A Beautiful Mess

 

I purchased more Vintage Venetian seed beads recently. They are tiny.

Vintage Venetian seed beads, silver-lined, 11/0

Really, really tiny…

So tiny that when dropped on the light-colored carpet, it is extremely difficult to see these little gems… and yet I search and search* to make sure I haven’t missed one.

So tiny that I am having difficulty stringing them onto the jewelry wire… wire that measures 0.46mm (0.018 inches) in diameter. It might be easier if they weren’t silver-lined, which is creating havoc with my ability to poke the wire through their supposedly hollow tubes (sometimes they jump when poked… hence the searching on the carpet). These beads are one hundred years old but they are lovely beads and it will be worth it in the end, even if I am growling over the process right now.

And then there is the red/white/clear lanyard (see bottom of the picture to the right of this paragraph) that I’ve been working on recently. I’ve beaded and unbeaded it over the past 2 weeks, playing with the design to get the most pleasing patterns of color. Finally, I was satisfied with it on Thursday night and crimped the ends.  Saturday afternoon, I was picking it up to move it and photograph it and I noticed:

Arrrrgh!

I should never finish anything off right before bedtime.

I’d messed up the pattern on one end during the last inch of beading. It’s a small mistake, but it can’t stay.

Beading is a bit like life in that way. Little things count and they can make a big difference.

And people? People are often a beautiful mess.

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Sunday things on my mind:

“Jesus loves the little children — all the children of the world!
Red and yellow, black and white — they are precious in his sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

*Luke 15: 8-10 (parable of the lost coin)

I’m tremendously grateful for the Love that will not let me go. 
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