Nowadays there are of course many more kinds of beads—beads of glass, china, gold and silver, and even of semi-precious stones. After all, though, the child who lives in the country or by the sea can gather the most interesting kind of all—such as were strung by those children who lived so long ago—seeds, berries, shells and seaweed. Gather them on a sunshiny day and store them away for use in the dull hours when you are obliged to be indoors.
The seeds of muskmelons are soft enough to pierce; watermelon seeds will take more effort and a stronger needle. Then there are the orange berries of bittersweet and the red ones of holly. Haws or hawthorn berries are a beautiful red, too, and perhaps you will find in a neighbour's garden a bush of Job's tears—gray, white or brown. The grape-like seaweed which bursts with a pop when you step on it makes very pretty beads. Cut each one close to the bulb, yet far enough to leave a short piece of the stem on each side of the bead. Pierce the bulbs while they are still wet, and after they have dried for a few days they will be ready to string. Apple and flax seeds, beans and peas before they have dried, make excellent beads. A few of the small glass beads which come in bunches may be used with these natural beads, and will set them off wonderfully. Although they are usually sold in bunches, eight skeins to a bunch, the skeins can sometimes be bought separately. Olive-green crystal beads of the size that dealers call No. 3-0 are beautiful with red berries, and what could be prettier to string with brown seeds or Job's tears than gold-lined crystal beads? Let us use them in making a chain for a muff or fan.
Muff Chain in Brown and Gold
| Materials Required: | 12 brown seeds or Job's tears, |
| A bunch of gold-lined crystal beads, No. 3-0, | |
| A spool of No. 60 white linen thread, | |
| A No. 5 needle. |
Have you ever seen any Job's tears—the interesting tear-shaped seeds of an East Indian grass? It grows very well in this climate, and you may like to raise it yourself. Think of being able to pick beads from a plant of your own!
Be careful to boil these beads before stringing, for a little grub sometimes lives in them, and he may appear when you least expect him or may even make a meal of the thread on which the beads are strung. If you have not the Job's tears, apple seeds will look almost as well, or you can buy at the grocer's whole allspice. Use a No. 5 needle and a piece of No. 60 white linen thread four inches longer than you wish the chain to be when it is finished; two yards and a quarter is a good length.
String a seed and draw it down to the middle of the thread, then string some of the gold-lined crystal beads for about three-quarters of an inch. A seed is next threaded on, and then quarter of an inch of gold-lined beads. Keep on in this way, first threading a seed and then quarter of an inch of gold-lined beads, until there are only two inches of the thread left. Tie this end through a bead to keep the others from slipping off. Thread your needle with the other end of the strand and start by stringing three-quarters of an inch of the gold-lined beads, then a seed and quarter of an inch of gold-lined beads. When this end of the strand has been strung—just as the other was—to within two inches of the tip, tie the two ends together and the chain is finished.