Recently, my beads held a small revolution. They accomplished this by jumping into each other’s compartments in the little divided box they are are in or spilling themselves on the floor. They said they haven’t enough room. It’s too crowded and the pewter beads are stuck in the same compartment as the gold ones, with whom they do not get along.

To quell the bead revolt I went to the store to buy a bigger box. 48 compartments instead of 12. Then 64 instead of 48. Then I discovered fire mountain and soon I had three 64- compartment boxes and some more beads in those little Ziploc baggies they put spare buttons in when you buy a shirt.

The beads were reasonably content for a while and the civil unrest was contained. This lasted until I tried to make a beaded tree and tried to lug 3 large bead boxes, tools, wire, tape and glue up to the den from the dungeon studio. I lost my hold on the top box and it tumbled all the way down the stairs, spilling beads on each step. Naturally, the beads saw the devastation to their brothers and prayed for the poor beads that rolled under the stairs, gone forever unless the cat eats them. They realized the precarious existence they led and once again the revolution started to gain steam.

I tried several more methods before the war was over. Large hardware boxes with the little drawers (they, too, did not last past the stairs. Those drawers fall out pretty easily), a box with a tool compartment (that did not actually fit my tools, or my beads) and 155 little clear boxes (They kept popping open sending little sprays of bead fireworks all over the studio). To date, my beads have logged more miles than me - moving from one type of containment to the next. I spend more time re-arranging them then I do making anything out of them.

For now, I have a system I am happy with - little glass jars that hold exactly 1 hank of seed beads (20ml, by the way). I can guarantee this won’t be the final stop for them, though.