Peyote pendant, 1982
Do you spend time reading beaders’ blogs? I admit that it’s one of my guilty pleasures. There are some fantastic beading blogs out in cyberspace. The level of talent ranges from experienced bead artists to fresh, new beadwork made by people who are just coming into this craft. Beading blogs give me insight into other artists’ creative processes. I especially enjoy seeing pictures of studios and reading beaders’ comments about keeping materials organized. Blogs that I find most delightful are written by new beaders — you know, the newly infected. They post pics of bracelets they’ve just finished with details about seed bead colors. I love reading about the feeling of accomplishment and glee that new beaders experience. They feed everyone’s enthusiasm!
Over the holidays, one of my oldest and bestest friends, Sherry C. , sent me an e-mail and a photo of a pair of beaded earrings that I had made for her long ago. I’m telling you, it was so long ago that I had forgotten making them. It truly touched my heart that after all these years, Sherry still has these earrings. I took a few moments and looked closely at those earrings. They reeled me back in as I thought about their simplicity. Searching for a lesson in these simple earrings, I concluded that in beading (or any other craft), we all start somewhere.
Lessons learned from an old pair of earrings
In my bead stash, I have a couple of small, plastic containers that contain bits and remnants of old bead work and beads from the ’70s. When I was a child, my momma owned a small craft store in the little Arizona town where I grew up. I still have some seed beads from that store, along with old bead work. As I pulled our these tangled bits and pieces, I realized that the beaders of 2010 have an embarrassment of riches.
Beaders have access to the finest beads made
Looking at the beads that were available 30 years ago, well, the quality was … awful. Seed beads sold in craft stores usually came from Taiwan and were cheaply made with finishes that rubbed off and faded. Culling through beads to remove all the poorly shaped ones could become a past time in itself. If I wanted to find quality seed beads, I had to travel to the San Carlos Apache Tribe reservation trading post. The tribal store sold beautiful Czech charlottes on hanks, but only in a few colors. I could not even dream of the colors that we now have. Just think about the abundance of beads sold by Beyond Beadery!
Technology gives beaders incredible threads and beading cable
My old bead work was stitched with heavy, white nylon thread. Using beeswax to coat the thread was absolutely necessary because the thread shredded horribly on the sharp, irregular seed beads.
Here’s a true story: Beaders used waxed dental floss for thread when nylon thread wasn’t available. The up side to this is that the bead work had a fresh minty scent!
Beaders have so many learning resources
The picture for this blog shows a peyote pendant that I made decades ago. I had learned peyote stitch and was just figuring out how to increase and decrease. Back then, there weren’t any beading magazines or books; you just had to figure out what you were doing on your own. Think about the vast amount of information about beading that we have available now. No wonder beading is so popular!
Stores filled with Swarovski crystal beads — only in my dreams!
In my last blog, I talked about going to New York City and visiting the sparkling K. Gottfried store. Seeing all that Swarovski has to offer in beads is mind blowing. I would have never been able to fathom such creations when I was a young beader. In those days, I would frequent thrift stores and buy old costume jewelry. By taking apart broken costume jewelry, I was able to reclaim some crystal beads. I would have never imagined buying the strands of Swarovski double AB finish beads that I own today!
Besides thinking all of the beading resources and materials that we have available now — imagine the Internet, I mean, really! — this type of reflection feeds my soul. A “journey” into my own beading history takes me back to Arizona, my childhood and family there; the sights, scents, and sounds of the desert; and all the people I met and know. It’s the perfect place to “go” when sitting down with a needle, thread, and beautiful 21st century beads.
One thing is for certain, I’ve got to make Sherry another pair of earrings!
Maggie Roschyk is an accomplished beadwork and jewelry artist who teaches jewelry making and publishes articles about designing jewelry. She loves teaching aspiring artists and seeing the "aha" moment in their eyes. Her goal is to inspire others to look beyond the empirical moment and strive to create beaded art that reflects their individualism.