Long, long ago, my inlaws used to go on missions—to Mexico or Liberia or other places like that, usually to build schools or churches in the local community. Nowadays, that sort of thing is deprecated—it's usually considered more helpful simply to give the money direct to the folks obstensibly being helped; but at the time, their efforts were considered forward thinking because they only worked; no preaching.
Knowing my interest in beads, my father in law brought back a bunch for me. Some of them were tubular, a fused powder-glass technique, in orange, green and white stripes, which I guess I need to photograph, because evidently I've never featured the piece on the site; the others were carved wooden beads and pendants—the African continent, tigers, huts, and the like.
wooden multistrand necklace, featuring tiger, lion, rhino and hut beads made in Liberia. Length, 14", 19" opening, largest bead (rhino) 2.5" long; tigertail, sterling clasp. early 90s?
As a terrible bead snob, I was (& mostly remain) unwilling to mix ephemeral materials like wood with the semi-precious stone, metal and glass beads I preferred. (Never mind that no piece of stringing lasts more than a hundred years, and most don't even manage 10.) Eventually I gathered together a wide variety of wooden beads from various sources, and finally made an all-wood necklace. This is a big, bold piece, inspired by ladies who tended to wear wood or shell beads or bone[1] —and one of the great things we stone and glass bead aficiandoes won't tell you is how delightfully lightweight these pieces are. This one, I'm guessing, weighs less than a single strand of 10mm stone beads.
I was happy with the way the piece turned out (not least because I used all the beads given me excepting the continent pendants—one of the parameters I set myself), but it never sold, and it's not the sort of thing I wear myself[2]
When we had our plumbing redone, I tidied up the south side of the basement, and finally got around to photographing the piece, having thought of someone to whom to give it, who if not to her taste, would likely be able to find a good home for it. —Because I have been tidying my life, and have no plans to do much wooden bead stringing—all the rest of them have long since disappeared.
[1]Which, like coral or amber, I am willing to use...come to think this necklace also has some sort of vegetal beads in it. Never let it be said that I'm consistent.
[2]Like this purple lumpen it's a tad on the large side, even for me;)
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
