In the beginning...

I've been fascinated with beads since I was a teenager but it has really only been since January this year that I have pursued them with earnest. Our first baby was a few months old and I wanted a quiet hobby to bide my time whilst she slumbered. Granted, she only ever cat-napped for half an hour at a time, so I had to bead at speed! A couple of local bead magazines for inspiration and WHAM! I was utterly hooked.

I began with a few basic projects: a "charm" belt for my Mum, a dangly necklace for my brother's girlfriend... but it was the seed bead projects I saw in magazines and on the net which really captured my imagination. I was especially drawn to off-loom bead weaving techniques, bead embroidery, sculptural 3-D work and ‘art’ pieces. The more I found, the more I wanted. The laptop covered in drool and my jaw sitting on the floor, I was utterly captivated…and remain so.

I thought I would post a few pics of my first attempts to illustrate how my bead-journey has been travelled in just over 6 months, and also to show how my style and skills have evolved. And I don’t mean that in an egotistical way…but, for a beginner, I am fairly ambitious in the designs I devise. Perhaps it is a good thing to not know one’s limits?

So here is my first necklace, created in January '08 (please excuse the woeful photography...it has improved tenfold since):



Ergh...looking at that photo now, I think a monkey could have done a better job. Still, you have to start somewhere I guess.

Here is my first attempt at some off-loom beadweaving...a lariat consisting of modified Russian leaves hanging off a strand of peyote ruffles:

Again, ergh. Looking at them now, my first beading attempts seem so...poor. It is an exercise in embarrassment to post these photos here. However, I shall do it for posterity...