MISSION
The Center for Beadwork
& Jewelry Arts is committed to the teaching of beadwork and jewelry-making
from a skills-development and -applications approach. The CBJA strives,
in its program, for a high degree of integrity, a comprehensive curriculum
and a strong adherence to the developmental and ongoing needs of its
students. The CBJA offers a wide selection of orientation, core, and
elective courses.
What Will You Learn?
The CBJA offers courses,
for all levels of beaders and jewelry-makers, in the following areas:
- Bead Stringing, including Attaching Clasps, Pearl Knotting
- Bead Weaving, including Peyote, Brick, Loom, Right Angle Weave,
and other bead-weaving stitches
- Wire-Working and Wire-Wrapping
- Art & Craft as a Business
- General Co-Curricular Skill Areas, including Beads and Color, Texture
and Materials, Jewelry Design, Strap/Edge/Fringe, and Embellishment
- Silver Smithing
- Fiber Arts, including Bead Crochet, Bead Knitting, Micro-Macrame,
and Hemp Braids and Knots
What Will You Experience?
Learn basic, intermediate
and advanced level skills for working with beads or making jewelry.
Learn skills developmentally, rather than in an ad hoc basis. Learn
skills in an organized comparative and contextual approach.
What Commitment
Will I Have To Make?
Most courses are 2-3 hours,
some are 4. A smaller number are longer. Most courses are electives.
Some have prerequisites. You can take as many or as few as you'd like.
We have tried to schedule
these courses such that each will be offered at least once during
each 3-month quarter of the year.
What Does It Cost?
Most beginning classes
are $30-35.00 instructional fee. Supplies are additional. For the
beginning classes, we provide the tools you will need.
Some classes, like silversmithing
and lampworking cost around $400.00 - $600.00 plus some incidentals.
When are Classes
Offered?
Most classes are offered
on Saturdays. Other Classes are offered during the day and in the
evenings, Monday through Saturday.
Special workshops are usually
scheduled on weekends.
If 3 or more students are
interested in a particular class, we can arrange a special time, convenient
for the students and the teacher.
Which Class Do
I Take FIrst?
The first class we require
everyone to take is called Orientation To Beads & Jewelry Findings.
This first class is offered once or twice each month, and usually
fills very quickly. The Orientation class is free, but it is a 2 1/2
hour commitment.
Classes here are taught
in a general order. After the Orientation, you would take the beginning
class in any Interest Area of your choosing. We have several Interest
Areas, such as "bead weaving", "bead stringing"
and "wire working." Each Interest Area has its own sequencing
of classes.
If you are interested in
more than one Interest Area, you would begin the sequence of classes
in each one.
How Do I Register
For Classes?
You register class by class,
and not for the program as a whole.
You can register by phone
or in person at Be Dazzled Beads. All classes require a deposit, which
is nonrefundable. At the time of registration, you would pay the deposit
to secure a place.
Please register at least
3-5 days ahead of time.
Where Can I Find
Out Information About Class Schedules and Requirements?
Current Schedule of Classes
You can find a current
schedule of classes by going to this web-page:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/beadschool
At the top left, click on the link that says MESSAGES
Then pull up one of the last messages that reads NEXT CBJA COURSES/HAPPENINGS
We send out an email every
week with the current schedule. You are welcome to JOIN this Yahoo
Group to receive this email.
All courses and workshops
have limited enrollments. Deadlines for enrollment, unless otherwise
specified, are at least 5 days in advance. Because of limited enrollments
and enrollment deadlines, it is advisable for the student interested
in enrolling in any particular course or workshop should do so at
their earliest convenience.
Where are Classes
offered?
Most classes are taught
at Be Dazzled Beads, 718 Thompson Lane, Ste 123, Nashville, TN 37204.
SeeMAP.
Occasionally, some classes
are offered off-campus at James Alfred Jones Studios, or other studio
spaces.
For more information, link
here: Location, Lodging, Access by Car, Plane
What Kinds of Supplies
and Tools Will I Need?
For each class, the supply
requirements are specified in the course descriptions which are posted
on the CBJA website, as well as on clipboards on a rack in Be Dazzled
Beads. In addition, we list Recommended supplies, books, tools for
beginner beaders and jewelry makers.
Instructional fees do not
include the costs of supplies.
A few classes have kits
that may be purchased. Otherwise the student may bring their own materials,
or purchase them at Be Dazzled Beads.
Occasionally some classes
also require a Laboratory Fee.
