Painted Wooden Bead Necklace
5 Jul 2013
My fantastic friend Hillary came over for craft night this week, and it was big awesome fun. We mostly worked on painting wooden beads, which I expected to come out free of brushstrokes, sparkling with bright and flawless color.
Well, that’s not exactly how they came out, and we laughed a lot about they looked like they had been painted by three-year-olds. Except for the square bead in the center, which came from Hillary’s stash. That one looked awesome. I guess flat surfaces are key!
Anyhow, I wasn’t really planning on making a necklace out of my beads. I considered them basically bead cannon fodder. Except maybe they were the cannon balls, actually. But as I started arranging them by color symmetrically, I started to really like the little weirdos.
I love the color combination, which I don’t think I would ever have chosen intentionally. We just randomly experimented with whatever seemed interesting, and this is what we produced (except that Hillary’s are really amazingly patterned and multi-colored!)
Here is the beautiful aftermath of craft night. I love that I’m still learning that things can grow on me with time. And I love that we had such a great time painting. If you’re having fun, then you’re doing it right. (And, pro tip: if you paint over foil instead of newspaper, you won’t end up with tons of paper stuck to your painted objects. Doubles as palette!) Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
Jul 05, 2013 @ 05:20:30
happy fourth of July a little late. Love the necklace and what a fun project to do with a friend 🙂
Jul 07, 2013 @ 21:02:58
Thank you! Happy belated 4th to you too!
Jul 05, 2013 @ 08:06:02
That’s very nice. I think this professor should get one! (Hmm…?)
Jul 07, 2013 @ 21:03:28
But of course! They come in all colors. All colors that I know how to properly mix, that is.
Jul 05, 2013 @ 08:58:20
What a fun night you had! I wonder how the beads would do dipped in paint?
Jul 07, 2013 @ 21:05:07
Probably much better! I think that would definitely be the way to go. One would need some sort of bead drying/dripping rack, but surely we could devise one, yes? Also, I am just longing to help you organize your office! And clean all my old college stuff out of that closet. I don’t know when I shall come to your town. But when I do, I will do it. I must have some inner need to impose order…but preferably not upon my own house;)
Jul 05, 2013 @ 16:43:14
What fun! Mostly my crafting exploits are confined to knitting and making the odd card. I’d love to have a go at some different things. Love your ‘little weirdos’!
Jul 07, 2013 @ 21:05:57
Thank you! The little weirdos have definitely grown on me:)