Finished! I’ve been working on this piece for several days and it finally came together this afternoon. It was ordered by a store in Fredericksburg that sold one in similar colors earlier this summer. I’ve always thought of the browns and blacks for Fall, but mixed with the light teal and a touch of yellow and gold, this seems to work for summer. This peyote necklace has a nice Turquoise Jasper cabachon (Magpie Gemstones) in the center and I backed this stone with ultrasuede. I also added an extra row of beads completely around the neckline at a right angle to the peyote stitches. This should help the piece keep it’s shape while it remains supple and comfortable. The piece is stitched with 6 lb test Fireline fishing line.

It was amusing that as I was finishing this piece, the ping of my computer alerted me that I had received an email. It was from Barry at Caravan Beads. This is my main source for wholesale seed beads (Miyuki) and the vendor from whom I purchased the beads for the above necklace. He was offering to trade the cloudy, rainy northern weather in his neck of the woods for some sunshine. I offered to take the deal and said I would throw in some feral hogs from my pasture to boot. He replied that he wanted the weather, but not the hogs. While both he and a store I deal with in Maine were sharing that customers were hard to come by due to their too-wet summer weather. The merchants I talked with close to San Marcos and the Hill Country had much the same concerns with our too hot summer weather. Either way, I guess it’s summer and we’re all dealing with one thing or another.

Just as I’ve had to keep an open mind about those dark colors and their appropriateness for summer, I’ve got to keep an open mind about the weather. When it changes (for the better) people will be ready to get out and will definitely need to shop. I plan to have plenty of options for them to see. As I’ve heard Suzie from Aunties Beads say “you’ve got to have product!”