wire which they manipulate into elaborate and gorgeous patterns. To do this they use their fingers or a
pair of tweezers. Just incredible!”
“One of my favorite things to do when travelling is
to seek out local artisans. I just love buying handmade stuff, be it home décor, jewelry, anything, as
long as it’s handmade.”
When I asked her if there were any techniques that
she still wanted to try? She quickly answered, “are
you kidding me? I want to try ALL techniques that
exist.” A rather tall order, but I like Marica’s enthusiasm. “This year I have had to cut back on trying out
new things all the time. I find that it is distracting
me from reaching some of my goals, like opening
two other Etsy shops for example.”
“I’ve shortened my never ending list of ‘techniques
I wanna try’ to 4 techniques. I really want to try
some basic metalsmithing projects I have in mind.
I took a basic metalsmithing class two years ago
and haven’t made anything since then. I also want
to try my hand at metal clay, but have no kiln yet.
And I badly want to start using leather in my designs. And the cherry on the cake would be if I ever
get to learn chasing and repoussé. That technique
looks incredibly hard to master, but a girl can dream
right?”
When it comes to style, Marica describes her work
as ‘rustic bohemian with a Mediterranean touch.’
And while she uses a mix of colors, she says that
“brown is predominant in my designs. I love it!” She
says that she does “experiment with bright colors
especially with my artisan beads, but I must admit
that I am at my most happy when I’m using browns,
purple, blues, or turquoise. I have always liked these
colors. If I were creating stuff solely for myself I
would probably use those colors all the time. I think
that what has changed for me is the ‘how’ I get
these colors. Nowadays, I’d rather paint my clay, not
buy ready-made colored clay. And I also love colorizing metal. In recent years, I have become more
fascinated with ageing my pieces, so I’m always
experimenting with getting that perfect patina and
weathered look.”
“I also love experimenting with colors and techniques, especially when it comes to my artisan
beads. For example, I recently created some earring
charms for my Topkapi Lace collection where I used
creativebeadchat.com
very bright colors. I don’t usually go for pink and
yellow and certainly not that bright but I really liked
how those turned out. Shhh the pink was a happy
accident because that color is actually red but when
cured it turns pink.”
My last question for Marica was what she would
tell herself if she could send a note back in time
to when she first started making beads. “Just one
note? Oh dear, I’ve made so many mistakes that I’d
have been very happy to avoid back then that it’s
very hard to pick just one. But maybe one thing that
I would tell myself is to NOT buy every jewelry tool
that exists. I have so many tools that I never ever
use. I could have spent that money on much more
useful things. But of course when you’re first starting out you don’t know how your style will develop.
You don’t know what techniques you’re going to fall
in love with and which others you won’t be keen on
ever trying again.”
“I would also tell myself to please, please, please
check the size of the beads before you buy hun.
Even though they look huge they are in fact seed
beads and you know how you feel about seed
beads.”
Where to find Marica ~
The website that I’m using the most right now is
www.beadlovelies.com. On this website, I give tips
on how to market and sell your jewelry online as
well as share photos of my artisan beads. People
can join my Bead Lovelies Club to stay up to date
with all the things that I share on my website, as
well as get special perks as club members. It’s free
to join and people can join HERE.
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