Caravan is set apart by our friendly staff and wonderful instructors. Below, you’ll find a bit of information on them. Stop on by today and say hello to them!
ALEX AGUDO
Alex is the multi-lingual instructor and staff member of Caravan Beads. He currently teaches wire working classes and metal smithing for beginners. He loves pearls and semi-precious stones, he can tell you their history and meaning. His motto is ” There are no mistakes in jewelry making, they are simply artistic interpretations”
ANA V. PIZARRO
Ana V. Pizarro has been a part of the Caravan Beads Chicago family since 2004. At first, she took as many classes as she could, which really made the difference in her creative life and she started teaching what she had learned including stringing, wire wrapping, resin pendants, knotting, and her specialty Bead Weaving Techniques. She loves reading and learning new techniques. She also took beadweaving instruction at Bead and Button 2010.
Her first experience with beading was when she bought a kids beading book and
followed the instruction beginning her passion for new projects, however, she feels that her real learning process all begun at Caravan Beads. From an early beginning in her education she learned embroidery, simple sewing, crocheting, knitting, and macrame. She graduated as a Bilingual Secretary in Ecuador and is now attending Truman College in pursuit of her Associate’s in Business Administration.
Her passion for beading has always been an important part of her life, so she
feels that she has a lot to share and loves teaching a variety of regular classes and free lessons at Caravan Beads. She has also started writing her own patterns and will produce video projects this year. We look forward to watching her develop as an artist, crafts person, and teacher and continue to enjoy a fulfilling relationship with Ana at Caravan Beads Chicago.
DIANA ORTEGAloves making jewelry and one of her favorite techniques is knotting. She is from Ecuador. She has taken many jewelry classes (Wire work, beadweaving, Resin, and Knotting) in order to be able to help customers with their jewelry ideas. She is in charge of the classes in Spanish, and she will be teaching some of the regular classes as well.
Her passion are numbers as she studied accounting in her country, however making jewelry has been her joy. There is no better place for her to work than at Caravan the place where your creativity does not end.
At 10, Kat made friendship bracelets for her friends from embroidery floss and she has only progressed in her jewelry making techniques from there. Maturing from her seed beads loom bracelets, rock tumbling, polymer clay bead making and more, she now is a nationally known instructor in the chainmaille jewelry field.
Kat has been teaching chainmaille & wirework professionally since 2005 throughout the Chicagoland area, and also at the internationally recognized Bead & Button Show “I create while sitting on my bed, all my materials spread out across the bed, dog & cats nearby, listening to inspiring music and I just go at it. This is how I invent weaves & projects by just trying different combinations of elements together until I get a result that I fall in love with”. Kat has invented about 9 weaves, many of which have become the highest quality tutorials sold internationally. Currently, she keeps herself busy displaying her pieces at art shows throughout the year, teaching about 4-8 classes per month, inventing new weaves that will eventually become tutorials, and designing fashionable chainmaille & wirework items.
http://www.elementalartjewelry.com
Owner Charlene Steele and store manager Ana.
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May 12, 2011 at 3:16 am
i’m looking for some advice…i want to start some projects with wire and need to learn how to weave it. do you offer any classes for something like that? i’ll take any advice at this point. unfortunately i’m not looking to make jewelry, but i’m sure a lot of it would transfer to sculpture like i want to work on. specifically, my biggest challenge is trying to hand weave mesh with fine-gauge wire. if you have any suggestions where to get started i would really appreciate it!!!
thanks so much!
May 12, 2011 at 2:09 pm
Hi Jenn:
We teach a class called wire basket weave earrings which, as you say, will transfer pretty well to sculpture once you learn how it works. It is available in early June. You can take a look at it here:
http://www.beadstogo.com/servlet/the-1183/class%2C-beginning%2C-intermediate%2C-beading%2C/Detail
I’ve also forwarded your note to our store owner, Charlene, and she may have another idea.
Thanks!