What's Your Reason?

I know I can buy bulk seed beads in kilos from overseas, but the integrity of the product is based in the intention of supporting those around me. Beads aren't thaaat expensive in the grand scheme of things, so I've decided to only buy locally from wherever I am. 

Yesterday I found a post on a local online garage sale Facebook group that offered a close out sale on bulk beads. Come to find out, this woman’s grandmother just passed.

Grandma owned a bead store and left all her inventory to her granddaughter, who came to me with a trunk load of seed beads. I welcomed her into my home and helped her unload boxes and boxes of the exact size I requested over Facebook the day before. 

As I sifted through every color under the rainbow, she told me how she sat down on the cement yesterday with her daughter and sorted out every bead type that I requested. She smiled sadly as she told me her daughter spilled beads all over the road once, then twice, then started bawling. Then she told me that she would take payments—or anything—for the bulk of them, because she can hardly support herself and her daughter right now. 

Once I told her about NeckLeathers, she brought out loom patterns from her back seat. As we were sorting through them together, we found notes and receipts written by and addressed to her grandmother. Most of the notes were signed with a "thank you!" Most of the loom patterns were frogs. We even found an old engraved frog pen. Grandma loved frogs and beads, and this woman loved her grandmother. 

When she realized how happy I was to see all these beads in front of me, I could tell that she was picking up on my gratitude and feeding off of my excitement.  Every word out of her mouth was coated in the most genuine smile, because she knew I was someone who could appreciate this massive treasure. Watching her explain the high quality of the beads- where they came from, how they were made and finished, and how much they sold for at retail value made me want to give her every penny I had. I could tell that she needed this—that these beads came with memories that were hard to let go.

I turned to her and I grinned, “I'll buy them all.” Tears came to her eyes, and she got up out of her chair to hug me. When she let go, I thanked her over and over. She wouldn’t accept a free NeckLeather, because she “believes in my work and my heart” and wanted me to sell them instead. She repeated to me how much her seven year old daughter needed this sale. Then she practically jumped back into my arms and hugged me again, but this time squeezing me much tighter and holding on a few seconds longer. 

On her way out the door, she told me she could get me a branding iron to stamp into the back of my work. I’ve been reaching out to people for weeks trying to get one made in the States instead of outsourcing overseas. I’m heading over to her place tomorrow to sort through her 16 tons of letter presses and pick out branding letters. 

She walked away with a full payment in cash, a load out of her trunk, and a weight off her shoulders. 

I walked away with enough beads for a lifetime, a plan to pick out a branding iron, and an overflowing heart. 

This is why I love what I do. I get to meet people, hear their stories, support them, and create (magic) with their materials. I shop locally for a reason. I make every NeckLeather by hand for a reason. Because all things happen for a reason.