Lil Taugher of Lazycatbeads was a joy to have as our presenter on February 25, 2025.
The name of her company, LazyCatBeads, is a clue to her original media: handmade lampwork glass beads. Lil loves color and glass making lampwork beads make for a great combination! She’s created beads for over 15 years for jewelry designers and now designs her own.
In 2023, Lil started playing with making journals, which led to making paper, which led to bookbinding, which led to making boxes, or “cartonnage.” She fell in love with the process and its tactile quality which provides a calming, zen feeling. Cartonnage involves a lot of math and diagrams in order to calculate the sizes of papers and boards you’ll need. It takes 11 pieces of 90° cut bookboard, 16 pieces of carefully measured imported papers, and many hours to construct one of her 3.5 square inch boxes.
Lil came prepared with samples of her materials and walked them around for all of us to see and feel. The papers Lil uses are Lokta from Nepal and Chiyogami from Japan. Chiyogami is a smooth-finished silkscreen patterned paper used to decorate the outside of the box. Lokta paper lines the inside of the box and comes from mulberry trees. Lotka feels textured and fibrous. Lil finds her supplies on Etsy and Hollander’s online shop.
Lil is an active member of the Cedarburg Artists Guild and invited us to see live in action at Covered Bridge Studio Art Tour in Cedarburg October 10-12, 2025. LazyCatBeads is a regular at the annual Milwaukee Bead Show. Find out more about Lil’s beads and Japanese boxes at her Etsy shop or website, lazycatbeads.com.
