This is the first entry in what I hope will be a blog about some of the fun things my family and I do.

My wife and I started making glass beads over 20 years ago as a hobby.  Our initial interest was in historical bead reproductions because at that time we were active in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).  We are not active members now, but our love of ancient glass is still strong.

We have recently wanted to get back into the bead making and recover some of the skills that have gotten rusty in the last few years.  And I found a great idea for this!  The 21 Day Bead Boot Camp

I'm grateful for the work that went into creating the PDF guide for a 21 day series of bead projects to focus on several different skills and craft 21 different beads appropriate to the Viking time period.

Here's the result of Day 1:

These are simple, basic, round beads.  We, like many lampworkers, refer to them as "seed beads," not because they are small like seeds, but because they are the bead that forms a "seed" that every other bead grows from.  These are about one centimeter across.  

When we were first learning to make beads, we tried all sorts of wild and fun and silly things.  We had a lot less success than we had hoped, early on.  The point where we both started getting good with glass was when we decided that every session making beads would start with at least ten of these seeds.  Now, they are fast and easy.  Then, we found every way you can screw them up.  

If you are a glass bead maker or aspire to being one, don't neglect the humble basic seed.  You'll use plenty of them for spacers and filler beads, so they aren't a waste.  And they will teach you precise placement of glass, good heat control, and efficient movement.  Nothing builds skill like repetition.