Featured Jewelry Artist - Doris Howard Luther

Doris Howard Luther started beading about 6 years ago.  Doris and her friend Patty were making eyeglass cases and were beading the zipper pulls.  Doris enjoyed working with beads and decided to expand her knowledge of beading.  She started making stretchy bracelets, earrings and simple necklaces and found her passion! 

Some of her early work used simple stringing techniques, with a great use of color!

Doris makes some lovely watch bracelets.  The large faceted watches shown below are strung with glass beads and over 100 metal spacers! The red watch is made with flat glass beads and metal spacers! Who wouldn't want one of these adorning their wrist!

Doris is not afraid to try more complicated designs. Her wrap bracelets were a favorite at the Alligator and the Blue Fox! She used large hole glass pony beads and a variety of cords - leather, waxed cotton and waxed linen. She has a keen eye for color and during shopping expeditions, she finds coordinating buttons to use as clasps!

Her kumihimo bracelets were so popular, she offered a class which resulted in a full house! Here is a picture of Doris, beaming with pride, along with two of her students and their finished bracelets. 

Below is one of her kumihimo bracelets - this one is made with size 6/0 seed beads and a very clever magnetic clasp!

And leather bracelets galore - cowhide leather and licorice leather, too.

Doris says she would bead all day and night if her hands would let her. In between beading, she also enjoys shopping for beads and sharing her passion with others.  Her most recent endeavor in beading is loom beading.  She started with larger size 6/0 seed beads to get the hang of the process and has moved onto smaller sized 8/0 beads which seem to be her favorite! Doris admits she is totally hooked on looming and loves all the different patterns she finds as well as the huge variety of seed beads to choose from!  She loves the way the pattern progresses and how it comes to life with each row that is added. Doris enjoys seeing other artists work and their creative processes. She gets inspiration from other designer's creative ideas and is always eager to talk about the craft with others.  She finds it very fulfilling to see her work worn by others.

I love seeing Doris's work, too, and I've enjoyed sharing it with you in this blog post.  Doris would love to see a regular monthly group where other bead lovers could get together and work on their craft together, exchanging ideas and socializing!  I would love to see that, too!  

Please stop by the shop and see many of Doris Howard Luther's bracelets which will be for sale through the entire month of February! I welcome your feedback about scheduling a regular meet and bead group. Please feel free to make comments on this post or on the Southpass Beads Facebook page.