Rebeca Mojica – Artist, Instructor, and Owner
Rebeca is responsible for developing new kits & instructions, designing jewelry, crunching lots of numbers, and setting goals and visions for the overall direction of the company. Not to mention the numerous other nuances of being a small business-owner. Being right- and left-brained, she loves it all!
Rebeca Mojica is an author, instructor and award-winning chainmaille artist. She is a contributing editor to Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine and the author of an instructional jewelry book, Chained, (North Light Books, 2010).
A graduate from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Rebeca worked in media relations and nonprofit development for seven years. She managed several of the most successful PR and fundraising campaigns ever for various businesses and nonprofits. Though her accomplishments made her happy, in the back of her head was a nagging feeling that she wanted "to do something with [her] hands." So she quit her job, spent a summer working at Interlochen Arts Camp, and then backpacked through a dozen European countries. After six months of travel and working odd jobs for room and board, she settled down and lived for a year as an au pair in Germany.
While at a German Renaissance Faire, Rebeca saw several people wearing chainmaille belts. She couldn't find any place to buy them, so she decided to make one herself, thus awakening her passion. Today she knows more than 100 weaves, including a dozen of her own creation, and has a diverse portfolio of both upscale and accessible jewelry.
She is the pre-eminent chainmaille instructor in the Midwest, and has taught students from around the world. In addition to teaching at Caravan Beads and Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago, Briolette Beads in Forest Park, and Ayla's Originals in Evanston, she has taught at the Bead&Button Show and has been a guest instructor for the Fashion Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Rebeca is a member of the Chicago Craft Mafia and Chicago Metal Arts Guild. Projects she's designed have appeared in Chain Mail Jewelry and 30 Minute Necklaces, both instructional books by Lark Publishing; Wirework 2010 magazine; Art Jewelry Magazine and Step by Step Wire Jewelry magazine. Her micromaille necklace Poseidon's Embrace was a 3rd place winner in the Finished Jewelry category of the international Bead Dreams 2009 competition—marking the first time a chainmaille design was juried into the finals. Her work has appeared on CLTV and in The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.
When she is not weaving maille or running the business, Rebeca enjoys cooking (especially baking bread 
), working out, and contemplating quantum physics and fractal cosmology.
Contact Rebeca at rebeca@bluebuddhaboutique.com.
To learn more about Rebeca, view her work and buy your own Rebeca Mojica creation, please visit her website at rebecamojica.com.
