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April 15, 2007

City’s bead community makes ancient craft even more accessible

By Emma Crossen

TERRE HAUTE — Beading Paradise, at 125 S. Seventh St., is continuing a centuries-old tradition. Benicia Broeker opened the store in July 2006 to provide a place where beaders and beadmakers could get away from other obligations and practice their craft — whether making beads from glass and clay or buying beads to make jewelry.

A similar “paradise” was established in the 14th century when the European Republic of Venice had a virtual monopoly on quality glasswork. Due to fire hazards posed by glass studios in the city, beadmakers were sent to the nearby island of Murano where they became elite citizens … but also captives; the government would not allow them to leave the island for fear of losing the closely-guarded secrets of their craft.

Thankfully for bead lovers today, Terre Haute is far less secretive about its bead artists. In fact, Downtown Terre Haute Inc. named Beading Paradise the 2006 Business of the Year. Beadmaking and beading (stringing beads into jewelry or to display) has experienced a resurgence in recent years. And Terre Haute does not lack for places to learn and practice these accessible crafts.

Titzer Art Studios at 3124 Wallace Ave. is one of the most well-known landmarks on the Terre Haute bead scene. It is not uncommon for someone wearing a Titzer creation to be asked by a stranger, “Is that a Titzer?”

Patrick Titzer was happy to talk about why and how he and Karen, his spouse, began making glass beads in 2001 after encountering other bead makers at art fairs. “Our first year we made close to 5,000 beads,” said Titzer, who divides his time between making glass beads and creating metal sculptures.

Unlike Broeker, who also teaches the art of combining beads into jewelry, Titzer focuses primarily on the bead itself. “I’d rather spend the time on the beads,” he said. “I’d like people to pick up [a piece of jewelry] and say, ‘even if everything broke, the bead would still be something you’d want to keep.’”

“Look at bracelet beads as more of an investment, an heirloom that can be passed on to your children,” he said. A bead can be remounted in many ways, he said, such that a mother’s bracelet can be turned into several pairs of earrings or rings for her children.

Broeker and the Titzers agree that the popularity of beadmaking is largely due to its accessibility.

“It isn’t rocket science,” Broeker said. “There’s a bunch of books on it…[Beading is] over 2,000 years old, so somebody’s gonna have hit upon what I’m doing today sometime in the past,” she said.

Patrick Titzer mentioned a book published in the early 1990s entitled “More than you ever wanted to know about Glass Beadmaking” by James Kervin. “That’s usually kind of the turning point,” he said. “Somebody writes a book. People start reading it and realizing, ‘Hey, I can do this at home.’”

15-year-old Bailey Reinoehl is one of those who makes it look easy. She is known at Beading Paradise as the girl wonder for her creative designs and skill at making glass beads. Reinoehl first learned how to make beads from her grandmother and picked up other techniques from the Titzers and Broeker.

Whenever her soccer schedule allows, Reinoehl spends her Saturdays “working for torch time” at Beading Paradise. The torch is what glass-beadmakers use to heat long sticks of colored glass into smaller multi-colored globes fit for a variety of displays. Beading Paradise allows customers to rent torch time. Reinoehl helps out at the store to earn her time with the flame. It is “a good positive activity for a young teenage girl,” said Reinoehl’s mother Judy Reinoehl. She and her daughter’s friends enjoy wearing Reinoehl’s creations. The North High School sophomore said her talents are also known by teachers who have been known to seek Reinoehl’s help for jewelry repair.

“Not everybody can do that,” Reinoehl said. “You wear something and somebody’s like, ‘Where did you get that?’ and you can be like ‘I made it.’ It’s a cool feeling, saying that you made something like that.”

Not everyone has the tools, time and talent to make beads. But beading, or creating jewelry from existing beads, is an exceptionally accessible art form.

“Beading tends to be repetitive and the results are more glamorous,” said Laura Wolverton, a Terre Haute artist who also does painting and weaving. “I love being an artist,” she said. Wolverton makes beads using polymer, a clay substance, and creates jewelry using all kinds of beads.

Her own creations are intricate, unique, and certainly not repetitive. But, she appreciates that beading is accessible for people of all ages, regardless of whether they identify as artists. She organized a beading group that met weekly at a coffee shop to make jewelry together. Wolverton would pick a simple beading project for each meeting. “We ranged in age from seven to 70,” she said.

Wolverton would love to one day work full-time as a bead artist, she said. For now, she is is eager to teach her craft and has scheduled several classes at Beading Paradise where some of her polymer beads are also available for sale. At least twice a month, she also invites friends to her home for a beading party.

The social aspect of beading is a hallmark of Broeker’s store. “In here, we do a lot more than just beading stuff. We do a lot of fellowship.” In addition to selling beads, teaching classes and renting torch time, Broeker also offers bead-themed parties. She has opened the store for children’s birthdays and showers. Guests gather around the store’s large table and make jewelry. It is an alternative to the typical party games, Broeker said.

Therapeutic is another way to describe beading. “Even if you’re not going for therapy in beadwork, it happens,” Wolverton said. Broeker experiences this at Beading Paradise. “We get a lot of ladies in here who, if they don’t have a lot of control over things in their life, or not a lot of self confidence, they come in here and they make something and it is so great to watch them blossom,” Broeker said. “It’s a visual transformation in two hours. They’re like ‘Oh my god, I made this,’ and you’re like ‘Yeah, isn’t it cool? Now you can make other things and your friends will want you to make things.’”

Beading is also financially accessible. “I want the common people to be able to come in here and be able to do stuff,” Broeker said of Beading Paradise. She intentionally offers a wide variety of beads and supplies to appeal to multiple tastes and budgets. “You can work on a really small budget … or a high budget,” Broeker said. “Either way, you’re perfectly fine. There’s no right or wrong in jewelry stuff. It’s all really [about] how you can make it work.”

Of course, beading was happening in Terre Haute long before Beading Paradise opened its doors. Beads are available from chain craft stores and online vendors and bead collectors can purchase beads while travelling in other cities and countries. For thousands of years, beads have been used around the world as currency, status symbols and decor. As Broeker said, “Everybody’s always going to have jewelry, regardless of whether it’s the in thing to do or not.” What makes a bead a bead is pretty simple. According to the Bead Museum in Washington, D.C., if you can put a string through it, it’s a bead.

The financial and creative accessibility of beading can be a challenge for professionals trying to make a living at the craft. For instance, an art show may feature several bead artists all selling items that look similar. Shoppers are more likely to buy from the cheapest seller, Broeker said, because they do not understand that the cheaper artist used lower-quality materials and techniques that look nice at first glance but will not last as long as the more expensive jewelry.

Professional beadmakers can experience a similar problem, but for the opposite reason. Beadmaking is not as accessible as making jewelry out of beads, so many bead lovers do not understand the skill and resources involved. Karen Titzer, who also makes glass beads sold at Titzer Studios, said “[Most people] can’t appreciate it because they haven’t tried it — how long it takes to design and put together one piece of jewelry.”

In this regard, Terre Haute has the advantage of bead artists, teachers and a bead store to raise the average bead IQ and appreciation of these ancient crafts.

Broeker told the story of a young boy who came to Beading Paradise last summer and made a bracelet while his friends waited outside. Within a few days, a stream of young boys was coming to the store to make bracelets. Broeker later learned from the first boy’s mother that after he brought home his creation, all the neighborhood kids wanted to make their own.

While this story may not happen every day, it would not have happened at all without a place for a curious kid to encounter the possibilities of beads.

Emma Crossen can be contacted at (812) 231-4222 or emma.crossen@tribstar.com.

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