After being confined for a week in a children’s hospital isolation room, I came home with a raging desire to create something – anything! It seems, I cannot sit on my hands even for a week without designing something new. The baby needed quite a bit of sleep to recover in the couple of days that followed which gave me a chance to work on the new Blessingway bead collection.
Oh my, how I missed making beautiful things with my hands! They say, once you start working with beads and gems, you want to keep handling them, arranging them in designs, getting more of them, – and I have come to realize and accept that. It is addictive! Yet it does calm me so, to be feeling the texture of the lampwork beads and the weight of the gemstones, and to see the play of colour when sunlight touches them.
I have acquired some new lampwork beads, and this new Blessingway bead collection incorporates them as well as a few old favourites in new settings. There are the fire-opal-red petal beads that I find absolutely stunning: they feel of depth and intensity of blood and fire; and the amber coloured beads that seem to capture sunlight. There are new purple flower beads, tender spring green beads, and more of the bright green, orange, and red flowers that remind me of Ireland. There are over 20 new Blessingway beads in this collection, each one made with love and thought.
Playing with the components, I have discovered that I had some key rings, and so I set out to make a collection of keychain charms as well. I have been asked in the past to modify goddess earrings I made into a charm, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to explore the idea. My inspiration resulted in a set of five keychain charms: blooming red, spring green, river blue, yellow tulips, and meadow flowers.
I have also made a new version of my Snow Lace pregnancy tracking necklace, since someone had purchased the original. Even stringing gemstones into an already existing design was extremely relaxing. So much so, that I have decided to bring another favourite back – my Fallen Leaves necklace.
All in all, the week following the isolation has felt very rewarding, as I drifted away to a different reality with The Lord of Chaos audiobook and my hands moved to create beautiful items.