By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
On her fourth decade of creative adventures and a serious beader since 1997, Deni Whaley this month reached an artistic pinnacle.
Her innovative scented beaded beads are the featured cover story in the August issue of Bead and Button Magazine, a top glossy publication for avid bead-lovers around the world. The cover photo features a rainbow creation she made six years ago and inside her step-by-step article lays out the basics of recreating her idea.
Getting top billing surprised her for an idea she pitched last fall, got approval for around Christmas and wrote up this spring. She just found out recently that her necklace, one of four she sent to magazine staff at their Milwaukee, Wis. headquarters for photos, would be the cover art.
"This was such a surprise," said the Blair Township resident of being on the cover. "You don't get extra pay for it but it's a real bonus."
Sue Oseland, owner of Osiris Beads in Traverse City, noted that the prominent placement of the project and photo was an artistic coup for Whaley.
"They're always looking for something original, something exciting to put in their magazine," she said. "So many people see this magazine; there are a couple of other trade magazines but this is actually the one that's been around the longest."
Whaley conceived of scented beaded beads as a recycling idea. Awash in desiccant containers from blood pressure medication bottles, Whaley one day pried the cap off of one.
"I thought, 'Oh, I could do something with these!'" she recalled. "The idea clicked and it went really quick."
Whaley emptied the container, placed a cotton ball inside and added a drop of essential oil for fragrance. Using bugle beads and seed beads, she beaded the outside of the container, eventually working out an intricate pattern that was aesthetically pleasing and could be easily reproduced. She also beads around softer desiccant containers the same size, filling them with any fragrant herb such as lavender.
Whaley then strings the beads together into a necklace into fragrant, wearable piece of art.
"They drape well, it's really comfortable to wear," she noted of the scented bead necklaces, her favorite being the rainbow one. "They're the ultimate party girl beads, I wear it to Pearl's [restaurant in Elk Rapids] on Fat Tuesday."
Whaley also sells the beads individually at area bead shops for resale. She finds these sales are more lucrative per unit than selling complete creations because people often balk at the price of a complete piece of jewelry.
"Most people think bead work is just something ladies do, they don't see the artistry in it," Whaley said.
Whaley, who had a different how-to article published in Bead and Button Magazine in 2003, taught the scented bead technique at both the magazine's 2004 and 2005 annual shows.
"It's an odd number of beads at the center, 23, so I have to fudge it a bit," Whaley said.
Whaley is disabled because of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and supplements her income with her bead work as well as teaching beading locally, around the state and at shows in Pennsylvania this year. The low-key activity allows her to sit down, a key factor because of her minimal lung capacity.
An active member of the Bay Area Bead Guild, Whaley enjoys the give and take exchange of ideas and techniques by members. Terming the guild "an excellent place to learn," she and another guild member have been taking their knowledge on the road to students. They taught basic beading classes in area schools and hope the guild's program expands during the next school year.
"We're just trying to get young people interested in making art," said Whaley, who also likes to bead in coffeehouses as a change from her home. "People see something like this necklace and say, 'Oh, my God, I could never do something like that. But it all starts with threading a needle."