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Linda Burkett ~ LucyV Designs
child. The family eventually settled in San Diego where her father still resides. She came to Austin over 20 years ago, and Austin is now home for Linda and her son! Linda began beading about 10 years ago. A friends' beading hobby captured her attention and inspired her to create her own quality beaded jewelry. She is a completely self-taught beading artist and continues to expand her talents using books and magazines for inspiration and infusing her curiosity and problem solving skills to her work. Linda credits her artistic ability to her mother who was a prodigious painter. (Linda's company is named after her mother.) Linda's love of color and intrinsic ability to combine unique textures is reflected in the exquisite jewelry she designs. Linda is also one of our talented teachers at Lapis Lane! |
| ~ Learn About Our Staff ~ |
| Connie White Connie's Creations ~ NEL-Ease tm ~ Lapis Lane, a Bead Boutique A few years ago, Linda (LucyV designs) brought Connie to her first bead show and the rest, as they say, is history!! Connie fell in love with all the beautiful semi-precious and natural gemstones and “spent a fortune” at the very first vendor table. The next six hours were spent playing “matchy-matchy”; combining colors, shapes and gemstones with the lot she purchased at the first table. From this experience Connie learned that she has a great eye for mixing and matching gemstone combinations into wonderful color creations that bring out the unique qualities and characteristics in the stones … Connie’s Creations was born! Being over 40 and therefore having developed an appreciation for reading glasses (uhg!!) Connie was frustrated with her glasses constantly pulling her hair, falling out of her shirt front and generally not being handy when she needed to see, so Connie sought out eyeglass chains. Well heck; there was nothing out there but junk and base metal “granny” chains; as a result Connie took to creating her own eyeglass chains using natural stones, gemstones and sterling silver or gold-filled findings. One thing led to another and Connie continued to expand her readers collection, once again playing “matchy-matchy”; this time matching up the readers with the outfits and, of course, matching eyeglass chains. Enter yet another bead show where Connie found a beautiful cache of gemstone pendants. Theses gemstones inspired numerous necklaces for Connie’s Creations but also spawned the idea for a convertible eyeglass chain that could also be worn as a necklace by adding one of the beautiful pendants … the NEL-Ease was born! What is a NEL-Ease? (Affectionately referred to as a Nellie.) A NEL-Ease is a trademarked, custom designed, personally hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind convertible Necklace, Eyeglass and Lanyard/badge holder, created using natural stones, gemstones and sterling silver or gold-filled findings. A three-for-one unique piece of art you can wear from dawn till dark; at the office (Lanyard) or on the dance floor (Necklace) as well as in your favorite chair curled up with a good book (Eyeglass chain), just about anywhere you want! All NEL-Ease have all three functional fashion features (Necklace, Eyeglass, Lanyard) and convert from one to the other with great Ease. A detachable, creatively coordinated pendant can be purchased with some NEL-Ease to further enhance the beauty of the necklace feature. In August 2009 Connie spotted a posting in Babes in Biz (a Yahoo Group for, what else, Babes in Biz!!) advertising the sale of “bulk beads” from a shop owner, Lora Pelto, who previously had a bead store (Beadz) in Westlake and had taken her business in the direction of featuring fine finished jewelry; specifically the Pandora line. At the same time, Connie spotted another posting in Babes in Biz for lease space available (in the Art Pad at 4520 Burnet Road). Combining her love for Mother Nature’s beauty, a great location, a retail ready stock of beads, gemstones, tools and supplies, Connie’s Bachelor in Business and Master of Professional Accounting degrees … you guessed it … Lapis Lane, a Bead Boutique was born!! |
| We have moved to our new home in West Lake Hills. We are located in the West Lake Square shopping center on Bee Caves Road, across the street from Breed & Co., behind the Popeye's Chicken and next door to the Austin Driving School. |
| NEL-Ease |
Jane-Michael Stallings
obsession for both and they opened a bead store in Sedona Arizona (The Bead Garden of Sedona) in 2002 which her mother still owns and operates. Jane-Michael has been blessed to have many wonderful beading teachers including Jocelyn Cooley, Rayne Austin, Susan Lenart Kazmer, and master loom artist Don Pierce. Each of these published artists has contributed to Jane-Michael’s diverse knowledge of bead-weaving techniques and her confidence in teaching others the joy of creating with beads. Jane-Michael received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in association with Tufts University. After exploring several mediums in college, such as photography, silver casting/fabrication, and gem cutting Jane-Michael discovered her true passion is creating with beads. The problem solving and endless combinations of texture and color that beads offer is what keeps her passion burning. Jane-Michael moved to Austin Texas in 2010 and has shared her passion and talents with us here at Lapis Lane Beads since May 2010. Jane-Michael teaches classes in the following techniques: peyote stitch, brick stitch, herringbone (Ndeble), right angle weave, basic netting, jumihimo, pearl knotting, basic spiral, wire wrapping, basic bead stringing and more. Her favorite technique to explore is the Dutch Spiral, a form of the peyote stitch. Bright, unique color- ways and the occasional glow-in-the-dark object are hallmarks of her artwork. Incorporating LED lights into her bead weaving is a future goal. When she is not beading Jane-Michael can be found knitting, crocheting, quilting, making mosaics and cooking. |
| 3654-D Bee Caves Road Austin, Texas 78746 Get Directions Store Hours Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm Sat Noon - 6pm Sunday Closed* * For Classes & Private Parties (512) 458-3141 LapisLaneBeads@Yahoo.com |
| Click map for directions to our new location! |