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NOTHING is more fun than traveling to a BEAD BASH!
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1997 BROUGHT THE THIRD ANNUAL PRODIGY BEAD / CHILE FIESTA Yes, that's the official name for this bead family reunion. Each year in October we meet in beautiful Santa Fe, NM for a weekend of talking, beading, teaching one another new techniques, eating green chiles and hours of great POWER SHOPPING! The Santa Fe bead shops have been so nice to us by staying open on Sundays, offering discounts and Sylvia,the owner of Winona's entertained us in her beautiful home last year. Each year we have a t-shirt and other goodies to remember the occasion.... as if we could ever forget! Read about the 1996 Prodigy Bead/Chile Fiesta in the article below to better understand what a gathering of on line beaders is all about. This article appeared on the front page of the Santa Fe New Mexican.
The beaders at the Second Annual Prodigy Bead
/ Chile Fiesta 1996.
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Brought together by their craft Faceless friends linked by beads, the Internet |
By AUTUMN GRAY The Santa Fe New Mexican When Mindy Miller-Willis learned she had two malignant tumors in her right breast and needed immediate surgery, her solace came from about 70 people she'd never seen - people she considers family. The faceless friends sent flowers, words and prayers in the two weeks between the news and the time of the operation. But when the day of reckoning arrived, the tumors had shrunk to such a size that removal was unnecessary. The danger had subsided. For Miller-Willis, the strangers worked a miracle. In reality, they work beads. They are self-made artisans, bonded by a common interest and united over thousands of miles through a computerized crafts "bulletin board" on the Prodigy information service. About 30 members of the board's beadwork section, known as a "chat room" in computer lingo, came face-to-face in Santa Fe this weekend. They call it the second Prodigy Bead Chile Fiesta. Some of them had met for the first time at a similar gathering in February 1995. "We think of this as a family reunion," said Santa Fe resident Judy Hulsey, who organized both meetings. "This is one of the good things that's come from the Internet," Hulsey said. Without cyberspace, this group of men and women, ages 20 to 70, would be hard-pressed to find so many with whom to share their passion, questions and suggestions about an often unrecognized art form. Most of them also think their number of true friends would be fewer. "I took the power of prayer from these girls that I love but have never seen," Florida resident Miller-Willis said. "Because you don't have friends in Florida; you have acquaintances." Begun as "just a craft board" about five years ago, the chat room evolved into a support group for a hobby, she said. Today description of the computerized beadworking network fails its users. "The people are first; the craft is secondary," Miller-Willis said. "It's about knowing there are actually good people out there" - people without jealousy, without selfishness, she said. According to the beaders, their reliance upon written computer postings to learn about each other probably elevated and enhanced their relationships. "We don't discuss what we are so much as who we are," said Suzanne Cooper, a Texan and author of beadwork books. "When you see someone for the first time, you're often colored by their appearances," Hulsey said. "When you meet over the Internet, you learn to love them before you ever see them. They could have two heads and three eyes, and it doesn't matter." Evidence of their sincerity flowed from table to table, palm to palm, and heart to heart as the women presented each other with handmade gifts Friday afternoon in the Sandia Room of the Holiday Inn. "They make me cry," Hulsey said as someone handed her a box wrapped in blue tissue paper. Although the four male members neglected to come, they, too, sent well-wishes in the form of beaded knick-knacks. For instance, 20-year beadworker David Dean (computer chat name, Beadude) sent Hulsey a beaded amulet purse necklace that he called "her portrait." The piece looked like a hand-size pouch decorated with a Picasso-esque face and dangling strands of beaded hair attached at the sides. Estimated gallery worth: about $200, according to the experts present. Many of the gifts exchanged would cost similar amounts on the open market and would require about 24 hours of solid work for the average person to complete. "This is the most giving group of people I've ever been involved with," said Cooper, who recently finished blowing bubbles from the red, white, and black beaded amulet swinging from her neck. Both the action and the toy foretold of shenanigans likely to occur in the days that remain. Sitting among tables covered with beading material, the women created, learned, laughed, played silly spur-of-the-moment games, told stories and harassed each other like schoolgirls. Although Hulsey lives in town, she said she's staying in adjoining rooms with five of the other women. One night during last year's romp, several women who were dressed in their nightgowns went to Denny's at 3 a.m. to bead because of inadequate lighting in their hotel rooms. The outlook for this year holds similar tendencies. When the group isn't meeting, Hulsey said, "people are going off and doing their own things ... and then coming back and beading until their eyes cross or they can't see." "People pay megabucks to get as high as we get from just getting together. And the only pain we feel is lack of sleep." |