Beads have been keeping Antoinette Wessels happy and grounded for decades. The Mission artist discovered her love for them when she was a teenager.
"I got very ill and there wasn't much I could do to fill my days until I discovered the little seedbeds and started playing with it," she recalled. "The more I got into it, the more I liked working with it."
Her first creations were bead earrings which she bestowed upon family and friends. Not only did she find something to do to pass her time in bed, she also learned her work could bring happiness to others.
Wessels creates each piece with different colours and textures.
"My passion is bead weaving. Working on a project bead by bead is very exciting."
When she begins a new project, she often doesn't know what it will be like when it's finished.
About a year ago, Wessels started making her own unique beads, and incorporates other pearls, crystals, and semi-precious gemstones into her pieces.
Wessels works out of a shop from her Mission home called Studio KiKaBoe. KiKaBoe has the same meaning as "peekaboo," which brings happiness and laughter, she explained. "People come to my studio and sometimes I don't hear the doorbell, and they look happy, with a big smile through the window.
Until the end of this week, work from Studio KiKaBoe is on display at the Mission Leisure Centre. For more information, visit the studio online at www.studiokikaboe.com.