The Weekly Beading 1

Where did it start? – People are always asking me how I started creating bead mosaics so lets start this story journey with that.  As a craft store junkie I always loved to buy art supplies and try different crafts.  After making a few pieces of jewelry I decided to try making a beaded bracelet, pictured here.  Having bought lots of beads of various shapes and sizes I tackled this basic bead weave pattern with enthusiasm.  Very quickly it became frustrating trying to follow all the arrows and keep it exactly tight and straight.  No bead out of place!  Okay this craft is no fun, on to the next one. How about stained glass.  Living in an apartment with two dogs and two boys does not lend it’s self to cutting glass safely  and the glass was a bit out of the budget too.  But alas I had left over glass beads and wire, they could look like stained glass if put together, right?  So, I grabbed one of my clearance rack .50 boards, some thicker colored wire, my beads and some glue.  Just pour down some glue lay the wire down and fill with beads.  So easy!  

Well, Not so easy!  Yes in some ways easy but very messy and being a detail oriented person it looked a bit sloppy to me. Then I was worried the beads would fall off so I covered it in resin. Logical? I thought so.  So many lessons learned in a small 4x4 area, but the basic concept was good.  Plus I wanted to buy more beads because they are so beautiful and the addiction was already kicking in.  I began making more mosaics using stained glass patterns as my basic outlines and making minor technique adjustments to each one to try and make the process easier and more fun.  Projects were given as gifts to family and after about three years of experimentation and several accumulated projects I worked out most of the bugs.  Glue mixture, Check! Self stick outlines, Check! final sealer, Check! base preparation, check! Now that I’m enjoying myself and creating so many what do I do with them all?