| Robin Atkins, Bead Artist |
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Links
Robin's Favorite Websites
Although I'm not an avid web surfer, over the years a good number of websites that might interest you have come to my attention. Most are beady websites, both artists and vendors; a few offer inspiration in other art fields, or are related to art education; while still others are just fun or interesting. I've organized them by the categories listed below; within each category they are alphabetical. Please help me keep this list current. Contact us if you you discover any non-working links. Thanks!
The following link categories are included on this page:
Bead Artists
Other Artists of Note
Art Inspirations & Information
Vendors for Beads and Beading Supplies
Vendors for Tools, Buttons, Fabrics, Charms, etc.
Art Education
Bead Directories, Societies, Museums, Online Bead News, etc.
About San Juan Island
Bead Artists
| Lisa Binkley | www.lisabinkley.com | Lisa combines bead and thread emboidery like no other artist! Her work is a tremendous inspiration to me and her website is totally gorgeous. |
| Rebecca Brown | www.rbrown.co.nz | Botanical artist and bead artist, Rebecca combines an eye for detail in nature with tremendous beading skills. Don’t miss her bead art gallery. |
| David Chatt | www.davidchatt.com | Lots to see in David’s gallery pages, and fun sense of humor throughout. David is a well known bead weaving instructor. |
| Amy Clarke-Moore | www.amyclarkemoore.com | Bead artist specializing in bead embroidery; lots of great pictures; co-author of “Beaded Embellishment;” editor of “Spin Off” magazine. |
| Margie Deeb | www.margiedeeb.com | Bead artist and colorist, Margie's site is full of color stimulation and ideas. Be sure to take her color survey and read her monthly color muse. |
| Mary Dyer | http://mdyer. www.50megs.com |
Mary makes beaded necklaces, but what I love the most are her beaded buttons. |
| Nancy Eha | www.beadcreative.com | Bead, fiber and quilt artist, author and nationally known instructor. Lots of inspiring photos in her gallery. |
| Valerie Hector | www.valeriehector.com | Bead artist, metalsmith, author and historian, Valerie’s portfolio page includes some awesome designs. |
| Rebekah Hodous | www.hodous.com | Gifted bead artist in many techniques and areas. Lovely pictures on her website. |
| Joanne Laessig | www.alfar.com/~joanne | Don’t miss Joanne’s gallery page; her bead embroidery and creative designs are awesome! |
| Liz Manfredini | www.manfredinidesign.com | Amazing beaded jewelry, vessels and sculptures, plus beautiful photos to show off her beadwork. |
| NanC Meinhardt | www.nancmeinhardt.com | Here’s a very impressive gallery of work by an innovator in the world of beads. NanC is also a very well known instructor. |
| Megan Noel | www.rdwarf. com/~mnoel/ |
At home with beads, glass, and design, Megan’s beadwork is truly inspirational, both technically and spiritually. |
| Sharon Bateman | www.sharonbateman.com | Bead embroidery and bead weaving, Sharon does it all. She's an innovator and prolific bead artist. |
| Larry Scott | http://larryscott.net | Glass beadmaker, Larry Scott, is right up there at the top as you can see by his gallery. |
| Corina Tettinger | www.corinabeads.com | Corina makes fabulous lampwork beads, and has a lively interactive website. |
| Jo Wood | www.lakenet.com/~jwood | A fine art bead and fiber artist, Jo takes her inspiration from nature, beading detailed landscapes that are almost like paintings. |
Other Artists of Note
| Allison Aller | www.allisonaller.com | Allison is a crazy quilt artist, who does fabulous bead embellishment. Her blog is full of wonderful tips! |
| Thom Atkins | www.thomatkins.com | Thom is my brother, a bronze sculptor, and also a very accomplished bead artist. He's just updated his website to include some of his quilts (with beadwork)! |
| Anne Bagby | www.annebagby.com | Painter, printmaker, designer. Anne taught me all about painting decorative papers! |
| Ann Benson | www.annbenson.com | Needlecraft designer and novelist. |
| Akira Blount | www.akirastudios.com | My all time favorite doll maker! Looking at Akira’s exquisite mixed media figures always gets my creative juices flowing! |
| Robert Demar | www.robertdemar.com | Besides being my wonderful husband, Robert’s passion for photography is clearly evident. See 60 of his best on this website. |
| Kay Ferguson | www.viser.net/~kathrynf/ | Kay creates unique hand made dichroic, fused and etched glass buttons; also offers imported buttons. |
| Barbara Kobe | www.barbkobe.com | Barb is a very creative doll artist. I especially love to see and read the stories about her healing dolls. |
| Teesha Moore | www.teeshamoore.com | Very creative journal, book, fabric artist; it’s worth waiting for the images to load to see her gallery pages. |
| Julie Paschkis | www.juliepaschkis.com | I adore Julie’s paintings, which are full of color and whimsy. Her site is magical! |
| Lynne Perrella | www.lkperrella.com | Insightful journal artist, painter, writer, and teacher; Lynne’s art and thoughts always offer me inspiration and get my creative juices going. |
| Susan Sorell | www.creativechick.com | Susan calls herself a fiber artist, but with the number of beads she uses on her wonderful, whimsical wall art, I'd have to say she's a bead artist as well. |
| Sharyn Sowell | www.sharynsowell.com | Amazingly talented, Sharyn is a paper cutting artist, who takes the art of cutting silhouettes to an all time high. |
| Bonnie Tarses | www.bonnietarses.com | Bonnie is a weaver with an inspirational use of color; she makes beautiful pins embellished with beads, as well as scarves and other woven garments. |
Art Inspirations & Information
| Color Therapy | http://myth.com/color/ | Fun and interactive site about color. |
| Fabric Information & Facts | http://www.fabrics.net /fabricinfo.asp |
Get definite answers to anything you want to know about any type of fabric, including dyeing and fabric care. |
| Molecular Expressions | http://molecular expressions.com |
Full color photographs taken through a microscope reveal exquisite textures and patterns of color at the molecular level. Go through all the galleries; my favorites are the vitamins and the beer shots! |
| Webstitcher’s Sourcebook | http://home.earthlink. net/~rcausbrook/ |
Full of ideas and web resources that can add to your creativity and design; explore color, texture, fashion and art. |
Vendors for Beads and Beading Supplies
| Back Door Beads | www.bdbeads.com | One stop shopping for beads and yarns. This developing online business might just become a winner! |
| Beadcats | www.beadcats.com | They get my vote for best and most variety of Czech pressed glass accent beads, especially flowers and leaves. |
| Beadin’ Path | www.beadinpath.com | Fun site full of interesting pages to explore; vintage to contemporary beads, and everything between. |
| Bead Town | www.beadtown.com | You'll enjoy this site by Tracey Cramer and her sisters ~ offers vintage to contemporary beads, design ideas, newsletter, and a comprehensive links page. |
| Beyond Beadery | www.beyondbeadery.com | Only vendor I know of that offers strands of Swarovski crystals in mixed colors; good prices too! |
| Empyrean Beads | www.empyreanbeads.com | Fabulous selection; I especially love their vintage beads and selection of tiny (micro) beads, pearls and gem stones. |
| Monster Slayer | www.monsterslayer.com | General bead and metalsmithing source with easy-to-follow online catalog. |
| Natural Touch Beads | www.naturaltouchbeads.com | Direct importer and sales of resin beads; fun beads, great colors, good selection of shapes. |
| Ornamental Resources | www.ornabead.com | Long-time standard in the biz; huge inventory, great vintage selection including sequins. |
| Out on a Whim | www.whimbeads.com | My most favorite place for buying seed beads. Great selection, good prices, totally nice folks! Five stars plus! |
| Queen Beads | www.queenbeads.com | Nice selection of unusual seed beads that others don’t carry. Small and personal company. |
| Rio Grande | www.riogrande.com | Go to their contact page and call them to order a catalog. It’s monstrous and free. They offer a good selection of findings, wire, stone beads, etc. |
| Soft Flex Company | www.softflextm.com | They make and sell flexible wire for stringing. |
| Wild Things | www.wildthingsbeads.com | Great selection of Czech pressed glass and lampwork beads. They design original beads and have them made in the Cz Republic! |
Vendors for Tools, Buttons, Fabrics, Charms, etc.
| Anjoorian Silks | www.anjooriansilks.com | All kinds of silk fabrics; amazing selection. |
| C & B Weiser | www.cbweiser.com | New and old buttons from around the world, and button collecting supplies. |
| Cheap Trims | www.cheaptrims.com | Ribbons, lace, beaded fringe, cords, appliqués; over 3,000 cool embellishments. |
| Contenti Jewelry Making Supplies | http://contenti.com | Jewelers tools (including bow-faced chasing hammers), metal working supplies, and beading supplies (including PMC); easy to navigate and order from this website. |
| Fancifuls, Inc. | www.fancifulsinc.com | Thousands of brass charms, ornaments and embellishments; other jewelry components. |
| Hollander’s | www.hollanders.com | Decorative papers, book making supplies, leathers, origami papers, collage kits, calligraphy, etc. |
| Reprodepot Fabrics | www.reprodepotfabrics.com | Reproductions of vintage fabrics, retro-themed fabrics, buttons, embellishments. |
| Turtle Press | www.turtlearts.com | Unique rubber stamps, papers, book art/collage/journaling supplies; journal arts magazine. Fun place to visit in person or on-line. |
Art Education
| Art & Soul | www.artandsoulretreat.com | Like Artfest, this is a annual retreat for art related workshops, including paper, beading and fiber arts. |
| ArtFest | http://www.teeshamoore .com/artfest2005 |
I’ve attended Artfest for the past three years (as a student) and LOVED it; alternative, book, paper, bead, painting, and doll workshops; annual 4-day event! |
| Beads, Bowls, and Tales | http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co. us/isu/art/beadindex.html |
This site will inspire art teachers who want to teach beading to their students; there's also a comprehensive bead resources page. |
| Coupeville Arts Center | www.coupevillearts.org | Offers wonderful year-round workshops in fiber arts, book making, beading, bead making, wire working and fine arts. I’ve been teaching at CAC for 5 years and love their small town island setting. |
| Ed2go | www.edu2go.com | On-line classes in many fascinating subjects including web design (where I learned how to create this website), graphics, etc. |
| Pratt Fine Art Center | www.pratt.org | Located in Seattle; specializing in metalworking and glass studio classes/workshops, including bead making. |
| Quilts, Inc. | www.quilts.com | Sponsors well-known national quilt festivals in Chicago (spring) and Houston (fall), and international quilt festival held in Europe every other year. I teach beading at these awesome events! |
| Sievers School of Fiber Arts | www.sieversschool.com | Offers year-round workshops in fiber arts, including some beading. Located in Wisconsin. |
Bead Directories, Societies, Museums, Online Bead News, etc.
| Find-Beads, The Beads Directory | www.find-beads.com | Great international source for links to everything beady... artists, retailers, wholesalers, auctions, organizations!!! |
| About Beadwork | http://beadwork.about.com | Online beady newsletter with free patterns, resources, book reviews, etc. |
| Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters | www.apnq.org | Large organization of quilters with a great website full of beautiful pictures. Click thumbnails for bigger pictures and details! |
| Bead Bugle | www.nfobase.com | Online beady newsletter with tips, patterns, resources, book reviews, etc. |
| Bead Links | www.thebeadsite.com | A site that is full of links to bead societies, bead guilds, classes and workshops. |
| Bead Museum of DC | www.beadmuseumdc.org | Bead museum run by the Bead Society of Greater Washington, DC; newsletter, internships, bazaars, museum shop, links. |
| The Bead Museum | www.thebeadmuseum.com | Located in Glendale, AZ; over 100,000 beads in the collection; museum store; changing exhibitions. |
| Corning Glass Museum | www.cmog.org | Extensive site with it’s own search tool; studio classes. |
| Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild | www.greatlakesbeadworkers guild.org |
Very active bead group; national teachers at their workshops, major bazaar, online gallery of member’s work. |
| International Society of Glass Beadmakers | www.isgb.org | If you’re interested in contemporary glass beads, take some time to see what this site has to offer, including links to 150+ glass bead makers. |
| Interweave Press | www.interweave.com | Publisher of Beadwork Magazine and many books about beading; sponsor juried beadwork competitions, shows and events. |
| National Polymer Clay Guild | www.npcg.org | A great place to start if you’re interested in polymer clay, including a long list of links to pc artists. |
| New York Bead Society | http://nybead.org | Great links page, gallery of member’s work, lots of educational information. |
| Northwest Bead Society | www.nwbeadsociety.org | Very active bead society with an interesting website, including member gallery and a links/resources page; very large annual bazaar. |
| Picard Trade Bead Museum | www.picardbeads.com | Located in Carmel, CA; astonishing collection of African trade beads and art; don’t miss it if you’re in the area. |
| Portland Bead Society | www.beadport.com | Very active bead society with an interesting website, including a gallery and links/resources page; very large annual bazaar. |
| Puget Sound Bead Festival | www.pugetsound beadfestival.com |
The only Bead Festival I know about where every student is provided with an Ott light! Good variety of vendors and workshops. Annual event in July; Tacoma, WA. |
| Rocy Mountain Bead Society | http://rockybeads.org | Very active bead society with newsy articles on their website; sponsor a great bazaar. |
| Society of American Silversmiths | www.silversmithing.org | Extensive site; includes long article about working with precious metal clay. |
About San Juan Island
| Emily’s Guides to the San Juan Islands | www.emilysguides.com | Little gem guide books with maps, activities, history, points of interest, etc. |
| Island Studios | www.islandstudios.com | Fine arts and crafts from the artists of the San Juan Islands. |
| San Juan County Fair | www.sanjuancountyfair.org | A real old fashioned county fair; from sheep to shawl; from cake to driftwood; from poetry to photography. Annually in August. |
| San Juan Island Update | www.san-juan.net | Comprehensive site with news, directory of businesses and websites, ferry schedules, etc. |
| San Juan Islander | www.sanjuanislander.com | My favorite local online news; good arts & entertainment section. |
| San Juan Journal | www.sanjuanjournal.com | Online version of local hard copy weekly newspaper. |
| Wescott Bay Institute | www.cmiregistration.com | Fine outdoor sculpture park; classes and workshops. |