I was in training to be a VISTA worker at the American Indian Center in Chicago. The year was l967, the woman who trained me was Francesca. She taught me the beaded weave and prepared me to go to the reservation for my assignment. There, the older women took me into their bead circle and the teaching began. If i spilled my beads, I was to pick up each one with my fingers and a needle as each bead was special.
These women told me that I would not go blind from working the beads, as I would listen to them. Their "rules" were simple and I have applied them all these years. When you reach for a light, stop beading for the day. In other words, use natural lighting. Always position yourself so when you look up from your work your eyes stretch out a window or door way. Effortlessly, your eyes will stretch to the farthest tree, mountain or horizon. These "rules" have worked.
In minnesota in l969, I met Sadie and she had me join her bead circle. It is Sadie who placed the "baby beads" in my hands, and gave me, when she was passing from this world, part of her "stash" of beads. I have been with these beads every since. It is a path full of love! I then became a "hippi" beader and remain so today. A rainbow woman, counter cultural beader, to be exact.
My life is devoted to the path of peace. I came to the tiny beads I work with, as a part of that path. The indian women, who were my teachers, taught me that every bead is precious and to work with them requires as much patience as living and working for peace does.
These tiny beads have not been made since before WW I, and rumor has it, they are over 100 years old. The holes are not uniform and each bead must be checked for any drag over the eye of the needle. If it touches at all, it must be replaced, as it will break when going through the second time to create the woven style.