Spotlight Design: Beadwork Artist Mikki Ferrugiaro

There are some amazingly talented Beadwork Designers and Artists that truly inspire me with their awesome designs and their meticulous beadwork skills! So I have decided to write up a little series of 'Rave Reviews' or 'Spotlight on Design' featuring some of the Beadwork Artists that inspire me to learn and to create.

I am slowly building a collection of Books and Tutorials written and designed by some of my favorite Beadwork Artists. I really enjoy working up the projects from their tutorials and most of the time I find that I learn so much more from their instruction than how to make a specific necklace or bracelet.

I love being able to look inside the technical aspects of their design and see how each Artist interprets a certain beading stitch, or how they expand upon it to create their own designs using the same techniques that we all use.

This is how they teach us to see and understand the basic architecture and engineering of these bead stitching techniques...and it is how we learn to use these techniques to create our own designs. So I really do love working up projects from these Designer's Tutorials and Books.

I almost always look for designs that are offer the most versatility. I like to find those Designers that really teach you how to use a technique that you can adapt to your own design...I feel that I learn the most from these projects.

And Mikki Ferrugiaro is one of those Designers who really packs those Tutorials full of amazing information!

It just so happens that I won a $25 gift certificate from Mikki to use in her Artfire store! To celebrate her 300th Blog Follower at The Beaded Carpet she hosted a 'drawing' with everyone who commented on her blog or purchased something from her Artfire store. There was 1 Grand Prize winner who was given their choice of several amazing prizes, and 2 second prize winners of the gift certificates.

And I won a Gift Certificate! Yay!

I knew exactly what I wanted too...Mikki's newest tutorial, "Lace Cufflette". This is a piece that was inspired by a pair of Crocheted Lace Cuffs that Mikki designed, only this one is translated into beads...and it is simply stunning!

I have purchased several tutorials from Mikki, and she is so talented...and not only in her gorgeous designs and amazing color choices, but also in her ability to translate these intricate patterns and designs into words and diagrams that are so clear and easy for any beader to understand.

The thing that I really love about these tutorials though, is that she is creating techniques and components that are so versatile in their application. So far I have her Spinal Tap & Blue Danube Ropes, Industrial Chic Corrugations Cuff and the Lace Cufflette...and each of these tutorials are designed to teach the technique so that it can be used in many other designs.

One shining example of this versatility is her Urchin Wings component...this was published in Beadwork Magazine December 2010/January 2011 as the Gothic Butterfly Bracelet.

I wanted to post Mikki's beautiful photos of these pieces here, but I don't really know the proper etiquette for sharing someones photos...so here are links to her blog posts showing examples of what she has done with the components of this bracelet:

Peacock Mirror/Pendant

Gothic Butterfly Bracelet & Urchin Wings Choker

Are you not just completely in love with that Peacock Mirror Compact/Pendant?! I love it and I would happily carry that in a beautiful beaded evening bag made with her wonderfully structural Corrugated Peyote.

Now that evening bag was Mikki's idea too, but it's another example of how far you can go once you really learn the technique...she is not only teaching you how to make a cuff, but how to use this variation of Peyote Stitch to make pretty much anything if you are willing to learn.

So check out Mikki's blog, The Beaded Carpet and her Artfire store to see more of this creativity at work...and trust me, her Tutorials are so clear and well written that anyone could follow the instruction!