Beads, beads, beads. I have to admit that I love beads. I always have. I think perhaps the Metis blood in me has given me this love. When I was in high school I did the typical necklaces: one string with multi colours. I loved them. I gave them to my friends, and hope that they loved them too. Now I have discovered nicer beads, older beads, stone beads and silver beads.Trade beads have got to be some of my favorite though. They are older beads, and often they are beads that have a history of being traded with the natives of North America and the fur traders or stores. My favorite of these are the Hudson bay beads which were traded by The Hudson Bay company for furs, or other necessities. I know that the history of the settlers and European companies that dealt with the natives is not a happy, or kind story, but I like to see the history and the way these beads were used. They were a currency, a way of payment. It may seem cruel to us, to mis-use a people this way - but are beads as a currency any less usefull than our paper or coin money now? Or our electronic money?
I have made several necklaces using these trade beads. At times I have used a combination of old and new beads, and I love the result. I tend not to polish the older beads because the history and the age is part of what I love about them.
