The Bead Museum in Phoenix

Ok, I promised to share more about my trip to the bead museum - so here's some pictures and commentary! They had beads there that were around 15,000 years old! If you believe that the world is that old. Some how I didn't manage to get a picture of it though.

Amber Necklace - Isn't it incredible?

Can you imagine wearing REAL beetles around your neck?
That's what these we're! Kinda creepy.

This looked heavy. Tribal obviously, not exactly my style :P

Fetish Necklace. Reminded my of the work of my friend StoryBeader.

There is apparently a big beading society down in Phoenix.
Of course it's a big city, so that makes sense eh?
Anyway, each piece of this necklace was made by a different member.
It was commemorating some anniversary for the museum.

Can you imagine wearing skulls around your neck?
Don't worry, this was for the men :P
The plaque said that they often carved the skulls from wood.
From the dimensions of this I'm hoping it was one of the carved ones.
But it didn't say.

One thing I find fascinating about jewelry is the different traditions
that are often associated with it. This Beaded apron was given
to a girl when she came of age as a sign to all that she
was ready for marriage. I can only imagine how long it
must have taken! I wonder if they worked on it as a community?

And these are the Ladies! From left to right:
Cheryl, Sharon, Grandma, Ruth (MIL), Me, Jamie
We didn't all go through the museum, but we all explored the bead shop!

One of the best parts of going to the bead museum was getting to connect with Jamie. This is my husbands family, and for most of them it was the first time we'd met. Jamie has fetal alcohol syndrome and, as a result, is mentally much younger than she looks. She's not the first "young" adult I've met, but I wasn't quite sure how to connect with her at first. Then we started talking about jewelry and we had a blast! Going through the museum with her I had a lot of fun explaining the different exhibits to her. I'm a natural teacher, so it broke down any inhibitions I had! Plus I could often expand on what the exhibits said because of what I know about beads :D That was fun!

I didn't buy much at the bead store attached to the museum because the prices were kinda high. But I did buy a dichroic cabochon to play with. We'll see how long it takes me to get to it. I have soooo many projects I want to work on!