Why I am Obsessed with Beads...


So last year my best friend comes up to me and tells me she’s making jewellery. Immediately I thought, ‘Hmm this unemployment thing must be getting really bad.’ Then she started showing me some of the things she’d made and you know what? They were pretty awesome. I thought she’d bought them, and not from the market, I’m talking a fancy-pants jeweller.
So I grabbed some stringy stuff and started popping these cute little beads on the end. Before I knew it, an entire day had passed and we had made a pile of stuff big enough to fill a rack at Accessorize. It was then when we came up with the brilliant beyond brilliant idea to make jewellery and sell it. So we coined the name ‘Elsies’ (Laura and Claire, our names, ‘L’ and ‘C’, ‘El-Sie?’ Get it?) and began what was to become a bit of an obsessive little project.
Suddenly, my EBay recommendations were no longer Vivienne Westwood shoes (Well, the odd pair), instead they were beads, crimpers, tiger tail, findings, lobster clasps and so on. Who knew there was so much stuff? I found myself talking in a whole new language, staining my redundant Uni work desk with Fimo clay remains and tripping over sparkly little seed beads that would get stuck in my tights, God knows how.
I told my friends about our great idea, the male opinion being (Manly voice) ‘Oh you mean like a kid, like them friendship bracelets?’ Eh no small mind. I hadn’t even stopped to think of it in this way. Sure the first thing I dragged out when I started this was a box of beads I used to send my mum crazy with as a kid leaving little letter shapes all over the floor, but that doesn’t mean anything. I used to LOVE making things when I was younger but this felt a little more grown up, a little more organised.
A regular human being’s weekly shop is done at ASDA; mine is done at a bead shop. Now I need escorting out of Hobbycraft, my newly appointed second home, as time literally disappears when I’m in there. I now know how my mum feels when she gets lost in the time warp that is Debenhams and I’m sure my boyfriend now knows how my dad feels when he waits for her to return from what must seem like the moon.
One thing I didn’t realise about the bead obsession was how much it was going to cost me to get my fix. I don’t even want to hear a round-up telling me what I have spent in fear that I might die leaving my loved ones with nothing but a glue gun and a box of really pretty things. I can’t even say I’ve come anywhere near to making it all back either. I didn’t realise just how many other people were doing this, there’s literally a whole world out there!
I’m not going to lie; halfway through writing this I stopped to make a bracelet. It’s like an illness only one I don’t mind having and the aftermath is a lot more attractive. It makes for a really nice gift too although I am treading very carefully on the line between thoughtfulness and Cheapsville. Most of all though it’s just really fun. I’m making beautiful things, earning a few pennies and hanging out with my best friend. All in all an obsession I’m willing to live with.
 Love L x
p.s The web address for Elsies is www.elsiesonline.co.uk if you want to be nosey.