A love of colour and creativity
When Barb Linkert found beading, she found her passion for creativity
BARB LINKERT
had exhausted a long list of creative pursuits before that fateful day, 10 years ago, but none had felt quite right. Knitting? It didn’t stick. Stained glass? Same.
But while on the hunt for a few beads to decorate another project, Linkert, who last year celebrated her 50th anniversary as a nurse at the Hamilton General, stepped inside Beads of Colour in downtown Dundas — a shop that closed its doors just this past March — and found more than the embellishments she’d been seeking. She found her artistic self, too. Because intrigued by the art form, she signed up for a class and was immediately hooked.
“Debi (Keir-Nicholson) was very encouraging to me,” Linkert, 75, says of the shop’s owner. “I didn’t want to do anything like everybody else did — I had my own ideas. I would learn a technique and then I would go with it and put my own personal touch into it. And that was great. She made me kind of see that I could just be me and be creative and I just loved it.”
In her downtown condo packed with eclectic furniture and finds, Linkert handles a sculptural statement necklace she toiled over for no fewer than 80 hours. Approximately 8,000 tiny beads in punchy shades of red, orange and turquoise, were painstakingly hand-sewn into a multitude of linked triangles, finishing in a gleaming turquoise stone pendant. The result is a unique piece only to be worn by the fashion adventurous.
“At the bead store we had a gettogether every month and we’d pick a project out,” says Linkert, who worked at Beads of Colour one day a week after semi-retiring from her nursing job. “So we all did that pattern, but it was how each person interpreted it. The necklace looked totally different than the one that we were using the pattern from.”
And because Linkert invests so much time and energy into her pieces — like the multi-strand turquoise and sterling silver necklace she designed, created and wears here — when she chooses one for an outfit, she likes it to stand out. Which means that even though she loves bright colour, she tends to keep a lot of black and white and other neutrals in her closet, like the mauve Bryn Walker tie-dye linen top and matching pants she wears here from Kari’s of Ancaster. That way, the jewelry piece is sure to take centre stage. But asymmetrical lines and pops of hot pink and deep turquoise are also staples in Linkert’s closet.
“The girls at work, they said to me, when you get dressed up, you’re totally a different person,” says Linkert, a confessed people person who says she was born to be a nurse. “Because I like big pieces, I like pieces that are out there. As you can see, I like glasses. I’m not afraid to wear something that somebody else (wouldn’t).”
Linkert adds another bit of sparkle to her outfit with a silver chain mail cuff she also created, turquoise drop earrings by Stephanie King Design and eyeglasses from Hanley’s Eyewear Boutique in Ancaster. And she tops off her look with a pair of FLY London Piat Wedge Pumps from David Williams Shoes in Dundas.
“It was how each person interpreted it. The necklace looked totally different than the one that we were using the pattern from.” BARB LINKERT
Most eye catching piece
My glasses. These are Sabine Be from Paris … and I bought them at Hanley’s (Eyewear Boutique in Ancaster).
Quirkiest wardrobe item
I might say that necklace. That triangle one. Because that’s pretty crazy ...
Someone will say, ‘oh, I would never wear that’ and I’ll say ‘well, that’s probably why you’re not.’ You know, I know they mean well. I know what they mean. They don’t feel comfortable.
But people who know me know that I wear what I want and I don’t care what anyone else thinks ...
I like the shape. I like triangles. And I like that it’s big and bold and out there and it certainly gets noticed when I wear it.
Wardrobe must have
I must have black and white in my wardrobe at all times … I like the fact that it is a neutral palette and ... it’s a great colour for me to show off my pieces.
Best purchase
I remember buying a strand of beautiful crystal beads and also, a strand of onyx. Beautiful shape. And I think those were a couple of my best buys in the jewelry line.
Regrets buying
I don’t think I regret anything I bought … I might have regretted the price but I’ve always been happy that I bought it. Sometimes I have to step away from it and think, do I really need it? But I can talk myself into anything. Oh yeah, I do need it. OK.
Loves to shop at
I like to shop at Olsen’s boutique (inside Hudson’s Bay) up at Lime Ridge Mall. I buy a lot of clothes there. Kari’s of Ancaster — she has beautiful clothes. And then there’s a store in Oakville that I like to go to called Zahara’s (Boutique) — they carry a lot of linen … that’s a nice shop, as well.
Ridding her closet of
Every spring and every fall, I’ll go through clothes that I maybe haven’t worn for the last year or so. And as hard as it is, because I still really like them, I’m thinking ‘OK, I can’t wear all these.’ So I will take them out and quickly give them to the cancer or the diabetic society and I find that I have to get them out rather quickly because otherwise I look at them again and I go, ‘oh I might wear that.’
Splurges on
Beads. Beads. And clothes. I like nice trousers. I mean, I like everything — I do like dresses. I find that people don’t wear dresses enough and so last year I bought three or four dresses and I’ve worn them all because I think they’re feminine ... but I like them asymmetrical again, really fashion forward, different lines.
Beauty item she can’t live without
I love my lipsticks. Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge in Jezebel.
“I’m not afraid to wear something that somebody else wouldn’t.” BARB LINKERT