Reunited!

I know that war is devastating and tornadoes are destructive and that life is generally really hard. For this very reason, I need to rejoice in the little things.

A very little thing, indeed, but a treat for me this year is that I was reunited with earrings. For nearly fifteen years I haven't been able to tolerate the metal in my ears because of instant and painful contact dermatitis. It didn't matter if it was stainless steel or pure gold, it was not happening. One day after I was stricken with the beadworking bug I was thinking how nice it would be if I could wear the earrings I could now make. A simple idea struck...what if the actual metal did not make contact with my skin? I grabbed a pair of earwires and thoroughly painted them with clear fingernail polish. When they were dry, I slipped them in and waited. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes...2 hours, 3 hours. No redness. No pain. No burning. Take it away, Peaches and Herb!

Wire Crochet-Multi-Strand Necklaces

"Out West" Inspired

My friend and I were chatting about my beading pasttime and she began to tell about a fabulous bracelet she bought at an art fair on her summer travels "out west." The seller works with a cooperative of Guatemalan women to produce the jewelry and then brings it to the States to sell. The next day she wore the bracelet and it was everything she said it would be...except it was breaking and tiny seed beads were pitter-pattering onto the tile. I wanted a good look at it so, of course, I offered to try to fix it! I was able to reinforce her piece of artwork and I started making plans to imitate it right away.