Stephanie Reisenbuchler

We have a new instructor at the Rock, Gem and Silver Club. Kathy Norman is a self-taught artist who has been involved with a variety of crafts, first starting with pottery and having her own studios while living in California and Oregon. She has been a Sun Lakes resident since 1997 and continued to pursue pottery and learned gourd carving at the Mesa Art Center. She enjoys free-style beading and bead weaving using a loom.

Kathy has just finished her first class, giving step-by-step directions and demonstrations for bead weaving. This beginning class will provide students with a handmade wooden loom, written instructions, bead weaving grid, thread, needles, and seed beads to get started. Students will make a bracelet and necklace which they will design with assistance from the instructor. The class will last four weeks and meet once a week for three hours. The cost is very reasonable, as the club is a volunteer organization and instruction is free of charge. The small fees collected are for the cost of materials only. The bead class cost is $30.

Classes for bead weaving as well as many other classes, such as stained glass, silver, lost wax, lapidary, gourds, wire wrapping, fused glass, PMC, and Ming trees, continue to be given throughout the year. During the summer months, there are fewer classes, but workshops will be open. Joining the club is simple. Go to the club website, slrgs.com, and download an application. Cost to join is $25 for the year, which starts in October. The website will list class descriptions, instructors, and schedules. You can contact the instructor to sign up with the phone numbers listed on the club website. Examples of club members’ work can be seen at the Cottonwood Country Club.