Sometime, perhaps around 2001, I came up an idea to use up lots of beads, specifically wonky beads; however by 2006, its five-year anniversary, I'd pretty much filled the window. By the decade mark I was happy to start a new one, which by 2015 was starting to look respectable: this time around, I decided not to use cracked beads^[1] and to emphasize lampwork.

current beadcurtain strand...

Before, the idea was to ‘use up’ an excess of beads. Now, it was to have a reason to practice difficult techniques, which makes finding a way to practice large opaques difficult—small ones, I put in dead mice, but big ones go into the bad bead bowl, with the hopes that someone will take them away (& they don't disappear nearly fast enough for my taste).

...E620/2016E620/20160727E620

Lucky for me, Frances also likes the bead curtain idea, so any transparents not in my colour scheme go to her. Of course, as I slowly used up my inexpensive filler beads, I bought more; but as the three trays—pink,^[2] amber & green fill with various samples & practice beads, then I have a beadcurtain stringing day. It's even better when Frances and I do this together:)

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What could be better than sharing a beautiful day in the garden with a friend, doing a low-stress fun project?

bead by Lisa St Martin, S4/2017S4/20170304S4, shot 30jan2017

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.