When I started beading....

I started beading in 1992 sort of on a dare. A friend wanted a pair of earrings in a class display and said she would re-pierce her ears if I made them for her. Boy were things different 18 years ago!

When I started beading, patterns were charted on graph paper mostly by hand and were in black and white

When I started beading, nymo was about it for thread and English or Pony needles were about it.

When I started beading, Delicas were a myth.

When I started beading, Japanese seed beads were just beginning to be coveted for uniformity and colors.

When I started beading, the internet was in it's infancy and we only connected with other beaders at classes or bead shops.

There were no thread burners or crimping pliers when I started beading.

When I started beading, there were very few books on beading available.

When I started beading, I was hungry for new techniques and patterns.

When I started beading, beaded ornament drapes were just starting to make appearances.

When I started beading, there were very few bead shops to choose from.

When I started beading the colors and selection of shapes of pressed glass were slim pickings.

Ok - now comment on what it was like when you start beading? Tell the year and what I missed on my list.

Killing the creativity...

Ya know I was talking to a friend today and we got onto the topic of the ugliness of the who copied what from whom crap in the beading community. I'm quite certain it's in all of the other arts and crafts genera's too. She said that she doesn't bead because of all of the ugliness. I have to agree that the ugliness has one beader I know that doesn't get the magazines anymore because fear of people claiming that her creations were *GASP* stolen from one of them.

After having the losses I had last year, I have decided that 2010 is the year of I don't give a crap about all that crap!

I refuse to let the garbage on the internet beading communities get to me this year. One by one I will leave any list that has that sort of petty crap on it.

NOTHING beaded out there is not dirivative of something else. The stitches, the shapes, and the colors are something we ALL have a right to work with and play with.

If I'm inspired by a flower in my neighbor's garden, do I need to get permission to make a beaded necklace in the colors I got from her garden? Am I stealing? So in the same idea, if I see something in a book and it inspires me to go in a different direction than I'm going in right now, am I stealing? NOPE! I'm inspired.

So out with the CRAP and in with creativity and inspiration!!!

2010 has to be better than 2009 but it isn't gonna have to try very hard!

HAPPY BEADING!!!!!