Introducing...Sabrina Staub

Welcome to the third in my new blog series - Introducing....As this is the Thursday before the big Bead Soup Party reveal (I'd love to say I have completed my project....it would be a lie though :-))I thought it would be fun to share an interview with my awesome bead soup partner, Swiss glass artist, Sabrina Staub.  

The amazing beads that Sabrina made for me in this Bead Soup round! Tune in on the 17th to see what I come up with...

Without further ado, I'll pass over to her.....

Sabrina Staub

Q1.How long have you been creating, and what led you to begin?

A1.I grew up in a very creative family, my mother gave courses in knitting and my Dad did airbrushing on cars. I guess I had already started to create things really early on, we even did our memory card game by ourselves ;)

But my passion for Glass came up in 2007 when I was searching for something about Fimo beads. Instead of a Forum for Fimo I found Glassbeads and from one day to an other I was totaly addicted to this great material.I started with a propane torch but already 3 month later I had to buy a Minor bench torch + oxygen generator ;O) For a long time I was a person who did everything (pottery, jewellery, painting etc.) and nothing, but with the  beadmaking I found something wich inspires me every day anew. 

Q2.What do you get out of creating – be that emotionally, physically, mentally?

A2. For me its a way to come down, to relax and to forget the world and the stress that it brings around me. I think the beadmaking really helps me to compensate the stress in my daily routine job. Some people like to see a movie and lie on the sofa after a stressful day...But I think my beautifulest beads were made after some really stressed days ;O) Its like bringing the emotion into the glass.

Q3.What do you find inspiring?

A3.Oh gosh there are soooo many;O) It's the season, people and their way to dress, movies, fashion and of course the internet. I found a great blog about color combinations, if I am irritated by something not matching I often go there and have a look. (http://www.design-seeds.com/)

I really love to travel and take photos of everything I see, like houses, animals and people. This helps a lot to find great color combinations.

Q4. Describe your workspace – are you lucky enough to have a studio set up, or are you like me and work in odd corners of your house?

A4.After 3 years of doing the glassbeads in my kitchen...yes you heard right..kitchen...I moved to a bigger flat. Now I am happy to have a room just for creating stuff. This means it's the room of chaos;O)) I like when my flat is clean but where I am working creatively - there I am a little messy. At the moment I have 3 work stations, because I also give courses to teach other people this great artcraft.

Of course there is also a ventilation system which cleans the air and two oxygen concentrators. If you look at the picture you will see that I love the color greeeeeen;O)

 

Q5.What are your favourite materials to work with and why?

A5.Of course glass firstly, to make my beads; when creating my jewellery, I really like sterling silver but also copper and brass. I like the vintage touch that you can give to a piece of jewelry if you use copper or brass but I still work more with silver. 

 

 

Q6. Do you have a favourite bead or supplies shop you could share with us?

A6. Actually I buy a lot at www.dawanda.de or etsy.com but also balibeads.de has really nice stuff.

Q7.If you were to draw attention to a favourite designer or artist, who would it be and why?

A7.I would say Dora Schubert. I really love her beads because they are worked out really clean and straight.

Thanks so much!

Thanks so much Sabrina for taking the time to answer my questions, you make absolutely stunning beads and I feel so lucky to have a set of my very own! I hope one day you will be able to show me how to make some beads of my very own....

Please check out

Sabrina's blog

Sabrina's website

Sabrina's DaWanda shop

I asked Sabrina to send me some extra shots too, so here is a short gallery of some more of her stunning work. It has such a different feel to mine, and I love it - very inspiring!

And tune in next Thursday for another bead soup participant, one slightly closer to (my) home this time...


If you are interested in taking part in my Introducing....series, then just drop me a line here.

Bead Soup Has Arrived: A Story in Pictures

Oops.

Thanks so much Sabrina!

Sabrina Staub

Meet Sabrina, my Bead Soup Swap Party partner! I am so excited that Lori has paired us together.

Something you don't know about my family is that my Mum used to live in Switzerland, back in the late 60s/early 70s. She worked there before going to university and then went back to work for the summers inbetween her university semesters. She lived and worked in Zurich (sorry, I don't know how to create an umlaut on my keyboard!) and still has lots of friends in Switzerland round that area. We used to visit quite often (every 2 or 3 years) when I was growing up as Mum had, and still has such strong connections. I haven't been since I was 18 (12 years! Horrifique! I'm so old...) but....my Mum, sister and my partner and I are holidaying in Zurich and Valatta (a small alpine town just outside Zurich) in September.

So when I had an email from Sabrina in Basel, I was over the moon! How wonderfully serendipitous. We may even manage a meet up when I go over, depending on our schedule (which will be dictated mainly by my Mum, she has bad arthritis and her mobility is often poor) as Basel in the next canton over from Zurich. I am excited! Emailing Sabrina has also given me a chance to practice my German....which I love but am NOT good at. My Mum is fluent (still!) in Swiss-German and I used to speak a very little when I was wee but it is long forgotten now. So I've been trying to write some of my emails in German whenever I have contacted Sabrina. Good practice indeed!

Another reason I'm so thrilled about this swap is that Sabrina is a pretty awesome lampwork artist. How totally fab! Anyone who has ever read this blog before will know I adore lampwork beads and have a bit of an addiction.....her work is stunning; cool and clean and colourful, and really, really beautiful. 

Check out her blog, her website and her DaWanda shop. I hope you are all as lucky as I am with your swap partners!

Here's a sneak peek of what will be in the post tomorrow......x x x