ABOUT US

We are the Women of Earthly Treasures Contemporary Beadwork

Rainbow • Sunny Rose • Helen

We have been beading together for over five years, but it didn't start there. It seems as if we have had beads around us most of our lives in one way or another. Rainbow and Sunny Rose are twins. Helen, who is their mom, is now nearing 80 years and is not beading much now but has created some incredible things in her short beading time of about five years.

Since we grew up, all of us, in New Orleans, there was always an abundance of Mardi Gras beads around. When we were children, in the 50's these were actual Chech glass or West German glass beads that now would be very expensive indeed! When the strings would break ( And, oh yes they did break!) we would collect the tiny treasures in a cigar box and hoard them until at last on a rainy day, our mother, Helen, would appear with a needle and thread for us to restring our precious treasures. Each one was intriguing in some way.They sparkled, twinkled, were bold or delicate, each with its own "story" to tell and its bit of magic to impart! They seemed like delicious candies to be enjoyed and devoured!

Later, as we grew up, we would visit the local Mom and Pop Hobby stores and buy the little glass tubes of "indian beads" and spools of wire and make whatever we could. The big thing then was "friendship rings". It was obvious we were hooked from a very early age!

Someone once said that we are "hunters and gatherers" about our beads. In the 60's, as hippies, no doubt we still collected our beads sometimes keeping the really special ones in in a favorite jewelry box or special container. We strung them sometimes, embellished our clothing, especially our blue jeans, and even our hair with them.

Then in the 70's we began doing Arts and Crafts shows. It would not be beadwork we were creating then.

Instead, Rainbow had begun creating macrame pieces made of embroidery threads. These pieces are honest dead ringers for the contemporary beadwork of today. In fact, we were asked many times "Is that BEADWORK?". Naturally, these pieces ALL had a grand variety of beads worked into them. We found natural things, too...shells, bone, nuts, seeds, semi-precious stones, sterling silver, antique steel beads, every imaginable Pheasant, peacock and rooster feather, mother of pearl, abalone, and once even a green beetle. Each piece of either macrame or featherwork we created became a creative journey, an adventure. We were happy to be "unique and different". The colors of the threads and feathers we used then were as vast as the variety of BEADS we use today.

Is it any wonder that in the 90's when Rainbow found the first Amulet bag article in a magazine she began drawing on all of these previous sources for inspiration?

Our work has been presented at many fine art and craft shows, in galleries, shops and around the necks of a few famous Olympic figure skaters!

So we would like to share this work with you now. Take your time, study each piece in turn and discover all of their "secrets" because... oh yes, beads DO have secrets. They will whisper them to you, all you have to do is listen. Enjoy!