abigor's Profile

Bio

I began making beaded jewelry many, many years ago as a teenager. I have my cousin to thank for this addiction to beads! A bead store in the Beaches in Toronto got a lot of my disposable income when I was younger and became a source of wonder and a fountain of creativity that I drank from deeply. I became more and more fascinated with it as I could easily create earrings to my taste that I couldn't find being sold anywhere. As the envy of my friends, my style of weird and wacky stuff was fit for any flight of fancy.
Ever-evolving, I find new and different sources of inspiration all the time. I'm also a photographer and a watercolour artist, working with concentrated inks and inclusions to add depth to my pieces.

I branched out into exploring wireworking and would like to refine techniques and spend more time with hammering and shaping metal in the future. Eventually, as time and budget (and space!) allow, I'd like to pursue lampworking, loomwork and beadweaving. I'd also like to get into PMC and work more with polymer clay for all the many things that can be made with it. I'm sure I'll get brave enough to play with freeform peyote stitch one of these days, too.
There's always a new aspect of beading that intrigues me and captures me, but I always seem to come back to what I started with in making funky, one (or two!)-of-a-kind earrings. Most pieces here are one of a kind, but most can be replicated, so feel free to inquire if there's something sold that you'd like.

Karma Beads has always been an idea in the back of my head. Always a 'someday' kind of thing, but now it actually exists as a tangible and fluid visual medium to show off my art, beginning here on Etsy. It took me a long time to think of myself as an artist, but the act of creating makes it so, doesn't it?
With a fantastic idea to give back to the community, another friend suggested I donate a portion of my profits to worthy, recognized charities in order to make them indeed, karma* beads. I loved this idea immediately!

Because Karma Beads is a small one-beady-goddess biz (for now!) I'm still working out the donation thing. I'd like to make monthly donations to a charity I choose once I have the bounty to do so, but everything you buy can help me get there and help me get the bucks to some that need it more than I do. Heck, it also helps me to buy more beads to perpetuate the cycle too, right?

My aim has always been to make cool stuff for a good price but I'd also like to come up with one-of-a-kind pieces for those interested, to make something to match an item you have or for a special occasion. I'd like to be a Jill of many trades in the jewellery biz.

I prefer to work primarily in silver and silver-plate rather than gold, but if you see a piece you love and would prefer another finish or colour, just ask and I'll try to make it possible. Some pieces may have alternate bead colour choices too, so if what you see isn't a colour you like, ask if you'd prefer something else. I'm limited by my own imagination first and secondly by supplies. Custom orders are cheerfully attempted!



*The concept of karma is a simple one for both good deeds and those not so good. What you put out into the Universe will return to you. If you put positive stuff out there, it will come back to you. If you put negative stuff out there, it will also return to you. Simple, right?

Female, Born on April 16

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