Year of Jewelry- Week 15- The Story of Me

Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry… the story of my life.
I have made jewelry for a long time. When I was a kid, I loved beadwork, but I wasn’t really good at it. I tried, but I think that my eyesight had a lot to do with my lack of skill, that I was just not that even with stitches, I got a bit discouraged.

When I was a kid, I worked with a friend in a concession stand at rodeos and at pow wows and I loved the beadwork that was sold back then.  It was cheap to buy necklaces and bracelets, especially silver  and turquoise and most glass beads were very cheap.

One day, during a intertribal pow wow, I bought a beaded necklace… and my mother, aunts, and grandmother all griped at me…

Why would you buy something that you can make? Why would you pay someone else to do something that is your heritage and your God given talent?

Why would you not make it or ask someone in your family to make it?

So… I didn’t buy another piece of beadwork for many, many years. I still cringe when I find a piece that is made by a designer that I would like to buy… why? I still hear my grandmother and see her shaking her head…

I learned to make pieces, on and off loom, to crochet with beads, to embroider them onto fabric and leather... I don’t have many pieces of my early jewelry left. I threw some away, gave away some… and well, some are in pieces in a box somewhere, I have no idea which one… and when  I run across it, I think, wow, I should fix that and wear it.

But…

I had one necklace that I loved. I wore it all the time when I was a kid. It was a very thin copper wire, I don’t know what gauge it was but probably a 32 g copper wire with seed beads. Nothing special, but I loved it... I made it when I was maybe 12? And the beads were really lovely, and honestly, you can’t buy those kid of seeds anymore. They were rich colors, hand made and very precious to me.  I wore it and wore it… and I made earrings to match it, and I wore those until my ears were green… literally…'
 I put them  away when I had my daughter, but I got it back out eventually, when I didn't have little ones around to catch it and potentially break it.. and I wore it with a bit of nostalgia.

My daughter loved the necklace so  I ended up giving it to her when she was grown, and she wore it for a while, but broke it… and I think lost it… I almost wanted to cry... Not because it got broken, that happens a lot, not that she lost it... not really, but that it was something that reminded me of a simpler time, a simpler me. Kind of those days before I wanted more, those days when we as a country were a bit more innocent, and well, I guess that I kind of miss my childhood. That necklace reminded me of what it was to be a kid.

So, I made her another one but out of larger gauge brass and larger beads, I don't know if she likes it or not, it isn't quite the same as the old one, only the sentimental value of that one was more…
This is a piece that is similar to the one I made for my daughter. I  added an etched brass Celtic knot. My family is part Scottish....sooo....

It is probably the best piece that describes me, It is simple, sturdy, and not too garish.

The pendant, is not attached for a reason. I put a steel jumpring on it, to use in another project...  I did eventually get the jumpring off and it is now attached with a brass jumpring!!

 brass 24g wire, brass tubing beads, glass beads

 By the way, this is the anniversary of my dearest and one of my oldest friends birth. She and I met when we were about 4 years old... sadly, she was killed in an auto accident not long after my daughter was born. So sad to live such a short time. My buddy, Brenda.