The Accidental Beader

How did you get started with beading? Did you have a magical moment when you said, “Gee, beading looks like a fun hobby. I think I’ll give it a try...”?

I didn’t. No magical moments, shooting stars, or visions into the future calling me to a life of beading. I guess I would say I was an “accidental” beader, slowly dipping my foot into the “beading pool” before I took the proverbial plunge! It wasn’t that I didn’t like jewelry – NO – I spent plenty of time looking for jewelry to purchase, but I just couldn’t find what I was looking for. I traveled a fair amount, and I was always looking for jewelry to match my work wardrobe, but I could never find exactly the right color, style, or quality I wanted.

After returning from one particular trip with a carry-on bag full of bejeweled impulse-buys that wouldn’t survive more than a couple of wears, I decided it couldn’t be too hard to make things myself. I was a creative person, right? I could put some beads on a string and attach a do-hicky so it wouldn't fall off my neck, right? I could put little beads on some stretchy string and tie a knot, couldn’t I? So, before I knew it, I had a roll of stretchy string and some round beads, which I strung up (but not before loosing more than a few on the floor) and wore proudly on my wrist! It wasn’t long before I was stringing on wire, adding findings, and investigating all different types of beading.

I was working on a Kumihimo project the other day and my son said, “Mom, how come you started with beading, and then you went to polymer clay, and now you are doing braiding?” Of course, my answer was simple: “because I can.” Beading offers so many ways to explore your creativity in so many different ways. And combining different techniques makes the creative possibilities endless and exciting. While I thought my son was observant in his question, I snickered to myself about the things I’ve explored that he didn’t mention: bead weaving, chain maille, bead crochet, precious metal clay…and the list goes on. There's no turning back - I'm hooked!