Why I Make Jewelry

There is more to this question than I am going to address in this post today, but the primary thing is that after I found out how much I love beads, the earthiness and organic nature of beads, I realized that I love making people happy by giving them my jewelry. I would prefer to give it all away and if I were a rich person then I suppose I could do that. But, making jewelry costs money and so to support my habit, I sell my jewelry, some of it anyway, at what I believe are pretty reasonable prices so that people can buy it and I hope be happy wearing it. While I know that "things" do not make us happy, I also know how much pleasure I receive from some of the simplest things that have been given to me or that I have purchased in my life. They are usually not the expensive gifts or purchases. I'll give you an example: about probably 15 years ago now someone beaded for me an anklet at the request of a friend of mine. It was really a nice piece of work, done on a loom with seed beads. It was an unusual anklet at the time and hand little brass clamshell beads that hung down by my foot and jingled just a bit when I walked. Well, I love unusual things so it suited me very well. As you may have already guessed I still have that anklet. I still love that anklet and I am still grateful to both of them. I get a thrill whenever I pull it out of the jewelry box and wear it. A simple thing yet it gives me great pleasure. It doesn't make me happy, but it adds to my happiness for that day. Also it was one of those times before I started beading when I realized what a very cool thing beads were. It reminds me of the Native American beading and how awesome their designs and beading is. Anyway, enough for now. That is a large part of my motivation for beading. JOY!