Beads galore

The bead fair in Lahti was yesterday. It wasn't as good as I expected, the prices were quite high and there weren't that many stalls for the kind of beads I love. But I did buy some lovely glass pearls and some freshwater pearls, I couldn't leave empty handed could I? Oh and I finally bought some silver wire
which I've been pining for after I got the instructions from another bead enthusiast at work. Here are two rings I've made, I still need lots of practice. Winding the wire really strains your fingers!





These beads I made for my mom, almost completely out of recyceled materials (ie old necklaces)! I'm still stuck on pink but I now have some new aqua blue and purple beads, so lets see what I come up with next.



On the book front, I finally finished the lovely book Peony in Love by Lisa See. I HIGHLY recommend this book! I've read zillions of books on China but this one is amazing. It has all the elements that facinate me, foot binding, lovesick maidens, ancient rituals, hungry ghosts, the afterworld... The story is set in seventeeth-century China and it starts with Peony, who has lived a sheltered life on the compound of their family villa. Peony is to be married off to another family soon. But what happens when she accidentally meets a handsome poet and is totally bestotted with him? How can she marry someone else? What will her obsession with the Chinese opera The Peony Pavilion do to her? Find out for yourself!



Tomorrow morning I'm off to Colombia.