What's in Your Attic?

Two of my friends came upon a small gold box while cleaning their mother’s attic. Inside they discovered a length of small ivory pearls crocheted on variegated pastel cotton thread. It was loosely crocheted, allowing the soft pastel colored thread in pink, yellow, baby blue, and soft green to show through between the pearls. Imagine their surprise when they saw it – their mother frequently crocheted with yarn, but they didn’t know she knew how to crochet with beads!

My friends’ surprising find is just one example of the timeless art of beading. We’ve come a long way since early people strung shells on vines and hung them around their necks, but beading in one form or another has been around nearly as long as humans*. Contrary to some men’s opinions (including my husband’s), beading is not a fad. NO! Beading transcends time. Beading is eternal. Beading is an art form, a craft, a hobby, a therapy for some. Most importantly, beading brings people together - people from different walks of life, different beliefs, even different generations. Celebrate this holiday season beading with (or for) someone you love. What’s in your attic…?

*A Brief History Of Beading, Karen Vertigan Pope

Inventory Your Projects This Holiday Season

The holidays are upon us and what better time to take inventory of all the bead projects we’ve worked on this year. We’ve all taken some classes, learned some new stitches, and started LOTS of projects. I’m not embarrassed to say that I have my share of incomplete projects in the drawer. Every artist has to experiment, right? You have to try new things, sometimes dozens of times, before finding just the right design. There are necklaces I started only to run out of beads before finishing, new designs that just didn’t work out, a new bracelet obsession started in every color…and then there’s that Crystal Cuff bracelet I started for my sister’s birthday back in March…three years ago!

This holiday season, I’m making an early New Year’s resolution: to finish all - no, most - definitely some - of the projects I’ve started this year before starting anything new. Well, maybe just a few new things... After all, they make great holiday gifts!

Welcome to The Beader's Blog!

Welcome to the first edition of The Beader’s Blog. What do beaders blog about, you ask? Beads, of course! All kinds of beads – in different shapes, sizes, & colors, really cool tools, findings, threads & fibers, and the latest in beading supplies you can’t live without. Join me each week for tips, techniques, and perhaps some interesting bead facts... I’ll share secrets I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way!) as I’ve discovered beading as a craft and an art.

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