 My daughter, however, goes into a craft store, buys the biggest bin
of assorted beads she can find and decides what she can make with
them after she gets home."Mommy, I need 10 of these little
striped-y beads and six of the gold flowery ones. Can you help me
find them?"
"Why didn't you just buy little striped-y beads and the gold
flowery ones?"
"I didn't know that these were the ones I'd need."
"What are you making?"
"I don't know yet. It depends on how big it is when I'm done."
For my daughter it is all a big mystery until she is done. I've
learned to accept these little beading quirks of hers, though.
Besides, there is something about going through a random bin of
beads that makes me feel as if we're on a treasure hunt.
You've got your typical opaque beads that I regard as "fillers,"
the plastic faceted beads, the round beads that get away from you on
a surface that isn't flat, the requisite gold and silver beadlets,
and then all of a sudden:
"Wow! Look at this! It's a starfish bead!" What a find!
Most serious beaders know this beadly fact: There are definite
stages of beading proficiency.
The first stage is characterized by 1-inch wooden beads and
colored shoelaces. The beginner beader doesn't have the eye-hand
coordination to work with anything smaller. My daughter and I are
well past this stage, but to illustrate this stage I will tell you
what I witnessed when she was younger.
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 |
 My daughter has always loved "cats and cats" which were her words
for "arts and crafts" when she was 3. I have a whole room devoted to
"cats and cats." One day she got into this room without my
knowledge. You see, she hadn't made it through stage one yet, but
she was thrilled with the many beads she found there. Because they
were too small for her to pick up one at a time, she proceeded to
dump all of my carefully separated seed beads into one big bowl.
When I found her, she was cheerfully mixing them up with her little
hands. I knew that I would spend hours re-separating those tiny
beads later, but then I looked at her happy little face and took
comfort in the knowledge that a new little future beader had just
been born. I looked forward to her future stages when she might
understand that what she had just done was a major beading no-no.
The second stage is a little awkward. There is an understanding
as to why you don't mix beads, but patterns, bead size and symmetry
are still foreign concepts. I once received a bracelet from my
daughter that included, in this order, three opaque white beads, a
red button, a black button, an orange sea horse, six pink hearts, a
gold rose bead and a white, flat bead with the letter "V" on it. All
of these were strung very loosely on a wire that was too big for my
wrist.
When I asked her why she chose this particular assortment of
beads, she said, "They were my best ones and 'V' is in the word
'love.'" It is still my favorite piece of jewelry.
Stage three is when you understand patterns, symmetry, colors and
size. You understand that silver goes with pastel beads and that
gold goes with bolder colors. This is the stage where you make your
best stuff and consider selling it at flea markets and consignment
shops.
Stage four is when you can no longer see the hole in the bead,
and the end of the cord keeps disappearing. It becomes a game of
hide and seek or, more appropriately, poke and miss. Unfortunately,
this is the stage I am in now.
I always wondered why the older a woman is, the chunkier her
jewelry becomes. By the time I reach 80 or 90 years old, I'll be
wearing the 1-inch wooden beads on colored shoelaces again.
[By LAURA SNYDER]
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist,
author and speaker. You can reach her at
lsnyder@lauraonlife.com
or visit www.lauraonlife.com
for more info. |
