Monday, August 5, 2013

Introducing.....Patrick Duggan

I was delighted when Patrick accepted my invitation to be a Maven, I have gotten to know him through FB and regular chats, love his work and personality.  The thing with Patrick...he really needs to write tutorials, people are crying out for them and I hope the Mavens will help him take the next step into becoming a full on tutorial writer. 

It's great to see more men beading too, it really is just engineering with beads.  Anyway.....lets get to know..

Patrick Duggan


What did I do before beading? And what brought beading into my life?

I have always enjoyed being creative and have tried knitting, crochet, tatting, macramé as a young man but gave that away when I ceased finishing pieces. I then went in search of other forms of expression and tried adult leisure classes in pottery, sculpture, drawing, leadlight.
About 7 years ago a friend returned from Bangkok with some braided men’s wristbands. I hoped he would give me one but no such luck. 
Then one morning I woke and thought “make your own”. That was my discovery of beading. I did macramé then went into stringing and it was not until I learnt how to make a spiral rope that I knew I had discovered my passion and I am still passionate about bead-weaving.

What is my comfort zone?

I love size 11 and 15 seed beads so I guess I am very comfortable with these sizes. I don’t use a lot of size 8, only occasionally, and very rarely use size 6s. The smaller the better for me.


What aspect of beading do I find most challenging?

I create my designs and don’t wear them. I am often challenged as to how long a creation should be. I have made a feature piece that I think should be worn on the chest only to be asked if it could be lengthened and worn long.
I do struggle with this often. 


What would I most like to bead if I had the time and supplies?

I have a theory that men like bling and few would wear it. I would like to make a series of beautifully beaded shapes/pieces – not necessarily jewellery - that could be framed.
That way they could enjoy the bling and it would be wall art. I will get some done one day.


Who, if anyone, has influenced your style of beading?

I am not too sure I have been “influenced” by any one artist.
The first artist I was over the moon about was Marcia DeCoster. I bought her first book and devoured it. Laura McCabe’s technical skills and imagination inspire me. Eva Maria Kaiser’s beading I find incredibly intricate. Mikki Ferrugiaro’s sheer variety of creativity and output amazes me. 
I am a bead-weaver so I would say I am influenced by “weaving”.
I learn from what I see and I experiment a lot so many styles are in there.

If I could only use one bead weaving stitch which one would I choose and why?

It would have to be Cubic Right Angle Weave. It is an amazing building block and can create a myriad of shapes and lends itself to embellishment so well.


Do I have a favorite place to buy beads and supplies?

I buy from many different places and I am always looking for a bargain. My favourite seed beads are Czech so I search for reliable sources who have lots of great colours. There is a supplier in Melbourne called Cranberry that has a good selection of seed beads so I am slowly getting used to paying a bit more as I know I can get what I want fairly quickly and not have to wait for them to arrive from overseas.
A local store in Sydney, that is very close to my home. Popping over to pick up a crystal or gemstone is really convenient…..and dangerous as it is too easy to spend money!! 
They do not have a range of seed beads yet but are starting to import Miyuki, which will make it even more dangerous !!



MYSELF

I am 63 years of age and happily live alone in Sydney. I very much enjoy my artistic pursuits (beading), my home, my garden and I am set in my ways and wouldn’t inflict myself nor my habits upon anyone else. Too old to change as they say.
I am fortunate enough not to have to worry about earning from jewellery at this point in time so beading is for fun.
I am in semi-retirement working only two days a week in a job I have done for 31 years as a bookkeeper. I plan to finish working in the not too distant future and I will then make beading my livelihood.
One day I plan to write a book/books of my designs. Sharing how I do things is important I think, so that the art/skill doesn’t die with me.

Patrick is still in the process of setting up shop so we'll have his logo and link this week but if you want to see more right now here's a link to his personal blog.


I like to think of Patrick as a good friend and now you know a little of why...no, not because I'm on his list of inspirations (check's in the mail, Patrick). I'm sure after seeing a little of his work you agree he needs to be writing tutorials and it's my goal to help him do that.

We aren't deciding a winner in our guessing game (see Saturday;s post) until everyone is introduced so there's still chance for you to snag that $25 gift certificate.

Next up......ha! as if I'm going to give it away ;) Tune in tomorrow.

22 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Mavens...nice to see your story. Love your beadwork. Regarding your struggle for the perfect length...my ideal length with a medallion is something that hangs directly under my chin. It's personal preference. But I learned early on to make my necklaces the lengths I want and add the clasps separately so that if I sold them I could mess with just the clasp portion and lengthen them according to what the buyer wanted. Works for me anyway. :)

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    1. Thank you Jacquie, I also keep my work at a point where I am able to adjust the length with a minimum of fuss. I learnt my lesson BIG time when I had to adjust a multi strand necklace I made once. Wasn't that a pain!!!

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  2. Patrick I have been following your work on Facebook and love your designs. Mikki is right that you need to do tutorials. I have never mastered Cubic RAW and would love to work on that. Glad to see you as part of the Mavens. Mikki, another great addition, thank you!!

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    1. Thank you Jenni for your comment. I hope to help you with your CRAW once I master illustrating it.
      I am getting there

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  3. Thank you so much! I have been stalking Patrick's work for some time and it was good to get to know him a little better!

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  4. Jenni...you might want to check out Heather Collin's video in our list of tutorials in the left sidebar. Heather is a former Maven and graciously allowed me to keep her fabulous tut n the blog. I think it's the best tut out there for CRAW.

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  5. So happy to find you here also. I always admire your work on Facebook. Your designs are always inspirational and I enjoy seeing always something innovative. God Bless You for always sharing and letting us learn from you. Can't wait for all of your tutorials. Blessings from a Croatian in New York. Adrienne :)

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    1. Adrienne, many thanks for your feedback, I am glad you like my journey and my sharing it. Hopefully my contributions to Mavens will still keep you interested and keep you beading. I am excited about joining this group and look forward to learning from it myself.

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  6. I expected Patrick would be a maven and would have been disappointed if he hadn't been! As he already knows, I'm a big fan of Patrick's work and of Patrick in general. A talented, smart, lovely man! Good choice, Mikki!!

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    1. Sally you make me blush ;-)
      Thank you for your comments.

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  7. Congrats on becoming a Maven Patrick, I love the intricacy and colours in your work, and your designs always have a beautiful balance in them. So it's very nice to see you celebrated here, good call Mikki.

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    1. Wow Heather, thank you very much, this is a great compliment to receive from you, much appreciated.
      I hope I can live up to it. ;)

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  8. I'm so, so excited to be working with you! :) I've been admiring your phenomenal work for a while and I'm tickled pink to be a Maven alongside the great Patrick Duggan! You're truly an inspiration. This is gonna be a great year!

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  9. This IS going to be a great year Valorie and I am very pleased we are working together. Thank heavens my attitude to writing tutorials has recently changed. I had decided not to go in that direction as I wasn't enjoying writing them.
    Mikki asked me to be a Maven, I accepted, and last week when I designed "Tapestry" I actually WANTED to write the tutorial and am keen for its release.
    So what a BIG shift for me and now I can share it with others.

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    1. Once you start, you'll wonder why you waited so long. :)

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  10. And THAT makes me jump up and down Patrick :)

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  11. You have to start work on that book straight away Patrick! It will be a sellout!

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  12. Congratulations Patrick. I can't wait to see more things from you. Your fabulous talent and work is an inspiration to so many xxx

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  13. Patrick I too have been following your work on Facebook and love your designs. Never get tired of admiring your work. Mikki is right that you need to do tutorials.

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  14. Exciting times ahead! Congratulations Patrick.

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  15. Congrats! Patrick!! Very happy for you on becoming a Bead Maven. I can hardly wait to see more of your design! Love them all ~ beautiful colors and shapes!

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