Getting them out of the nest

There is an interesting phenomenon that sometimes happens to the creator of "things". You find yourself having a hard time letting go of them. The glass beads you see in the middle of the picture above is a set I made probably four years ago. I have loved them so much that I have kept them with me, floating around in my "one of these days I have to use them for something" box. Every time I ran across them I would enjoy the visit and then tuck them safely back in the box. Today was the day they asked to be released from the safety of that nest.

While in Santa Fe I was able to purchase a couple ropes of hand made Morrocan beads that are actually the buttons used on their tradition clothing.

I think you can make out the hundreds of buttons going down the front of her garment. Each button takes five minutes to craft.

I realized that the colors matched beautifully. I also remembers a second set of beads in my "one of these days" box which were glass beads that my friend Barry Hoff had given me from his travels in Africa.

Please welcome the piece that took a very long time to come into existence.

Better pictures to follow but I think you get the idea.