Beadwork: Lifestyle or Chore?

[Wojapi4Me]

I've been talking with some people lately about beadwork and how it fits into their lives. I know some people really view beadwork as a chore or a necessity that they have to do to pow wow, but to me its just a part of my life. I love doing beadwork, and usually bead about 4 hours a night. I always have the tv on and "watch" my favorite programs while beading, and to me beadwork is an escape of sorts...just chill out and bead. Its my main artistic outlet, and I love working with the colors, the shadings, the designs (old and new, tribal, family, etc.), and being able to finish something...I know every beadworker gets excited when that last row or last bead is put down on a project. Through the designs and traditions behind beadwork, it is also a way for me to keep in constant contact with myself, my tribe, my family.

Oh well...I'll quit rambling, just wanted to start a thread where everyone can share their thoughts on beadwork.

[nativechiqui]

I have'nt been beading very long at all. As a matter of fact I just learned a few months ago. And I must say that to me beading is a part of my life now. No matter how busy I am, I always come home and just like you turn on the tv and start to bead at least 4 to 5 hours a day. Mostly in the evening. I find it's become a time of meditation for me. Once I start I can't stop. I start singing native songs and everything. By the time I know it, I've become almost entranced. I start meditating and it really relaxes me. So yeah, beading rocks. for me anyways. What about the rest of you.

[Blackbear]

It's a necessity for me.... I get antsy and even depressed when I don't have my beading time.

[chazziff]

i too watch tv while beading in the evenings after work and now that i'm not doing shift work i bead over the weekends ... i find it quite relaxing. now i can't just watch tv - i keep thinking i should be beading .. lol.

but the one thing i do not like about beading is ppl who ask me to do custom work for them and i tell them i no longer do that type of work. there are a couple of reasons why: ppl say i'm too expensive (this one guy was expecting me to charge him $50 for beaded leggings, moccasins, all hairpieces and dress for his lil girl - all my supplies!! i was gonna charge him 250 for all); i like to do designs that i thought of (not something someone else thought of); ppl have ripped me off - bouncin checks, i'll give you the rest on monday and that was three years ago and damn it they place at almost every pw they go to!!; or they make "comments" about the work like "i don't really like the work" to other ppl because you changed some things like the background color to blue becuz THEY wanted a white horse on a white background!! and these ppl don't get the hint!!

[jed]

I never let it be a chore.

I bead for the family, I would bead for money........ but after I quote my price the potential customers disappear for some reason!!!

That is ok by me, lots to do to keep a family of 5 dressed for pow wow season.

[Blackbear]

i too watch tv while beading in the evenings after work and now that i'm not doing shift work i bead over the weekends ... i find it quite relaxing. now i can't just watch tv - i keep thinking i should be beading .. lol.

Oh that is so the truth!!! It's like I feel guilty for not beading while watchign tv and I get like I said.. antsy.

i like to do designs that i thought of (not something someone else thought of

I"m the exact same way... very rarely will I do someone else's design and it's usually only cause I like them or I like their design. When it's not something of yours or you don't want to do it just takes forever and you just are'nt loving it.... I absolutely LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVE people though who give me artistic freedom.. they do that and I'll give them something to be happy about! And if they are not, then I'll try again until they are!

[chazziff]

i get to bead at work - i'm a receptionist at a ICFS agency. its not really that busy hear, just occasionally, and when i first started my sup told me it gets real boring here sometimes. so instead of surfin the net (like now .. lol) i bead which is cool. i'm not wastin my time or theirs messin around on the net ...

[sokoki_wolf]

i bead for necessity(i cant not bead !) and because its my passion....im with Blackbear,i get antsy and irratable if i cnt bead...i put music on(i dont watch tv anymore) pick up my needle and go off into beadland...lol hours can go by before i realize how long ive been beading

[yooperbear]

I enjoy beading. I don't bead as much as I use to because of problems with my hands. But I agree with everyone else-I can't watch TV without something else to do, like beading or sewing(due to Christmas). There have been times(before the problem with my hands) that I would be so into my beading projects that I would work on them through the night-and still have to go to work in the morning. But that seems like ages ago.

[tigger]

for me beading is a lifestyle. it's just something that i do. i try to do atleast 4-5 hours a day but sometimes i get more and sometimes less, you know what i mean. when i get less then 4 hours done, for soe reason i get depressed, like i don't feel satisfied.

[3ndnbear]

both

beading for me is a lifestyle with some chores... those chores would be the orders that i take... i have so many ideas in my head at any given time that i just want to start 50 projects at once and then i look at what i HAVE to do and i get frustrated or upset that i cant do the projects that i WANT to do... does that make sense?

[Native 1]

Sometimes I guess it is a chore cause right now I can't seem to finish two projects that need to be done like this past summer...lol...but if Im not too satisfied with them I kinda drag it on..lol..but most of the time it gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I finish everything I am sposed to..like setting goals..this is what I am gonna do and when its finished its like wow...no I don't take any orders from people either..too expensive or else they want it in a certain time frame and I tell them I work, school, family, etc etc...so when I have time..I do my beadwork like now I just can't seem to fit it into my schedule and I know I need to just sit down and do them..but xmas is just in the way lol..but yeah I love beading and experimenting with different colors/beads/materials etc...

[chazziff]

beading for me is a lifestyle with some chores... those chores would be the orders that i take... i have so many ideas in my head at any given time that i just want to start 50 projects at once and then i look at what i HAVE to do and i get frustrated or upset that i cant do the projects that i WANT to do... does that make sense?

that does make sense to me ... add it to the list of reasons why i don't take custom work ... lol. then you feel guilty for working on the stuff you WANT to work on instead of the work you SHOULD be doing ...

[Usdigvhi]

definitely not a chore! more of a... luxury of sorts. I hardly have time to bead anymore but i still somehow seem to get things done...spending 8hrs or longer on projects on my days off lol

[turtleclaninc]

Sekoh...i was first introduced to beading at a young age i knew about beads but had no intrests no one in my imediate family beaded. in the 60's when we were old enough to use the buses in Syracuse my older brother would take me to Shullier park that was the closest public swimming pool he went to all the time. I noticed this older Indian woman who sat at a table with a bunch of kids and they were loom beading. Now Syracuse was a pretty tough city to live in.. lot of prejudices
exspecialy if you had brown skin. i would watch from a distance. At that time in my life i had very little social contact with whites or blacks .One day she motioned me over to her and asked me if i wanted to learn beading. anyway to make a long story shorter this woman donated all the materials and time to children of all races. showed us how to make belts,headbands, barettes rosettes lazy stiching she talked about sewing love into the stiches and how beading teaches patience and inspires creativity. i have been beading ever since. funny how something as small as seed beads can unite a world EH? My children bead and my grandchildren love beads. sometimes i start beading because a project needs to be done and i have to rip out rows. Then i stop and take a few min.s and think of that woman in the park forget about set deadlines on project completions for the kids. and just bead for the love of it. before i know it i have several inches done. so to our family beading is more than a hobby it is a naturial part of life. hope i didn't bore you all ........with respect Onen