Let's Bead! Instructors
Let's Bead! has an incredible staff of instructors to help you discover your inner beader! Each instructor has different skills and expertise to create a unique learning experience for her students.
Cathy Batchelor
Cathy can't remember when she hasn't been making jewelry - she's been at it at least since she was a preteen. Texture and color are most important to Cathy, and she loves learning new techniques for different types of jewelry making - seed bead, pearl knotting, wire work - she likes it all.
Cathy has taken dozens of classes with local and nationally known teachers. As for her favorite time to bead, Cathy says classes are the best time to bead, since there are no interruptions. Although she tries to bead all the time, there's never enough time to bead! Cathy loves seeing what other people are doing - to be inspired by, and to inspire others - she loves to bring out creativity. Cathy is also PMC certified.
Julie Brancato
Julie Brancato lives in Henrietta with her husband. When she is not working, she spends her time creating jewelry. What started out as a hobby 11 years ago has turned into a passion! Her first love is working with sterling wire, hand crafting individual chains, links, findings, and chain maille. She uniquely crafts each piece, often combining her own lampwork beads, gemstones, and sterling wire work.
Terry Byrne
Terry Byrne has been beading since 1993. Her area of expertise is bead-weaving, stringing, and basic wire-working techniques. Terry has the reputation around the store for making the perfect wrapped loop. Ask her how!
Terry loves to bead in her studio whenever she can find the time, but she is definitely not an early morning beader! She loves working with beads and wire, and loves many different stitches, depending on what she is making and what pattern she wants to incorporate into the design. Before coming to Let's Bead!, Terry taught at the Weaving and Fiber Arts Center for six years.
Debbie Coller
Debbie Coller, BS in Art Education, Nazareth College, started making jewelry - specifically wire jewelry - at an early age. She would “borrow” her Dad's tools and wire and disappear for hours pounding and creating with wire!
Debbie still loves creating and often signs her emails Mom, Wife, Friend, and Artist. She takes each of those titles seriously as a mother of two wonderful children. Her time in the studio is limited, but she spends so much time sketching, journaling, and asking "what if" when she is away from the studio, that much of her time is spent on art. She eats, sleeps, and yes, dreams in beads! As a teacher, Debbie loves watching the light go on with people of all ages as they explore the world of jewelry.
You can visit Debbie's website at www.artisticambitionsjewelry.com.
Laura Crosetti
Laura Crosett has been beading for the past 20 years. She started out seed beading, experimented with stringing and designing, and now spends most of her free time on her first love - seed beading. Laura is new to Rochester, having recently moved here from Salt Lake City, UT. She works as a psychology professor at MCC and FLCC, and shares her teaching skills with us as an instructor at Let's Bead! See some of Laura's designs at www.laurasbeadedbooty.com.
Susan Jefferson
Susan Jefferson is a self-taught beader and self-proclaimed artist! Susan learned the techniques of seed beading from books and magazines, and loves to experiment to create her own designs. She has been known to spend hours in her home studio perfecting a new stitch, or creating an intricate pattern to match a scarf or blouse!
Susan loves the classroom because she can share her love of beading with others, and pass along tips she has learned along the way. There is no better way to learn something than to do it thousands of times! Susan also likes to experiment with other materials and techniques such as metal clay, glass, and polymer clay. She loves playing and designing with color, and has been known to become so obsessed with a design that she makes one to match every outfit!
Visit Susan's website at susanjeffersonjewelry.com.
Janis Loehr
Janis has been coordinating colors and working with seed beads for more than 10 years. After many years of enjoying needlework, the beads have taken over! Janis especially enjoys bead embroidery and off-loom techniques such as peyote, herringbone, right-angle weave, and St. Petersburg chain. She loves to share her enthusiasm with others and is always happy to teach and guide others in various techniques. Janis loves learning new techniques to share with students, and makes time to learn new skills by regularly taking classes from nationally known instructors.
Eugenia (Gene) McLouth
Gene McLouth has been beading for about 4 years. Although her favorite is knitting with beads, she also loves to do beaded projects in miniature. She often finds herself sorting through her beads and imagining them in a design. Letting her imagination run wild is part of her creative process! Gene's favorite time of day to bead is 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Whenever!
Gene has been knitting for about 50 years, and was thrilled to include beads into her knitting projects. Gene learned to bead by taking classes. Says Gene, "Taking a class is pure luxury. You come in and all the ingredients are available, plus a teacher!" Gene has also learned from reading books and by searching the Internet. She is very stubborn and will not be defeated by a bead project! Gene has also used her creativity with rubber stamping, quilting, and embroidery. Now Gene has added beads to everything - beaded cards, beaded quilts, and one of her favorites, beaded embroidery.
Kara Seay
Kara has been designing and making jewelry for almost 16 years. Her background in Interior Design gives her a great sense of color and balance for designing jewelry. Kara loves to use semi-precious stones and Bali sterling silver beads. Inspired by the great selection of components at Let's Bead!, Kara challenges herself to come up with one of a kind designs, which are frequently on display in the store. Kara does much of her designing at Let's Bead!, but her favorite time to bead is when her house is quiet, which doesn't happen too often with two young boys!
Jean York
Jean began designing and creating jewelry seven years ago when she was looking for a project she and her daughter, Kaylyn, could do together. She enjoyed it so much she started attending bead shows and taking classes. A few years later, she decided to open Let's Bead!, which is now entering its fifth year. Jean has tried her hand at several styles of beading, but enjoys constructing chain maille weaves the most. "I admire the results of techniques like off-loom seed bead work, but I prefer the instant gratification of chain maille. I can complete a piece in a short period of time." And as the owner of a bead shop, mother of a teenager, and collector of yet-to-be-completed seed bead projects, quick projects satisfy the beader within.
Website photography by David Hoffend