Cool Beads

 When I'm not writing a book that no one will read in the future, or posting to a blog no one reads now, or hoarding food and weapons for the upcoming apocalypse, I create whimsical items of beauty upon which humanity can adorn itself. 

I need better models.

 If you've been following this blog for awhile -- and who has? -- you know I'm heavily and absurdly invested in beads. It started during the pandemic lock down, but now there's a billion fucking beads in my house, collected from all over the world. 

There's an Etsy shop somewhere too (I don't like to post it here, so leave a comment if there's anything you're interested in.) The Etsy shop will never generate enough revenue to actually live on -- Kay Jewelers is safe from me -- and it's hardly a source of "passive income" like, say, a 401K or a pension (and how "passive" are those, really, when you consider the decades you scrimped and saved for them?) Passive? These beads don't string themselves. But it's a habit that does, more or less, sustain itself. 

As I said, my bead habit started during the lockdown a few years ago. I consider it a pathology -- sort of like my version of "long covid." 

Anyway, here are some recent pics. 

First up are these extremely rare excavated roman glass beads that were made about 2,000 years ago. They have a lustrous patina and some natural iridescence due to age. Gorgeous. The romans used silver and gold foils in their beads, and you can still see it in some of these. Just an incredible bit of history in this necklace. 

A less impressive lineage below, but these white coral, green & purple fluorite, and lamp work glass beads are still pretty: 

Etched black agate and glass: 

And finally, these antique Venetian glass trade beads, with ancient black glass and natural red coral.