My husband regularly jokes with me about my "feeling the need... the need to bead..." (à la Maverick & Goose in Top Gun. Of course.) The funny this is, it's SO true! I have always had this "need" to get the creative juices out of me, & in to something tangible, whether through dancing, acting, painting, or any other vehicle for creative expression.
Something about the freedom that comes with feeling completely present in your body.
Feeling wholly connected, yet utterly fluid, at the same time.
No, crafting a bracelet is not like giving yourself over to a brilliantly choreographed Contemporary dance routine.
To me, there is nothing in the world like that.
However, by intentionally creating something - anything - and in taking direct control over your actions, all while letting the almost-spiritual inspiration flow from the inside to the outside, and then seeing the resulting outcome, especially worn around a part of someone else's body, is so insanely gratifying, one might feel they deserve a standing ovation and a bouquet of ruby roses after the curtain falls. Even if it's from oneself!
At this particular point in my life as a Stay-at-Home Mom, where my world (most happily) revolves around my two beautiful toddlers, I am thrilled to have discovered an outlet that is relatively "contained," and localized to our kitchen table. No messy acrylic paints that take 24 hours to dry, no 8-foot by 6-foot canvas to walk around while it dries, and no paint stains to Spray 'n' Wash the heck out of, on a pair of size 3T denim shorts. I don't need to leave my family to drive to dance classes, attend acting rehearsals, or to hole myself up for hours at a time in private practice.
I sit at our kitchen table... and bead.
My Three-year-old really enjoys stringing a bracelet or two with me on occasion... I mean, how great is that?! My One-year-old, however, finds great pleasure in chucking fancy glass beads and the tiniest of jump rings onto the floor, never to be found again. This, therefore, demands that any jewelry creations are completed during this Momma's "me time."
And, this has proven to be a perk, actually.
I can permit myself to become completely absorbed in the work, focused beyond anything, and utterly lost in my thoughts. Designing and crafting jewelry has become a beautiful way for me to see something through, from start to finish (a rarity in the "Stay at Home" world), while feeling meditative, contemplative and just plain constructive.
So, why I love the bead is really quite multi-faceted (pun intended), as you can see. Most specifically, the beads I am drawn to are quite unusual, hand-crafted glass numbers; strong yet fragile, dainty yet bold, gritty and earthy, yet magnificently sparkly! Personally, I think the best part about being a girl is dressing up; feeling great in a pair of really smart heels, a kicky skirt, and a really twinkly piece of jewelry that, every so often, catches the light just so. A flicker of a reminder in the midst of whatever you're lost in doing, that you're still there. And still fabulous.
I truly enjoy every second at our kitchen table, just creating, relishing in meditative me time, getting some of the creative out, feeling whole while doing it. If I get to do all that, AND help someone out there feel sexy & fabulous because of it... wellthen.
The bead might just have been the best thing ever invented.
Something about the freedom that comes with feeling completely present in your body.
Feeling wholly connected, yet utterly fluid, at the same time.
No, crafting a bracelet is not like giving yourself over to a brilliantly choreographed Contemporary dance routine.
To me, there is nothing in the world like that.
However, by intentionally creating something - anything - and in taking direct control over your actions, all while letting the almost-spiritual inspiration flow from the inside to the outside, and then seeing the resulting outcome, especially worn around a part of someone else's body, is so insanely gratifying, one might feel they deserve a standing ovation and a bouquet of ruby roses after the curtain falls. Even if it's from oneself!
At this particular point in my life as a Stay-at-Home Mom, where my world (most happily) revolves around my two beautiful toddlers, I am thrilled to have discovered an outlet that is relatively "contained," and localized to our kitchen table. No messy acrylic paints that take 24 hours to dry, no 8-foot by 6-foot canvas to walk around while it dries, and no paint stains to Spray 'n' Wash the heck out of, on a pair of size 3T denim shorts. I don't need to leave my family to drive to dance classes, attend acting rehearsals, or to hole myself up for hours at a time in private practice.
I sit at our kitchen table... and bead.
My Three-year-old really enjoys stringing a bracelet or two with me on occasion... I mean, how great is that?! My One-year-old, however, finds great pleasure in chucking fancy glass beads and the tiniest of jump rings onto the floor, never to be found again. This, therefore, demands that any jewelry creations are completed during this Momma's "me time."
And, this has proven to be a perk, actually.
I can permit myself to become completely absorbed in the work, focused beyond anything, and utterly lost in my thoughts. Designing and crafting jewelry has become a beautiful way for me to see something through, from start to finish (a rarity in the "Stay at Home" world), while feeling meditative, contemplative and just plain constructive.
So, why I love the bead is really quite multi-faceted (pun intended), as you can see. Most specifically, the beads I am drawn to are quite unusual, hand-crafted glass numbers; strong yet fragile, dainty yet bold, gritty and earthy, yet magnificently sparkly! Personally, I think the best part about being a girl is dressing up; feeling great in a pair of really smart heels, a kicky skirt, and a really twinkly piece of jewelry that, every so often, catches the light just so. A flicker of a reminder in the midst of whatever you're lost in doing, that you're still there. And still fabulous.
I truly enjoy every second at our kitchen table, just creating, relishing in meditative me time, getting some of the creative out, feeling whole while doing it. If I get to do all that, AND help someone out there feel sexy & fabulous because of it... wellthen.
The bead might just have been the best thing ever invented.
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