TulaneLSU's 2019 Christmas Pilgrimage III: Bead Crafting

Joy to the world, my dear friends! For we were all created by a beautiful and loving Creator. This wonderful Being and Mighty Counselor placed in our hearts, minds, and hands the desire and even the need to be creative. The DNA with which God has made us pushes us to create. If one could spectate gyrase unzipping those double strands, you would hear music and see bursts of color as those nucleotides fell apart. All around us is creation and we are partakers in it at every moment. Yes, we have been told to create and multiply and fill the world with fellow beings, overflowing with creativity and love. But so too are we to create just societies, loving communities, warm families. Order and justice are no accidents. They take hard work and creative spirits to find the right path, the right answers, the right system, and to listen to the Spirit.

If we do not constantly work and create, nature moves toward disorder, chaos, and entropy. Our task in this world is continually to create. It is our divine calling and our essential need. How much depression and anxiety would be cured if we set our being in the direction of creating. We need to create.

Art is one expression of this innate need. Art has so many forms and for years I was quite an art snob. I once thought crafting was something left to the devices of lonely spinsters. Over the last year, however, I have become quite a crafting champion and have taken to the crafts quite well. I see them as a branch grafted from the great tree of art.

One of the best crafting times of year, of course, is Christmas! Last evening, after doing some more outdoor Christmas lighting ( TulaneLSU's guide to lighting outdoor trees), I sat down to my craft table to make some ornaments I plan to hand out to random people I come across in the coming weeks. Who knows -- maybe you’ll be a recipient if our paths cross!

Planning your crafts is half the battle. It’s important to have a table dedicated to crafts. The paint on mine is worn thin from thousands of hours of crafting. A comfortable chair and ample lighting will make your productions neater. My craft supplies were running low, so a few weeks ago I made trips to Walmart and Hobby Lobby. At Walmart, I purchased a 100 pack of Go Create! White Fuzzy Sticks (some call the crassy, tobacco friendly pipe cleaners; cost: $2.88).



From Hobby Lobby, I purchased three packs of acrylic sunburst beads from Tree House Studios. Green and clear cost $1.99 for 125 pieces. The red pack was inexplicably $2.99. Watch the prices because a few of the green packages were priced at $2.99 as well, so find the older packaging which is $1.99. I find that these larger beads make for better accents on crosses, but for making a wreath, the sunbursts are great. After debagging, I put them in Waterford crystal bowls for easy access.



Also at Hobby Lobby I purchased a Goliath bead bucket with clear, red, and green acrylic tri-beads. What better shape to celebrate through craft our Triune God than that of the trefoil? The bucket, which contains well over 1000 beads, retails for $9.99. But as you know, all Christmas items are always 50% off at Hobby Lobby. This is an important tidbit, as purchasing the smaller packages of the same beads does not get you the 50% discount. So the the large bead bucket gives you about four times the numbers of beads for $1 less than purchasing the small packages.



Quality crafting tools are a worthwhile investment. For this craft, I used Knipex wire cutters, which retail for $50, but I was able to get on clearance for $12 a few years ago. German engineering ensures clean, effortless wire cuts. The other instrument is a pair of Craftsman pliers from Sears I got with Shop Your Way Rewards. They aren’t high quality, but they work well to bend the wires to make a tight loop to prevent beads slipping from the fuzzy sticks.



Now you have your instruments. Creation is next! The number of designs you can make is endless. As you can see, I find the crosses to be my favorite. Christmas reminds us of the purpose Christ came into the world: to save us from our sin. He went the ultimate distance for us -- even death on a cross. He died and rose again, and the empty cross we have at Christmas reminds us that nothing, not even death, can defeat the Christ who came to us as a baby in that Bethlehem manger. The large cross you see on the right was an ambitious but ultimately miscarried attempt, as the crossbeam sags and requires supports. I unsuccessfully tried to add a circular support to that cross to make a Celtic cross, but neither did it work. This is a reminder: always be humble. Simplicity often is best. The smaller crosses look beautiful and support themselves.




Christmas wreaths, trees, and candy canes also add to the holy diversity of the decorations. The candy cane reminds me of the Shepherd’s staff and crook, protecting us and saving us from the perils of the precipice. The white reminds us of the sinless of Christ; the red, the precious blood which saved us.



You can make words and even your name!



My dear friends, create something beautiful wherever you are today!