Bead Society of New Hampshire

March 2001 in Antrim NH

We called it a "Bead Cave", it was held at my house, organized by Marney.......but it was also the seed from which the Bead Society was born.

Today I received this communique from Gail Devoid, the current President,
"The Bead Society of New Hampshire has made you an honorary life member for all your contributions. Congratulations!"


I feel very honoured as the Society has always been close to my heart in many ways over the past 15 years.  I sorely miss the meetings and interactions with all the old friends amongst the membership.  
Arizona treats my health quite well, even with 112 degree summer days, but New Hampshire will always be home.
   Beads Rule!

Time to Finish - Time to Create

A Bead Cave is a time out of the real world to get things done, enjoy the companionship of good friends, giggle, teach and share. I spent two days in Phoenix with old beading friends and recharged my batteries. One, whom I hadn't seen in 12 years. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Notice up to the left... Crystal's cat kept a close eye on what was going on the whole time. She had the best seat in the house.


I finished things that had been sitting around waiting for that perfect time to give them my whole concentration.
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I wanted to do a variation of this bracelet to show that making an invisible join is not the be-all, end-all of finishing them. A well thought out use of an Art Bead or peyote embellishment can add so much to a piece.
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This is a piece that has been on my worktable for close to a year now. With other pressures and deadlines, it kept getting pushed to the bottom of the lists. I took NanC Meinhardt's Rapunzel workshop last Summer and made the spiral pendant. In the Fall I had time to play with variation's of Nikia Angel's Sparkly Wheel and made a series of graduated rings to top the pendant. On the trip from NH to my AZ Winter Studio I crocheted the top rope. I'm very pleased with the result as it's one of the few pieces that came out just like what I envisioned in my mind when I started it.

Just before I left, Rings 'n Things posted a tutorial for a wrapped leather bracelet. It was an "Aha" moment as I'd been racking my brain for something to make for two Grandsons. Perfect! I made this prototype as a learning piece and it has some wonky threads here and there. Two of us flipped the papers back and forth, talked about what they meant, tried things and generally worked through the instructions until we understood what was happening. Two beading minds always seem to make sense of printed instructions better than one. Makes perfect sense to me ..... Stymied - then bead with a friend.

Sigh.... Bead Caves always end too soon. Now it's back to the daily grind, leaving just a whisper of giggling good times in the mind.

Guess where I've been?

With these cars in the parking lot, it just has to be the Fall New Hampshire Bead Society Retreat...... The Barbara C Harris Center in Greenfield is a beautiful place to hold a bead retreat. As it's only 7 miles from my house, I didn't stay over, but day tripped.

We gathered, beaded, ate, yakked, ate, and beaded some more.

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For me it's a much needed step outside of the normal routine, a chance to recharge creative juices and keep in touch with a delightful (& sometimes zany) group of women.

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Why is it that I can sit at my work table in the quiet studio and string in mistakes - not once, but three times? This raised double "V" pattern looks like it will be as awesome as I imagined, but I've still got something off kilter. After trying to fix it twice, it's still not right. As a matter of fact, it's so off at this point that I'm not sure I can fix it short of starting all over.

Then I can sit in the midst of a group of beaders, all of whom are talking non-stop, and string 2 very complicated, experimental patterns with nary a hitch. Is it saying that I work better in chaos?

This is a flat caterpillar variation that I'm going to be teaching next weekend. It gives the bead crocheter much more design space on one side and isn't any larger than a standard 6-around, 11/0 flat caterpillar. Some time after the workshop, I'll post at least one of these at Bead Patterns.


We had great bead vendors at the Retreat. This bead strand found it's way into my stash. It's recycled old vinyl records made into what I would call sequins or heshi. The colors are great and as a strand it feels quite nice.

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Like my Granddaughter would say, "they're way cool!"

Life is good when you can spend two days at a bead retreat in a beautiful setting and do nothing more strenuous than bead, eat and not have to clean up.

Payson Bead Cave

I spent a weekend in Payson AZ at a bead cave with some great beading friends. We ate, gabbed and beaded while looking out at the mountains. This year we were joined by our two newest members .... catz, Cleo & JJ, who chased moths on the night windows. They were an absolute delight to have around.

I've watched this art doll evolve over the past couple of years and last weekend saw her finished.

Julie's Roller Derby doll most certainly has attitude. Isn't she a beautiful work of art?

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Two of the projects that we worked on were a Zulu bracelet and a Flat Spiral bracelet:

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This is what Julie came up with;

Zulu, center, Flat Spiral, bottom.

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Jo gave her Zulu bracelet a South Western flavor with silver, coral and a flip of turquoise ends.

Lauren really went all out with an experimental Zulu design. She had come with a black & white palette of beads and then found these square orange/clear beads. It took several starts to get it to fit right as the square beads stand up and fill the inside circumference differently than round beads.

This is truly a fantastic Orange Explosion.
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I used the idea of the Zulu bracelet, but not the edge picots. I did a bracelet with graduated crystals between the node beads for a slightly different variation. Now I need to order a few more 4 mm pink crystals as I need at least one more pass to make a proper fullness.

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It's interesting to see how 6 people can take the same basic instructions and make finished items that are so totally different. The weekend was a lot of fun and re-charged my creative spirit. Beading and exchanging ideas with other highly creative people is something I wish I could do more often.

Challenge Beading

When a group of beaders get together, someone always seems to have an odd something or other that is offered up as a creative challenge. The bead cave in Payson last month was no different. I had found bamboo placemats in Marshall's and thought, "what neat long beads." I bought several and took them to the cave.


I used my portion to make a broad collar with small beads in between the long bamboo beads. It's always nice to have that many holes to work with. Several of the other gals said, "Wind Chimes!"

What might you have done with these placemat beads?

In return, our hostess had these copper scrubbies for all of us. She does like copper! Well, mine is in the process of becoming a "Domestic Goddess" necklace. I sawed off the handle and attached a bone face that I antiqued with rit dye. I have some white, drawstring cording that is going to go through the clothes pins to make it into a necklace. The parts are all done and gathered together, I just need some time to finish it once I get into my Summer Studio.

Thank You Robin

The end of April I had the pleasure of joining several ladies for a bead cave in Payson AZ. They had seen some finger weaving that I had done and wanted to try it. I grabbed Robin Atkins' book, Beaded Treasures, wrote up a materials list and facilitated a great day of finger weaving.

Lauren and I made bracelets, hers in all shades of red and mine in Lucite with faceted gemstone roundels. Every once in a while I manage to make what I saw in my mind when I bought the beads. I went to Maine last year and bought vintage Lucite beads. Just see how nicely the project finally turned out (bottom bracelet).

Jo went drawer diving and was using every largish bead she could find (including plastic) to create a very large tassel.... or was it going to be a wind chime? Whatever you call it, it turned out big, brash and in-your-face bold.

Drawer Diving: a drawer full of leftover or otherwise discarded beads. All participants bring contributions to throw into the pot. Then everybody can pick out beads that might work for their own project.


Pam's work is always meticulous, but selecting the right color combinations for her bracelet became the focus of her beading time. Sometimes you just have to stop and fondle the beads! Don't we all know how that is?

Sandra also decided to make a tassel and chose soft colors. I'm sure we'll see more finger woven elements in her paper work. She makes the most beautiful books and bead embroidered pieces.

Crystal thought she had brought enough neutral colored beads to make a tassel, but had to drawer dive several times to make her earthy piece full enough to look right. I enjoyed the ethnic look as a contrast to the fanciful colored pieces.

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Marque kept saying, "no, I'm not going to do that"! We knew that at some point she just wouldn't be able to resist. Capiz shell flowers, long bamboo beads and an assortment of over-large plastic components made a wind chime with the most unusual, soft tones.

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Once again, Thank You Robin for writing the book and sharing with us a technique that gave our group so much enjoyment.

And Thank You, Jo for hosting a beautiful, relaxing weekend of beading amoungst friends.

NHBS Fall Retreat

These beautiful beads obviously had my name on them. I picked them up and put them back three times ..... the fourth time I gave in and bought them. Ellen is one of my favorite glass bead artists and every fall at the NHBS Retreat, I have the opportunity to add something to my collection.

In September the NH Bead Society has a Retreat at Geneva Point on the lake and it's a chance to bead, visit, bead, giggle and bead with some of the members for two to three days. This year, I managed to arrive just in time for dinner on Friday night. It's a beautiful setting with a large comfortable room to set up your beading projects and supplies. The nice thing is that nobody has to cook as we can just walk up the hill to the main lodge for cafeteria-style meals.

We don't plan any workshops or classes, but just work on our own projects. Anyone who wants help with something asks and more than one member will chime in with hints, helpful suggestions or even supplies. This year Jo Tong did an impromptu demo and instructions on getting your needle and mind around RAW (Right Angle Weave). The drawings on the easel looked like some nightmare football diagram!


One of the nicest things about a bead retreat like this is the sharing that goes on. See Pam's chicken necklace.... Well she said, "it needs something." Something it got as one member added some larger black beads, another said, "try these larger yellow beads", someone else said, "graph an egg to put on the bottom" - creative collaboration is ever so much fun!




What is a bead retreat without beads? We are lucky to have two great bead stores that help feed our need for beads.




Donna from Bead It! in Concord had part of her store there.









Jo brought many of her Earth Treasures with her.

Busy Beading + Finger Weaving

The last week or so has been occupied with travel beading. In between, I celebrated living another year. I made a flying trip up to Phoenix to meet two long-time beading friends, have lunch, visit the Glendale Bead Museum and (of course) tour a local bead shop.

Left to right - Judith, Crystal from Sun City AZ, Bev from New Orleans.




I also made another trip back up to Payson AZ to bead with a group of friends in that area. Some of those people had taken my free form workshop and I was delighted to see where that technique had taken them.



What had started out as a bracelet became a beautiful embellishment for paper craft. Isn't she delightful?






"elements" - I had used free form elements to teach with and one participant took it to heart and made many separate pieces that she then joined and applied to an art doll. Isn't this a great, original way to put free form beading to good use?



This piece will still become a bracelet. The subtle use of color and texture suits the beading personality of it's owner. It will be an outstandingly beautiful wrist adornment.



I seldom get to see what people in my workshops end up finally creating. This was a unique opportunity to see where this technique had led some of the participants. I'm so pleased that they took me seriously when I said that the beads will sometimes tell you just what they want to be.



I just returned from another bead cave in Huachuca City AZ. This is a group of friends that I've enjoyed beading with in the winter over the past 5 years. This winter I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I had in the past so this was both a catch up and a goodbye session. Both of my two travel beading sessions allowed me to work on some fun, original beadwork.... and use up a bunch of left-over larger beads.

Finger Weaving

Over the past few months I've been exploring finger weaving from Robin Adkin's book "Timeless Treasures". The first bracelet that I made caused me to break out as I had included some vintage bronze leaves and they reacted badly with my skin.




I started another bracelet that would not have any metal accent beads.





One of the Bead Cave participants decided she wanted to try this technique also. It just showcases how different individual beading styles can be, even when using the same base technique. Sparse can be just as effective as lush.

I'm quite happy with my new finger woven bracelet with a mix of odd beads.

I have another one on my board and I'm still deciding where it is going to go. The flat beads don't allow for two passes of the cording, so I'll have to get creative if I want to use them. The bronze colored glass triangles offset the green beautifully. At the moment I think I may make a bracelet that simply repeats green squares with bronze triangles.

Payson AZ Bead Cave

This past weekend I made a trip to Payson AZ, nestled below the Mogollon Rim. It is five hours north of Tombstone and I chuckled to think that I had to go north to get warm. It was 30 degrees and snowing as I left Tombstone, 60 degrees in Tucson and 70 degrees in Phoenix. This was a spur of the moment bead road trip that culminated in a bead cave. I stopped in Sun City and toured the new, beautifully organized studio of my long time friend, Crystal . Then we packed her beads in the car and headed out for Payson. I had never been in that part of Arizona and only knew it as a colored road line on a map. What a gorgeous surprise as we climbed into high country and rounded curves to see valleys laid out below us. It was breathtaking country.

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We arrived at Jo's home and were warmly greeted by her and the bead group already there. We beaded, looked at bead eye candy, shopped for beads, and laughed a lot as we got to know each other. And then we ate.... oh did we eat well at this cave.
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Jo's studio is all windows that look out at the mountains. It was hard to keep my eyes on my beadwork and not just look out the windows. I'm terrible with names the first time I meet a group of people and - some I remember, but don't know how to spell - some I can spell, but don't remember - so I won't embarrass myself by putting wrong names to the faces in these photos. I can claim age-related memory problems - right? They are all a great group of talented people and we shared beading techniques, supplies, beads and lots & lots of raucous laughter. Jo's hospitality was unsurpassed and it was one of the most elegant and comfortable bead caves I've attended in a long time. I can't wait to go back for another round of laughter and good company. Jo, many thanks for being the hostess for this great time.

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~Creativity Notes

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I finally had the time to try out Robin Adkins' "Finger Weaving" and for the first time in a long while actually finished a complete piece at a bead cave.

What a fun way to use up an eclectic mix of odd beads and charms. Somehow, people kept adding odd colored green beads to my mix and my bracelet came out looking like a forest in early Summer. C-Lon cording was the perfect base for this project; stiff enough to weave with crispness; and supple enough to give the finished bracelet a nice hand. Robin's instructions and photos are quite clear and easy to follow. I'm very pleased with the results and see many other possibilities.