It's all about love

I have new things to tell you! And thinking about it, it's all about love. Quite a while ago, I answered to someone that I bead to create emotions. This remains true.

For my lovely physiotherapist who is awaiting a baby girl, I made a long necklace with a small "Mexican Bola", also called Chime bead, Pregnancy or Harmony ball. She chose the colours and I happily obliged. At first I tried to make a bola canasta for her, of course, because she saw them. But it didn't work, which I expected, because the chime bead has to be free to sound right. So I made a larger one, which didn't seem right for her. So I turned to an older of my designs, the Open Heart. It looks smaller, more feminine. I can't wait to give it to her. And to my surprise, when I posted a short video on Facebook about how it sounds... many of you ordered the tut to make one too! Thank you so much!

Left to right: Small Bola, Open Heart, a bit larger bola

 

I also want to tell about 4 women I would like to celebrate. They (and others) make the world a better place.

Let me start with Carol, who is such a sweet person. She sells crocheted items for charity. She made soft mask adapters during Covid and gifted hundreds of them to nurses and paramedics. One day I asked to buy a pair of fingerless gloves and a matching beanie. She sent them to me but she never wanted to be paid. I was surprised! I promised myself to do something to thank her. But there is not so much that I can do... So I named my Laroque Girandoles after her (because they look as sweet as she). I reversed 2 letters and voilà! I was stunned that they landed on the cover of the 101st Beadworkers Guild Journal this month!

Laroque - Girandoles

For the note, these "Girandoles" were created within the framework of a long article about seed pearls and how incredible creations were made with them back in time. I hope that you will enjoy learning more about it. If you click on the image below, a link will take you to the Pinterest album with all the pictures I gathered while investigating about this wonderful art.

 

My 3 Bowlas - for which I just planned 3 workshops (see more details here) are obviously also named after persons, and they're awesome:

The turquoise Bénédicte is named after Béné, whom I met on Zoom and Facebook. She and I bonded immediately. If there is something like cosmic sisters, we must be two!

The yellow Martina is for my wonderful friend living here in Switzerland. It's going to sound strange, but I wish that we lived closer. Lol! She lives in the mountains, at quite a distance driving, and has a busy job. But we manage to meet from time to time, and love to bead together, and help one another with other things when we can.

The red Sabine is named after the most lovely customer one can dream of. She is incredibly supportive of my work, through email and on Facebook, she often posts an encouraging comment. She also has bought every single pattern in my shop, but in addition to that she also has bought some of them more than once to support me when things were tough for me. Let that sink in... She doesn't need them. She just buys them out of sheer generosity. 

Bowlas: the Sabine, the Martina and the Bénédicte

 

I'm so grateful for these women. And for other women too. From now on, I will name more of my creations after people who rock my world.

Last but not least, I finished writing the tutorial for the Pilot Wings, the slide pendant that so many of you asked a tutorial for. Here it is! I called Silver Wings the one made for the stand of the Beadworkers Guild in Daventry and at other shows this year - they celebrate their 25th anniversary! Happy Wings is the name of the one that I made to do the tutorial. I hope that you will make Blue Wings, Fairy Wings, Rainbow wings... Many wings!

 

Thank you for reading me and for beading with me. And if you have a story about a friend or about some random kindness, something that made your day or the world better, please tell me about it in the comments!

Cath