LAUGHINGBIRD BEADS
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HOW I CAME TO FIND BEADWORK

Looking back....
My name is Beatrice Childress aka Laughingbird. Beadwork is something that I feel as if I've always known how to do, but simply forgot for awhile

me doing my favorite thing.....BEADING!
me2.jpg
takes a lot of intense concentration...

One fine August day in Suquamish, WA, after the "Chief Seattle Days" pow-wow, a woman named Trudy MacIntyre came to visit me and taught me my first beadwork. Even though I didn't know how to do anything with them, I had still purchased some beads and needles from some of the bead sellers who alwys attend the celebration.
Trudy began to teach me a simple commanche-weave earring in what I now know as "Brick Stitch". To both of our surprise, I not only finshed my earring that evening, I finished hers as well! Then I made another pair! Then I needed more beads! I was totally hooked!
Though I continue to bead, I have lost touch with Trudy. I know she lived in California, but I have no idea where. If anyone reading this knows her, please put her in contact with me, I'd like to thank her for enriching my life! I'm sure she had no ide that introducing me to beads would have such a profound effect on me! THANKYOU TRUDY, wherever you are! I think of you every time I pick up a bead .(and believe me, that is very often!)

Suquamish Shore
suquamish water
Spring in Suquamish

When I first began my "beaded journey", there were very few books on the subject of beadwork. Nearly all were native-american designs, and even though I was living on a reservation at the time, I knew that my beadwork must take a different path. Since I am not native, I felt that to do so-called "traditional" beading was not the proper direction for me. However, my first beadwork books were in the series by Peggy Sue Henery, "Beads To Buckskins". They were, and still are, wonderful sources for techniques and designs.
As the years have gone by, more and more wonderful books are out there, the internet has so much information, and we have more kinds of beads available, than I could have ever imagined when I beaded that first pair of earrings!