The theme for the competition, for the first time run through the New Zealand Glass Bead Artists (NZGBA), was ‘translation – translate your world’.
“It’s fantastic and winning this means I’m the best bead maker in the country,” she says. “I’m thrilled.”
The good news kept coming for the full-time bead creator and tutor when she was voted as president of the NZGBA.
“The NZGBA is the first chapter outside the International Society of Glass Beads in the United States to open, so it’s great for us here in New Zealand.”
A group of about 15 bead lovers, makers and tutors gathered at the Annie Rose Studio in Whangarei for the week.
“If you stick a bunch of creative types together, you’re going to get some pretty funny stuff,” says Mrs Harvey, of Bucklands Beach.
“We were going out for coffee and a bunch of them dressed up head-to-toe in poodle outfits. It was hilarious.”
Having a beading business of her own called Born to Bead meant she was able to attempt her Fragile piece a few times before submitting it as an entry for the competition.
Her final piece took three-and-a-half hours to create and was inspired by the shift in Antarctica’s Wilkins Ice Shelf.
“In the bead it shows the icebergs coming into other areas of the world.”
She also received highly commended for her other bead A Day in My Garden.
“Those who understand beading will know that just to do a butterfly in a bead takes a really long time.”
Explaining the many layers and intricate detail that go into a single piece, Mrs Harvey says people are still adjusting to the idea this type of bead work is “a work of art”.
“It’s worth something,” she says. “All my beads are handmade, unique and take hours, as opposed to a mass made bead from Asia.”
• For bead-making lessons, or to see Mrs Harvey’s work, visit www.borntobead.co.nz or phone 535-2280.
