Thousands of tiny beads go into Tasmanian artist Asha Martin’s ornate creations

Asha Martin threads beads in an assortment of colours, styles and shapes to create unique art and jewellery.

Adjacent to her workbench is a trestle table crammed with her creations.

Ornate necklaces and earrings lay like tributes at the feet of a sizeable blue beaded dragon.

“Beastie [the dragon] is a work in progress that I’ve been working on … with a passion for about eight years running now,” Martin says.

So adept is Martin at her art, she can simultaneously bead and explain with ease what she’s doing.

“So you want to put your two dragon wings next to each other and now I’ll pick up some of these copper beads,” she says.

“Thread them all the way down and we’re…