A Day in the Craft Zone: Heishi Beads, Questionable Decisions & WTF
There are productive days in the studio.
There are creative days in the studio.
And then there are days when Barb comes over.
Those days are technically still productive and creative, but they also require more coffee, repeated explanations and the occasional moment where I stare silently into the middle distance and question several of my life choices.
Barb has appeared around here before. She’s one of those friends you love with your whole heart—even while wondering how one person can ask the same question three times in half an hour and somehow make each time sound like brand-new information.
She doesn't have a memory problem.
She just doesn't listen.
This is important to establish early in the story. 😂
And because apparently my craft room has become its own low-budget reality show, yesterday's episode began with something seemingly innocent:
Sorting heishi beads.
How Much Trouble Could Sorting Beads Possibly Cause?
Heishi beads arrived on long strands, and I like to take them off and sort them into individual color containers. Later, I can grab whatever colors strike my fancy and create custom blends for friendship bracelets.
It's a process.
A fairly peaceful process.
And then came Barb.
Immediately, the questions began.
What are those?
Why are you taking them off the strings?
What are you going to do with them?
Are these two the same colour?
What about these?
Wait...why are you taking them off the strings again?
Welcome to the show, everyone.
Surprisingly, the sorting went pretty well. Only a few beads made a break for freedom, presumably hoping to escape the craft room before somebody turned them into a bracelet.
Then I ran out of containers.
Naturally.
So now I had unsorted beads, no place to put them and a Barb whose curiosity had not yet been adequately exhausted.
There was only one sensible solution.
Bring out the bead spinner.
And Now, For Barb's Entertainment...
Barb had never seen the bead spinner in action.
I knew she'd be fascinated.
I also knew this would generate approximately 147 additional questions.
But sometimes you have to make your own entertainment.
I started with a light salmon-coloured bead that we both liked. Then I picked up a sandy-coloured strand of heishi beads to add to it.
Barb immediately objected.
"No, no, no. Those aren't going to look good together."
Me: "Yes, they will. Just be patient."
Barb remained unconvinced.
I added the sand.
Then some white.
And suddenly there was this gorgeous soft, beachy mixture swirling around in the spinner.
I loved it.
I spun up a seven-inch bracelet.
Barb looked at it.
"Oh my gosh. That looks great. I love it!"
Meanwhile, somewhere behind my eyeballs:
Is this woman for real?
😂
We made a few bracelets from that blend, mostly because we couldn't agree on a charm.
Barb wanted a starfish.
I wanted a turtle.
Obviously, there was only one mature adult solution.
We made both.
Trust the Process, Barb
Then I looked at that salmon, sand and white mixture and thought:
You know what this needs?
Red.
A little red mixed through would give it a Strawberry Shortcake sort of feel.
Barb's reaction suggested I had proposed setting fire to the bead spinner.
Absolutely not.
Terrible idea.
Wouldn't look right.
I added the red.
Made the bracelet.
Added an adorable little strawberry charm.
Barb:
"Oh, I LOVE that!"
Uh-huh.
At this point, a pattern was developing.
Apparently my role was to create the questionable colour combinations while Barb's role was to object strongly and then take full credit for loving them afterward.
We moved on.
Teal, grey and white went into the spinner next.
Again, suspicion from the peanut gallery.
Again, cute bracelets came out.
Then I added black.
More suspicion.
More cute bracelets.
Then neon green.
By this point, Barb had stopped questioning my colour choices quite so aggressively and had moved into a new phase:
"How do you KNOW what colours are going to look good together? How do you know they're going to turn out like that?"
I wasn't entirely sure how to answer.
So naturally:
"Must be my superpower."
I stand by this answer.
Creating heishi bead blends really is one of my favourite parts of bracelet making. There's something ridiculously satisfying about tossing colours together, adding another shade on a whim and watching a completely different combination emerge.
Sometimes I know exactly where I'm going.
Sometimes I have a vague idea.
And sometimes I'm apparently just terrifying Barb.
Either way, it feeds the creative soul.
And occasionally provides excellent entertainment.
And Then Came ILYSM
This is where yesterday's episode took an unexpected turn.
Kids—and plenty of grown-ups—love the word bracelets, so I decided to use some of our latest colour mixture to make one that said:
ILYSM
I Love You So Much.
I added the letters, finished the bracelet, tied everything off and admired my work.
That's when Barb informed me I'd spelled it wrong.
I looked at it.
I hadn't.
She insisted.
I looked again.
Still hadn't.
And then came the explanation:
"Well, you've got the letters in the wrong order for SMILY."
...
There are moments in a friendship when you are called upon to offer guidance.
Support.
Wisdom.
This was one of those moments.
Apparently we were having a teachable moment.
I began explaining that ILYSM was not an attempt to spell smily.
It was an abbreviation.
I. Love. You. So. Much.
This required considerably more explanation than I had anticipated.
Coffee was involved.
I'm fairly certain my superpowers were weakening.
WTF Seems Appropriate
There were just enough beads left in the spinner to make one more bracelet.
And, more importantly, not enough beads left to justify sorting them back into their containers.
That's bracelet-making math.
So I told Barb she could choose the word for the last one.
After the whole ILYSM incident, perhaps sensing the general mood in the room, she selected:
WTF
Perfect.
No notes.
Because if any bracelet accurately summed up the previous two hours, that was it.
And Finally... The Tower
Before the day ended, we made one more bracelet—the peachy one you've seen in the photos.
Barb prefers bracelets with more traditional beads when she's choosing something for herself. A little more grown-up, a little less friendship-bracelet chaos.
She picked the large faceted peach bead she liked, and I took it from there—adding the softer coordinating beads, some sparkle and gold accents.
Then came the charm decision.
I gave her a few choices.
Eventually she settled on what she called:
"The tower."
The Eiffel Tower, Barb.
But honestly, after ILYSM/SMILY, I decided we'd accomplished enough learning for one afternoon.
The tower it is. 😂
And it turned out beautifully.
So yesterday was what I'd call a very successful day in the craft zone.
Beads were sorted.
Bracelets were made.
New colour combinations were created.
Several beads attempted to escape.
Barb questioned almost every creative decision I made before eventually deciding she loved it.
ILYSM briefly became SMILY.
WTF became both a bracelet and an accurate description of the afternoon.
And somewhere along the way, between the bead spinner, the coffee, the laughter and the ridiculous conversations, we made some pretty great memories too.
Because that's really what happens in this craft room.
We make things.
We make messes.
We make questionable decisions.
And every now and then, we apparently teach Barb internet abbreviations.
Just another productive day at The Paper Artist.
Products we used in the craft space today:
50 Strand Clay Bead Bracelet Kit
The Original Donut Shop Coffee (Today’s coffee drank while creating)☕️😂
Some of the links sprinkled throughout this post are affiliate links. That simply means if you click one and decide you absolutely need that crafty little something in your life, I may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you.
Think of it as helping to keep this little corner of the internet supplied with paper, ink, beads… and, most importantly, coffee. Because apparently creativity requires caffeine and an alarming number of craft supplies.
So click away guilt-free. You get the crafty goodies, I might get enough commission to fund my next questionable craft-room purchase. Everybody wins ~Thank you!
