I’m Rebecca (she/her) aka Songbead - a jewellery designer and creator from the UK - I live on the north coast of Edinburgh in Scotland, having returned here 6 years ago after living in England and beautiful Northern Ireland. I have been making jewellery since I was a little girl and young enough to thread beads. My Grandma and Mum both passed on a great love of crafting and creating from a young age. I started bead weaving when a teenager and during the past 10 years have expanded my repertoire to include wire work, bead embroidery and a little metal work. I love to incorporate fibres and cords into my work and work with a variety of beads - gemstones, vintage, czech glass, handmade. One thing you can be sure of though is that all the beads and components I use are always of a high quality - many sourced right here on etsy! My designs tend to be one of a kind and I adore colour, birds, circles, keys, flowers, secrets, stories and magic. I hope I can pass on my creative passion to my own children - twins born in 2017.

My real passion lies with handmade art beads. Art beads are individually hand crafted beads, made by highly skilled artisans. When I create or select an art bead, I know that I am using either a one of a kind piece, or one that has been part of a small batch of beads. I know that the jewellery I create will, in turn, be an individual piece of art, which tells its own story with the pieces it is built from – be that a raku ceramic house from Finland, a handcast pewter bird from New York, or a hand torched glass focal from Edinburgh. I find these miniature pieces of art inspirational – I hope you do too! These handmade elements also add to the unique and individual character that my jewellery has.

I was lucky enough to have been a contributor to Art Bead Scene between 2011 and 2016 - a fabulous blog filled with post after post of beautiful inspiration. I taught classes in beading since 2007 at The Bead Shop, Manchester until 2013 when I moved to Ireland, and been published in several beading magazines since 2009. I was a regular contributor to Beads and Beyond, a beautiful jewellery design publication which sadly closed in 2015. The name Songbead came about from my two professions - as well as a jeweller, I used to be a classical singer. I feel very fortunate to live a life filled with art and music.