Jewelry making, a hobby and business

 Hi there! 

Did you know that I’ve been making jewelry longer then I could read? My mom started me on necklaces, (with large wooden beads, cross-stitch needles, and yarn,) when I was 2 or 3, as a way to build hand-eye-coordination... but I took to it like a fish to water.

Wooden beads became plastic, and plastic beads became glass, yarn turned to stretch-cord, and then thread, but I didn’t stop beading. My patterns started to develop from random collections of color to overly complicated many-beaded overly-colorful bracelets and necklaces. I gave almost every female member of my family at least one piece of jewelry for Christmas or their birthday... (not to mention one or two men) and most of them were kind enough to wear them, regardless of the child-like designs.

Despite my love of jewelry making, I didn’t start to learn any complicated tricks, or branch out until I was in my teens… and I also started to master colors and simplify my designs to the point where they were artful, rather than distracting.

Believe it or not, I still actively enjoy making necklaces, it’s fun to assemble patterns, but more than that, I find it incredibly cathartic to string the beads onto the thread… there’s something mindless, and yet incredibly fulfilling about putting together something physical from beginning to end, all within an afternoon.

I keep a large collection of beads just for playing around with, making seasonal necklaces and earring dangles for my clip-on-transformers… only to take them apart them and remake them later. Most people take up crocheting, knitting, embroidering, or something of that sort… but I can’t manage to get the knack of any of those (except for counted cross-stitch, and that drives me to distraction.) 

There is one problem with this hobby, however, I’ve run out of people to give jewelry to! Seriously, I could make a pile of necklaces, but no one is buying the ones I have on Etsy, and I don’t know who I could make anything for, it’s a funny issue, but it could be worse… I could be knitting a sweater large enough for an elephant!

Thanks for the read!