At Christmas we took the kids to Creation Station at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. The craft was beading. Lily, Matthew and I stayed a long time stringing our necklaces (Mark was wandering the museum with Laura on his back). I made a yellow and purple one for Lily with tiny beads that she has worn ever since. Matthew made one for me that I wore for 2 weeks until it broke; he used random bright colored beads. I found I enjoyed wearing it, something that my son had made, something no one else could wear.
I am not a jewelry person. I have never worn much more than my wedding ring and a Celtic ring and my dad gave me when I emigrated. I wear pretty plain clothes, black t-shirts, plain white shirts or stripy tops with black jeans or plain skirts.
I have a few beads in my collection of stuff, nothing too fancy, but I was doing an art piece that needed something so I strung some beads on the canvas. It worked. These two experienced drew me to make something for me.
I got out the bead box and some embroidery thread, cut apart an old necklace I owned and never wore to get the big bead in the middle. I mixed some bronze, black and turquoise beads. It was self affirming to wear a splash of color of my own making. It made my plain church outfit interesting for once.
I went to the craft store and bought some more beads. The kids and I have been beading this week (Lily and I outlast matthew). I am drawn to making pattern with the beads, while the kids make these wonderfully colorful random patterns. Lily looks adorable in a turquoise, red and yellow creation. I wore our necklaces this week and found that transformed my plain clothes into something fun and well, me.
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