2005 or sometime in 2006. Lydia's book
will not be like any other bead crochet book.
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