Early in 2002 I took a 1-week intensive beadmaking course to learn the basics of the craft. At the end of that week, certain that I had most definitely found my path, I began the process of putting together a beadmaking studio. You have to understand that Lily & I had only been in Italy a short time at that point and were struggling with language and countless other issues inherent to a move to a foreign land. The challenge of setting up my studio here was made that much more difficult because I had no local support system. I was literally the only beadmaker in Lucca, the town we lived in at the time. Even now, here in Florence, (prior to opening our glass studio teaching facilities) I am one of 2 beadmakers that we knew of in the city. I mention this to demonstrate how drastically different it is here than in the states, for example, where the beadmaking hobby industry is such a huge business. By and large, the beadmaking population here in Italy is based out of the Venetian island of Murano. However, just try going there as an outsider and see how much assistance you can get setting up a beadmaking station! Traditionally, giving out the closely guarded glass beadmaking secrets from Murano was literally punishable by death. And while the punishment itself may have lapsed, the mentality has not. I can't begin to express just how difficult it was dealing with the purchase of tanks, tubing, a kiln... Even glass! And all this was prior to actually sitting down and starting the process of beadmaking itself!

Obviously now that we've been at this for quite a few years we've been able to find our comfort zone both with the language and with an understanding of what is still a very challenging system. My main objective for describing the process we went through in detail was to serve as an example of my true point: The learning process does not have to be so difficult!

I am truly self-taught in the sense that after my initial week of study everything else that I know comes from years of practice, studying, online informational resources and the love and constant support of my wife Lily. While I am certainly proud of my ability to learn my craft and wouldn't give up the experiences I had for the world, I have also found that self-teaching is by no means the fastest way to learn! I am able to say that now that I have begun to teach. (I've found that one of the things I like most about teaching is what I learn)

The presence of a patient instructor to help guide the way can open doors more quickly than anything else. Don't get me wrong; The Student still has to do the work (One of life's great equalizers is that we all have to pay our dues when learning, and there is nothing more deeply satisfying then having done so in the end) but an experienced helping hand can cut months and years off the process.

It took me years to finally decode some of the beadmaking basics that I can now pass on to students in minutes. It is a very different thing to read about a process in a book or online, then to have that same process demonstrated to you. There's nothing like watching someone do it and having one of those "Oh...! I get it!" moments and sitting down at the torch and actually doing it!

When considering taking a beadmaking course please bear in mind that you don't really learn how to make beads in that initial course, whether it be at our studio or someone else's. Certainly you will come away with beads you yourself made, and that is something to be proud of. However, the most important aspect of a beginners beadmaking course is that it will give you a basic understanding of the process and allow you to better determine whether or not you want to continue studying this ancient craft. Either way, it's an investment in yourself and in your future.