Throughout human history, free-sliding beads have been used to both calculate populations and populate barren wristlands. Add some decorative density to your humanistic habitat with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of classes at Bead + Fiber in South End. Though materials are not included with class enrollment, students are entitled to 10% off any purchases they make in Bead + Fiber's storefront space.
Bead + Fiber's bevy of classes, such as knitting, felting, fiber hooking, and silk-scarf painting, help students produce chic creations that accessorize wardrobes with individual flair. Wire Work 101, for example, educates attendees on how to bedeck ears with beaded danglers and wire-wrapped baubles ($40 plus materials). Among many topics, students can swing through for tutorials such as Knotting with Pearls ($40 plus materials), Charming ($60 plus materials), and the production of Whirling Loop Bracelets ($40 plus materials). For the resourcefully radiant, there's also the Repurpose Your Jewelry class, which encourages recycling, upcycling, and bicycling while wearing aerodynamic jewelry ($60 plus materials).
Bead + Fiber
Sharing a single art studio with 65 other artists, while inspiring, can get a bit crowded. So when the owner of the renovated factory building in the South End decided to renovate another nearby building, bead crocheter Andrea Garr put her dreams of opening her own studio and bead store into action, and Bead + Fiber was born. Wielding multihued beads, a fine selection of specialty yarns, tools and jewelry-making materials picked up from her travels around the globe, Garr sells her creations as well as those of the other teachers and instructs students on how to make their own, whether it's a pair of elegant earrings for a wedding or a retractable necklace for a fashion-forward pet turtle. A lifelong artist, Garr revels in the rhythm and meditative vibe of crocheting beads as well as the seemingly endless possibilities of making your own jewelry.