BeadVisions's Profile

Bio

My name is Harriet Meltzer and I live in Potomac, Maryland, which is just north of Washington,DC.
I have 3 grown children (2 sons and 1 daughter). One of my sons is married and lives on Long Island, NY and the other one lives in Los Angeles, CA - so I don't get to see them as often as I would like. My daughter, though, is living nearby with her husband and we visit almost every day. What a joy!

I am a native Washingtonian (a rare breed!) and my husband is a northern transplant from Rochester, NY. We met in high school - yes, it's true! We've been married a LONG time, but life is good and I now have time to pursue some of my personal goals, such as a business of my own, as well as time to take an online course or two. I am thinking about graphic design.

The jewelry and "beading bug" caught me about two years ago when my daughter showed me a few things she had made. Now she is too busy with her job, husband and new apartment to do any beading projects. So, I decided to see what I could do. Needless to say, I fell in love! I've been taking lots of classes locally, go to the occasional beading retreat and love to discover new beads and stones wherever I travel. My latest sojourn was to Argentina and Chile - I found lovely pieces of rhodocroisite and lapis lazuli while I was there.

I wish I had more time to do beading and jewelry design, but my husband and I love to travel and that cuts into my "working schedule." I try to devote 2-3 hours per day when I am home.

Other than beading, classes, designing jewelry and travel, we also have a house at the beach in Delaware - about 3 hours away. We try to visit there throughout the summer and early fall for long weekends and a few extended weeks when we can. Our children LOVE the beach house and that seems to be an attractive reason for them to visit.

Other hobbies include most crafts such as knitting and crochet (which I sometimes incorporate into my jewelry designs), as well as some watercolor and acrylic painting, occasional scrapbooking. I also love to read and do "logic problems" when I am on planes or traveling.

I am a new golfer - I've been resisting over the last 30 years - but my husband is a died-in-the-wool golfer, so I have succumed! A challenging game to say the least. We also play occasional tennis, ride bikes at the Beach and swim. I learned to snow ski when I was in college, but my kids and husband far exceed my ability now. So, I rarely go skiing any more - they won't wait for me! (And solo-apres-ski isn't so great all the time). Leaves me more time to bead though!

A last note, prior to my beading life, I was a medical technologist working at the local hospital. I loved science and pursued it instead of the arts so I could "make a living." I have found that a great many people I meet at beading classes and workshops have been or are in the sciences - nursing, engineering, research, etc.
I think that is really interesting - my theory is that we have switched our left brain training into our right brain creativity. It definitely works for me!

Female, Born on September 15

Favorite Materials

I love using natural materials, semiprecious gemstones such as turquoise, citrine, jade, jasper and agates as well as freshwater pearls, and Swarovski crystals, using silver or gold accents and findings