Kathy Hunting is a jewelry maker living in Point Reyes Station, California. Here, she is making calla lily beads.
Welcome to Early Bird Beads! I create polymer clay beads to make one-of-a-kind necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. No two of my handmade beads are exactly alike, giving a very personal and dynamic feel to my jewelry.
My desire to create must have been waiting to emerge, because all it took was one gift lesson in 2011 at my local bead shop, and I was irreversibly hooked. Designing jewelry gave me an artistic outlet that contrasted with my day job (at the time) as a professor of environmental health and epidemiology. Within a year after taking up beading, I discovered polymer clay. Working with polymer clay is always an adventure, and I’m continuing to develop my techniques and create new designs.
I am now retired and living in beautiful Point Reyes Station, California with Jeff Deitchman, who photographs the jewelry on this site. We are both birders—thus the inspiration for Early Bird Beads. You might divine from my many botanical designs that my other passion is gardening.
Ann Riley (www.ann-riley.com) painted my logo, a robin pulling up the perfect string of beads. I hope you find your ideal piece of jewelry here too, and enjoy wearing my creations or giving them as gifts. -kh
