Meet Kassie Shaw

Hailing from western North Carolina, Kassie Shaw lives and beads near the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, where rather large brown bears are amongst her visitors!

Despite these furry interlopers, and a full-time job, Kassie has a prolific bead resume: 30+ kits, a published book, and 96 patterns and tutorials.

Kassie has developed a following for those who love beadweaving for a range of shapes and effects using seed beads with shaped beads, two-hole beads, bicone crystals, bugles, and lentils, and who love to play with colorways to create head-turning creations.

A college class, “Where Craft Meets Art in Asheville” introduced Kassie to beading. Stumbling on a wire working website, led her to present wire earrings as part of a class assignment. Fast forward through a few years and a subsequent beading workshop and voila, her beading life began in earnest!

Now a bead designer of note, Kassie began playing with the newer shaped, multi-holed beads early. For a few years, she contributed to Czech bead manufacturer, Starman Beads, as one of its Trendsetter Designers, a program to which beaders applied annually.

Kassie’s book, Beadweaving Beyond the Basics, printed in 2016 (Interweave) is now a classic and newly re-released by Penguin Books. Its 24 designs explore color and shape and showcase classic stitches – Herringbone, Peyote, St. Petersburg, and especially, Kassie’s use of variations of the Right Angle Weave (RAW) stitch family – Double RAW, Faux RAW, and Layered RAW.

To encourage beaders who might shy away from the RAW-based stitches, Kassie shares, “In-depth primers on these new approaches will get you started right away, and the tips for left-handed beaders makes sure everyone can try these designs with ease!”

Notably, Kassie has had many projects published in Beadwork Magazine, here showcasing Kassie’s work, where she was asked to be one of 2017’s three Designers of the Year, creating projects for each of six issues published.

For those who love the beady details, Kassie’s favourite needle is size 12 John James with a size 13 on hand for the tighter passes. Her favorite thread is One-G, which is similar (according to a Google search) to K.O. thread, stocked by The Beading Room. Kassie also uses Fireline when using sharp edged beads.

Currently, Kassie’s favorite color is teal, and she loves to combine it with purple, orange, or copper. Her newest design, Once in a Blue Moon in the photo to the left, released just this month, showcases this color palette to perfection! (Gorgeous!) You can purchase the design at these links, on Etsy and at BeadingButterfly.com.

Today, Kassie loves to teach when possible, and as a prolific bead designer, to design and write patterns, which you can find on Facebook at The Beading Butterfly, and at BeadingButterfly.com.

Below are photos of Kassie’s most popular designs – The Escalera Ladder Cuff, (a bracelet using a peyote base and DRAW overlay), Ribbon Overlay (a flat peyote bracelet), Caterpillar Box (peyote stitch), and the Chinese Dragon (a bracelet or necklace using duos and seed beads).

Until next month, my beautiful beaders, I’m grateful for your beady support! Cathy