Beaducation and Lisa Niven Kelly

This is the post I was going to do on Wednesday but life got in the way. It's only Friday so that's not bad.

Last Saturday my friends Judy, Donna and I took a class at Beaducation in Redwood City, California.



Donna, Lisa, Julie, Judy

Now I have been aware of Beaducation for a long time as a company to buy high quality tools, metal stamps, metal shapes and other supplies. I may have discovered them at Bead Fest or BABE (Bay Area Bead Extravaganza) or Bead and Button but I know when I go to a show and they are there I always come away with some quality supplies.

One of the things about their booth is that they are always busy but NEVER too busy to help you find what you want and show you how to use it.

One of the things I didn't know was they were right here in the bay area and they are starting to offer classes. When my friend Judy e-mailed and said she wanted to take a Spiro Pendant Class from Lisa Niven Kelly, I was right on board.

Spiro Pendant by Lisa Niven Kelly

The class was so much fun and led to a lot of inspirational moments. I now dream of all sorts of metal shapes to be wrapped.

In fact, Lisa brought her beautiful competition necklace from the 2009 Bead and Button Bead Dreams Challenge in Milwaukee for us to touch and drool over.





Original Art Necklace by Lisa Niven Kelly

Lisa is the owner, CEO, teacher and head cook and bottle washer of Beaducation and from what I saw when I was there she deserves her success.

Not only is she a great teacher, from what I could tell by interacting with her staff, she is a great employer. Everyone that was there that day seemed very happy with their job. Happy employees make happy customers.

I just recently found out that Lisa was voted one of the Top 10 Teachers in the United States by the editors and readers of Bead&Button Magazine. I must say that I agree.

Beaducation is also one of the first companies that I was aware of that offered online video classes in jewelry making. The classes are taught by some of my favorite teachers, Tracy Stanley, Steven James, Kate Richbourg, and Janice Berkebile to name a few.


Oh, did I mention Lisa has a great book about stamping on metal called Stamped Metal Jewelry? I owned the book long before I knew who Lisa was and found it is wonderful for beginners and it also gives some great tips for the more experienced jewelry makers.

My sterling silver  Spiro Pendant




All in all, it was a wonderful day. I am very happy with the pendant I made and have lots of plans for more.


 Jennifer Chiou and me winning Tronex flush cutters

I also won one of the door prizes that was given away at the end of the class. It was a Tronex short handled flush cutter which is one of the finest tools that anyone could own.

Have a truly marvelous weekend!



Photo from Life with Dogs on Facebook

Julie Panusis