Bewitched by Beads

There is something about the human brain that loves shiny small objects in all the colors of the spectrum. Whether it's marbles, mosaic tiles, polished pebbles or candy, we want to touch it, hold it, hoard it and love it.

The adult version of the candy store has got to be the bead store. Surely you can find every shape and size and color and texture of bead. And our inner pirate wants to possess every single one of them.

People have been stringing beads together from the dawn of time. Archeologists find them in Egyptian tombs, Aztec ruins and gravesites around the world. The first beads were probably bone, clay, seeds, and shells. Now they are made from glass, metal, synthetics, polymer clay, bread dough, and even paper.

Many types of beadwork have evolved. Some of the techniques include peyote (gourd) stitch, brick stitch, loom beading, off-loom beading, and bead stringing, and that barely scratches the surface. You can knit, crochet, macramé, needlepoint or tat with beads. There are projects simple enough for preschoolers and complicated enough to challenge the most skilled artist. You can string macaroni, popcorn, and cranberries. You can even make beads out of rose petals. You can sew beads onto the surface of practically anything solid. They look great on clothing, denim, purses, dolls, boxes, necklaces, and gourds.

And it's the kind of fun that bonds the whole family together. Many people also bead for charity. With alphabet beads you can make any message you want. And you can string beads on safety pins to make designs like flags and pumpkins.

The pieces that hold beads together are called ‘findings'. These include toggles, clasps, jump rings, split rings, chains, wire, metal caps, crimp beads, and a plethora of other parts. It takes a bit of trial and error to get all the right parts together, but that is half the fun.

There are special needles and threads for every kind of beadwork you can imagine. Inquire at the store for the best fit for your project. I find a magnifying glass set-up helpful no matter how good your eyes are. I also recommend a break every 20 minutes to rest your eyes. The tinier the details, the more frequent the breaks. Every few minutes focus on something far away to let your eyes rest.

You'll want to pick up some jewelry pliers as well. They'll make your work easier and more professional.

Browse your local craft store to see what is hot right now. Beadwork is more popular than ever. Before you get too many bead projects going set up an organizational system. There are bins with little drawers that work great for beads. A lot of bead artists save up pill bottles to put their beads in also.

Just remember it's often difficult to find more of exactly the same bead after time goes by, so try to purchase a bit more than you think you'll need. Beads are like fashions...once they get bought out, you may never see them around again.

Beads make great gifts, whether they are on a necklace or an ornament. And if you have other beading friends, remember they might like getting a box of new beads even better than a finished project. Have fun beading and make sure to save some beads for me.

Since my local Michael's has hired me to teach beadwork, of course I wanted to know just what kind of beadwork their customers wanted to learn. To my surprise, they don't seem to be interested in learning loom beading or peyote beadwork, or stitch weaving, or any of the more elaborate things I had in mind to teach. Mostly they seem to want to learn to use the Swarvoski crystals, and to string basic loop style necklaces. So I'm going to design a couple of Y-necklaces and go from there.

As my readers, what type of beadwork are you most interested in learning? I'd love to know.