Sher Berman

"I love the feel of the thread through my fingers as I crochet these tiny beads one at a time. The simple string of beads becomes a solid form of art to wear."

Sher Berman has always had a love of beads. She began by simply stringing beads, always looking for those special beads to incorporate in her designs. Now she makes her own lampwork beads in her home studio in Deerfield Illinois. Combined with her weaving, the pieces that emerge are what she sees as a harmony of color, texture and shape.

The lampwork beads are made by melting glass rods with a torch. These beads are hand shaped and embellished with different materials such as silver/gold foil, enamel powders and glass frit. The beads are then designed together with the bead crochet. Bead crochet starts with yards of tiny beads strung on cord and crocheted one bead at a time. This creates a sinuous rope of beads.

Berman has a BFA in graphic design that has helped her develop her patterns and techniques. She took a glass bead making class in 1997 that lead her on this beaded journey. Bead artists Stevi Belle, Andrea Slemmons and Kristen Frantzen Orr are the masters that Berman has studied under.