By now many of you may have become aware of a new presence at Eureka Crystal Beads over the last month and a half. At the end of January Leah Wyckoff came aboard as our new Design Project Coordinator, and we thought you might want to learn a little bit more about her and what she’ll be doing!

Leah’s background with beads and jewelry started all the way back in the mid 90’s. She honed her skills for jewelry-making and jewelry instruction when she began working at one of her local bead stores back in 1998 and where she stayed for the next 12 years. During that time was when she also accrued an Associates Degree in Fine Arts from Bristol Community College and then a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Design from The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. What was her concentration? Why, Jewelry and Metalsmithing of course! In addition to putting in her time working bead-retail, she also worked for 5 years as Primary Bench Jeweler for a local goldsmith in Rhode Island. In additional to these and various other occupations, both jewelry-related and not, she has always focused on her own beading and jewelry production that she does out of the comfort of her home-studio. Leah’s work has also been featured in several beading magazine publications as well as a compilation book.

As Design Project Coordinator you can expect for Leah to continue to bring you many more YouTube tutorial videos, exciting Facebook Live posts, informative Blog posts, dazzling new kits designs, and more!

Leah’s favorite techniques are wire-wrapping fine gauged wire with gemstones and freshwater pearls and utilizing off-loom bead weaving techniques (like Peyote stitch) around un-drilled Swarovski crystals.

Some of Leah’s favorite Eureka Crystal Beads website products are the brand new 2mm and 3mm faceted gemstones beads that she loves utilizing in her own sterling silver and 14k gold-filled jewelry production at home, and our assortments of unique custom coated Swarovski Crystal rivolis! **Want to know her current favorite rivoli color? Click HERE to find out!!**

“I’m so thrilled to be here. It’s a total dream to be able to creatively work with beads and crystals all day long!”  -Leah