Jennifer VanBenschoten of Vanbeads

Jennifer has been creating art as long as she can remember and the artist has been playing with beads, buttons, and other shiny things since she was four or five years old. She and her sister traded them; they made necklaces, earrings, and bracelets out of them; and sometimes they just ran their fingers through them for the delightful feeling of metal and glass.

When she was in high school, Jennifer started charting her own patterns and at the same time, she was teaching herself how to string jewelry and make earrings out of beads, while finding inspiration from daily routine and then sketching jewelry design ideas.

After she finished college, Jennifer started exploring other beaded forms. She invested in a few books, some MAPP gas, and took a basic flame working course. Her husband took the project of turning half of the family garage workshop into a fully-equipped glass lampworking studio for her

She creates handmade bead-embroidered jewelry and handmade glass beads from her Adirondack based studio and is now spending time designing, beading, and mentoring others in this fabulous art.