Firstly I dont want to see my bead collecting as any kind of competition. i like variety rather than perfection!

i like BCN because people here share images of what they have and what they want to find out and what they know -there are many friends here whom i havent even met in real life.

Secondly- i am fascinated by beads because they represent a hunger for ornament and for keepsakes, and have been around ever since beings began to express their abilities and skills more than purely for survival..
i am interested in the development and refinement of every kind of technique of making, and "beads" happens to be a subject which includes examples of pretty well every hand- and later machine- craft as well as illustrating the things people admired over the aeons, enough to try to replicate what they valued. so for me all beads of any material including what some describe as "fakes" have a worth and can teach us something and connect us with our inventive ancestors. and from the practical point of view, being small, beads tend to survive-

the traditions associated with some beads are really interesting...from a social history point of view.

the examples of "pumtek" types shown include both older and newer ones, and i like that i can sometimes see how they were done.