Strawberry Lady

This sweet Strawberry Lady was purchased at a local craft fair. She's about 4-1/2 inches tall and 4 inches wide at the top. So about the size of a large-ish coin purse. She is fully beaded on the front.

And mirror-imaged on the back! That's unusual. Most of my Ladies are fully beaded on one side only. Her handle is a 4-1/2 inch wristlet made of cording that perfectly matches the red beads.

The top is zippered. She has a full lining of red satin.

The leaves are made of bugle beads. They are first outlined, then filled in using a loose chevron pattern that contributes to the illusion of the leaves having veins.

The strawberry seeds are made of jet black seed beads, and surrounded in red seed beads in a pattern that looks a bit like fish scales. If I had to guess, the strawberry seeds were sewn into place first. Then starting at the top, the seeds were surrounded by the red beads, with each succeeding layer forming the U shape that makes the scales. Additional beads are tucked into any "holes" created by that U shape.

The beads are nice and densely packed and firmly attached. There's very very little ground fabric showing through. That, plus the lining, gives this beaded bag at least six layers. It feels plush ... really good and substantial in my hand. It doesn't feel like it's so delicate that it will easily fall apart.

Inside the Strawberry Lady I found three surprises. First, the business card. At the craft fair, I didn't get to meet the designer, but I did meet her husband who gave me her card.

My second surprise -- that I honestly never noticed until today! -- is this lovely designer label. It's a gold-colored label with red embroidered wording. It was difficult to take a good photo of it. The light bounced off the red lining and reflected back on the gold label.

The final surprise is that I kept the price tag. It's so difficult to believe that this incredible craftsmanship was available to me for only $15!

In an article from 2005, I learned designer Rina Fairchild is a native of Singapore who said she learned from her mother how to make beautiful hand-beaded purses. I couldn't find any indication that new beaded purse designs are available, but some used pieces periodically come up for auction on ebay. I feel blessed to have this wonderful piece of craftsmanship.

The current website does not appear to belong to the same artist. Instead, it shows beautifully crafted and photographed jewelry: rings, pendants, and earrings. Well worth checking out.