Switching Directions in Mid-Flight

Things haven’t changed much behind the bead board since the pandemic hit. There were the usual ups and downs in sales – maybe a little bit more than usual, but every time a covid relief check hit American’s pocketbooks, I saw a sale or two trickle in here and there.

Now at the end of the lockdown in California (amidst our pathetic Governor’s attempt to save his political skin), I’ve changed direction yet again in my artistic endeavors.

I’m doing peyote-stitched pen wraps.

What the heck are those? I’m glad you asked!

They are simply a rectangular patch of peyote-stitched Japanese Delica seed beads wrapped around a pen. I never knew the patterns for these things were such a rage on Etsy until I saw them on Facebook in the beadwork group I haunt called Peyote Stitch Patterns.

I was fascinated by how quick and easy they are – and how lucrative a business it is for some Etsy crafters. Locked in at a strict range of 924 or 945 beads, it’s incredible how many different designs can be created…geometric, occupation-themed, nature-scapes, celestial and the list goes on and on and on.

Their big advantage for me is that they don’t take the usual 1 week to make like my genre-themed bracelets have in the past. Once upon a time I had a goal of creating a new bracelet each week – until I realized how much time it took out of my day to bead my goal of 13 rows. It doesn’t sound like much on the surface, but when it takes 2-3 hours on top of my full-time caregiving job, yeah, it’s tough. These wonderful little palettes of beauty take a mere two days.

I’ve quite simply fallen in love with them!

The first one I created, “Dragonfly Lily Pond” (are you surprised it was of a dragonfly?) was inspired by my husband Dennis’s amazing images of a Red Skimmer dragonfly at CSUN two summers past. This was a very special trip for us as we watched this little guy for several hours, played with and we both even got to hold him, much to our great joy.

To visit our Etsy store and see all the new patterns we have, click here.