Class Instructors

Rebeca Mojica is a full-time artist who has designed dozens of one-of-a-kind chainmaille jewelry pieces as well as functional maille, such as light fixture pull-chains. She sells her work both locally and internationally. One of Rebeca’s projects is featured in the new Chain Mail Jewelry book by Lark Publishing. She will also be teaching several classes at the 2007 Bead & Button show.

Colette Quackenbush has a B.A. in Graphic Design, with a background in textiles and fashion. She brings her designer’s eye and hand skills to the art of jewelry making, particularly knotting and wire-wrapping. She enjoys teaching technique to her students and hopes to pass on the joy of beading.

Jan Atherton has a B.A. in Visual Communications (Animation) from Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland. She has a lifelong interest in textiles. As well as her intricate jewelry making, she enjoys sprinkling her beads into her knitting and embroideries like fairy dust.

Vanessa Walilko has been fiddling with her fingers since she was a kid and loves creating meticulously detailed bead and chain work. She is a Gold Medal winner of the 2008 Fire Mountain Gems and Beads Annual Beading Contest and two of her earlier designs were chosen as finalists in 2005 and 2007. She has been making chainmaille with Blue Buddha Boutique since 2006 and has her own jewelry line, Gianessa Designs.

Nilda Carlo's lifetime of design esthetics and a long apprenticeship with a master of feng shui provides her with the tools that make her designs inviting, attractive and unique. She is inspired by people’s stories and the living and working spaces that define them.