From an accident that left her temporarily paralysed, to a trip across the Australian outback that inspired her to follow her artistic passions, Anastasia of Anastasia Beads is full of surprises.
Born in 1968 in Wismar, a small port town off the Baltic Sea Coast in former East Germany, Anastasia grew up surrounded by elegant buildings with styles that ranged from 14th century North German Gothic to 19th century Romanesque revival. Her village was small – only four houses and a big cowshed – but her surroundings were beautiful and would provide Anastasia with a passion for nature that would stay with her for the rest of her life.
Having graduated from university with a degree in design Anastasia was, at first, not sure whether she was good enough to make a full time career in the creative industry. As a result, she took a job with a software company. Her life was stable – Anastasia enjoyed her job and good health, spending her spare time passionately training for inline skating speed marathons.
Sadly, life had other plans for Anastasia. A couple of years after graduating Anastasia was in an accident that left her paralysed. After surgery, rehabilitation and physical therapy she learned to walk again but as a result of her accident she lost her job at the software company and was no longer able to skate competitively. It was certainly a blow but Anastasia wasn’t the type to let life get her down. Instead, she started to look for a new challenge.
“After the accident I didn’t know which way to go,” explains Anastasia. “I thought of doing something unusual in order to clear my mind and to figure out what I was capable of doing. The Australian outback was the most exotic place I could think of so I decided I would cross Australia, all on my own.”
And that’s just what she did.
Flying into Melbourne, Anastasia got herself a car and headed north, then east, finally ending up in Townsville. “I came back from this trip with so many beautiful photos, too beautiful to end up in a box,” she says.
Inspired by the natural beauty of Australia, Anastasia began using the photos from her trip as inspiration. First, she began to paint, and then design dresses. “One day I found an announcement for a fashion award online. It was the Baltic Fashion Award, which was an international show. I decided to send my sketches there, just to give them a purpose,” explains Anastasia. “I never thought they would even have a chance!” she laughs.
But to her surprise, Anastasia was selected as one of three in her category. She was given six months to produce 18 complete outfits. But not only did Anastasia not know how to develop a pattern; she also couldn’t sew… and didn’t even own a sewing machine.
Not to be intimidated, Anastasia bought herself a sewing machine and a bunch of textbooks and started to teach herself what she’d need to know to create her dresses. “Whenever I couldn’t make what I wanted with fabric, I used other materials like handmade felt, silicon, wire or materials used on orthopaedics,” explains Anastasia. “I also decided to make a glass dress… which wasn’t the smartest plan,” she says.
Not having the slightest clue about glass, Anastasia bought a welders torch, smashed a bottled and made a gypsum mould of her shoulder. “In the staircase of my apartment block, with all the neighbours gathered round, I tried to melt the glass shards in a soup ladle so I could pour it over the gypsum mould,” describes Anastasia. “Of course this didn’t work – the glass didn’t melt, but the ladle did.”
Trying a few different methods, Anastasia finally admitted defeat after burning a hole in her skirt and setting the doormat on fire. “I tried to research what I was doing wrong on the internet but all I could find were stupid beads, which I didn’t like back then. I didn’t want to make beads; I wanted to make a glass dress! But it wasn’t working, so I had to put the project on hold.”
Despite the glass dress fiasco, Anastasia’s fashion show was a success. But fashion wasn’t where she wanted to be. In 2004, she decided to revisit glass, and try her hand at glass beads. “I started to think that some of the beads were actually quite pretty and that it would be fun to give it a try. So, armed with my welder’s torch, a starter set, and a book by Cindy Jenkins I started to teach myself at my kitchen table. I was hooked right away,” she says.
By 2006, Anastasia had found her passion and had become a full-time lampworker
Using the skills she developed at university, her passion for nature and photos she had taken on her travels throughout Australia, Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Northern America and Europe,
Anastasia began creating glass beads of uncommon beauty.
“Mostly, I create the designs in my head and quite often I see the finished result before I start,” says Anastasia. “That doesn’t mean that the final result will always be the same as what I’ve visualised as creating with glass is a process that requires a lot of flexibility. But I have a habit of sketching my ideas and since my mind produces images instead of words, I see pictures all the time try to save at least a few!”
Anastasia also uses her extensive photo catalogue for design inspiration. “I use my travels for inspiration,” she says. “I try to capture whatever I can with my camera to use later. Besides the glass itself, my sketchbook and my camera are my most important tools.”
Largely self taught, Anastasia doesn’t usually make her beads by following a specific technique. Rather, she tries to find techniques that enable her to put the image she sees in her head into the bead. And often, she lets the glass do the thinking for her. “Sometimes I just start, not thinking of anything, and let the bead itself decide what it wants to be. It’s a very interesting creative process which usually leads to completely unexpected results,” she says.
As for tools, Anastasia favours the minimalist approach. “I don’t actually use many tools – just a paddle, an on-top marver, a self made tungsten pick and a kitchen knife,” she says. “I have a little spatula that I love a lot, and for squeezing beads I love my Cattwalk Tabulator.”
So far, Anastasia’s designs have almost exclusively used 104 glass. She uses Moretti, Vetrofond, Lausha, CIM as well as a lot of clear that she combines with enamels. She also loves using the blue colours from the special line of silver glass rods, especially old Kronos. “These rods contain siler and show nice colour reactions if treated correctly,” says Anastasia. “I don’t have a lot of success with the other silver colours but I enjoy working with the blues.”
In her work Anastasia uses a lot of oranges, blues and green – colours that are found in her surroundings. “I’m really into colour combos,” says Anastasia. “I don’t have a favourite colour in general, but at the moment I really like Vetrofond Salmon Pink, Vetro black, Lauscha clear and Thompson enamel aqua.”
But for Anastasia, the most exciting part of her work is the glass itself. “I like playing with fire, seeing the colours, the light, and the never-ending possibilities,” she says. “With glass, there is no shortcut – it’s all about practice, and patience. I’ve also learned that there is no end of the road with glass. All the things you can learn and explore, it’s enough to last a lifetime.”
“Glass never gets boring and that was a very exciting discovery for me,” she says. “One of the things I’ve learnt is to go where the glass leads you as that is, by far, the most exciting path.”
Anastasia sells her work online and on eBay. To view some of her stunning creations, visit http://
www.anastasiabeads.com
