| Beaded Pouch | Mom's Tulip | Peyote Necklace | Peyote Amulet Bag |
I fell in love with beads at an early age. I didn't do much with them, I just liked to look at them and run my fingers through them.
One year I got an Indian Bead Loom for either Christmas or my birthday. I played with it a little, but found it a bit frustrating and put it away.
Years later, my daughter was doing a section on Native Americans. She was in second grade and got really interested in it (we are part Native American) and begged to attend the local Indian PowWow a few weeks later. The rest is history. There was booth after booth of beaded objects and booths offering beads and beading supplies for sale. I had money in my pocket, and a little girl that was as fascinated with the colors and sparkle as I was. That coupled with all the Natives in their fabulously beaded clothing was a combination that couldn't be avoided. We went home with a loom, books of patterns and directions, and strings of beads. We never looked back.
I found another type of bead loom at the local bead shop. It was bigger than the standard Indian bead loom, and could do more than just seed beads. I spent a year working on a piece to applique onto a pouch I made from deerskin and rabbit hide. I have the elk and moose hides to make a pair of high top moccasins, just as soon as I find just the right beading pattern to bead the toes with.
I fell in love with the local bead shop, and they offer classes in one form of beading or another. A few years ago my sister and I took a wrapped wire jewelry class for our birthdays (they are 10 days apart and the class was on my birthday). This restarted the jewelry craze that I let slide after making a lot of beaded earring kits. A year or so after that, one of the Beading magazine that I buy now and then had a feature article on French beaded flowers. I read it avidly and put it aside for further contemplation. A few days later the shop's newsletter arrived, and they were offering a series of classes on French beaded flowers! There goes another time and money sink. It was a series of four classes, making four different flowers. I gave the first, a pink tuplip to my mother as a get well gift when she had knee replacement surgery. The other three: a yellow and orange spider mum, a tiger lily, and a spray of poppies; sits in a vase on my desk. I also made Mom a purple African violet for Christmas that year. More were and are to follow.
I belong to the EGA. They are an embroidery guild and offer correspondence courses on a number of embroidery techniques. I took two courses on beading. One course was peyote stitch, this course I finished and sent in for evaluation by the instructor. The other course was on comanche stitch. I finished the amulet bag for this one but didn't get the vase done in time so I didn't send anything in for evaluation. The vase is still waiting to be finished.
| Beaded Pouch | Mom's Tulip | Peyote Necklace | Peyote Amulet Bag |