Lately, I've been immersed in my life's obsession: beads. I've loved beads ever since I was a little girl. I used to string plastic beads onto leather, and make bracelets and necklaces. I even had a
bead loom, that I wish now I could find again, and made patterned friendship bracelets. As I grew older, my materials grew more sophisticated, from plastic and elastic, to leather and faux pearls, to wire and glass, to precious metals and semi-precious stones. The techniques have gotten more complicated too, from simple knotting when I was a child, to forging my own chain now as an adult.
I took a year-long break from beading when I moved from an apartment to a house and had Thomas, but I'm finally getting back into it. For me, it's one of the most satisfying things in the world to master a technique, to design and execute the perfect setting, to wear what I've made and have it coordinate seamlessly with my ensemble.
Lucky for me, a few weeks ago a friend of mine referred one of her neighbors to me for a restringing and restyling service for her beads. I was ecstatic! Here's a glimpse of what I've done so far:
These are the beads she sent me. She asked me to restyle them into something more fun.
So, I made flowers,
a cute bracelet,
sexy earrings,
a funky larait,
and a long, feminine necklace (ignore the mess).
There are still so many beads that I have yet to unstring; this is only the beginning. I can't wait to do more! I am so in my element. I've been thinking for a couple years now about making a living from this, but with people cutting back on luxuries, we'll see. Meanwhile, I'll keep thinking about the perfect name. Any suggestions would be appreciated! I don't want anything with the words "design", "creations", "original", or the phrase "one of a kind" in it. Too cliched. I was thinking about a punny name, like St. Bead.
I've bubbled long enough. It's back to work for me. To my American friends, have a very happy Fourth of July.
Comments (9)
Love the flower necklaces.
A la MJ..."Bead it, just Bead it..."
"To bead or not to bead"
"Bead Yourself"
"Bead the best you can bead"
"Unbeadable"
"Beadles"
I like the earrings.
Thanks for stopping by the pub, you are most welcome anytime.
Maybe you could try something on etsy? It's really cheap to get started, something like 20 cents per month per item listed.. I used to love working with beads, but turned to crocheting because there's less of a chance of the little ones getting into yarn.
Cool. My aunt actually creates beads and she's amazing at what she does. You can check out her stuff: http://www.beadsofpassion.net (I don't mean to "spam" you or anything, I'm just really proud of her work and since you like beads, you should at least look at 'em if/when you get a chance, haha).
@TheSecretLifeOfPandas - @aahcoffee - Thanks!
@DoulosXristou - I should've known I could count on the Pun Master to spin out some clever ones. You're awesome, Chris.
@corazon_apasionado - I've considered Etsy. There's a lot of competition on there, so it'd be mostly a matter of branding. I tried to crochet once, with terrible results.
@yourheadispunk - I enjoyed looking at her site. She is, indeed, very talented. I love the skeleton keys!
Nice beads! (^_^) I love them too as bracelets. Some necklaces, if they're big enough haha.
Well, I'm just randomly visiting my subscribers. Thanks for the sub! Keep in touch. I could still recall our Xanga Idol days haha ;)