There is an ama­ran­thine qual­ity to beads and the jew­elry cre­ated from them. Hun­dreds of beads stitched together in textile-like pat­terns such as her­ring­bone or pey­ote form a sat­u­ra­tion of color that envelops the eye. Add iri­des­cence to the mix and it’s as if Tin­ker­bell waived her tiny wand and presto! Each bead becomes a gem and the com­plete orna­ment is a wear­able and won­der­fully tac­tile jewel. Run your fin­gers across a beaded neck­lace or bracelet, it will always feel cool and smooth to the touch.

Pro­duc­ing beau­ti­ful beaded jew­elry is incred­i­bly labor inten­sive and when done well, rises to the level of an art form. Made from glass that is not uni­form in color, their var­i­ous shad­ings may be used to sug­gest move­ment in a pat­tern, as in going from a darker hue to a lighter one. How­ever find­ing just the right bead for place­ment can be time con­sum­ing, not to men­tion migrane inducing.

Look for intri­cacy in design and seek out unusual forms. A sin­gle beaded bead (beadedbeads.com) or a glo­ri­ous bracelet, crafted by hand and one-of-a-kind, will always be a fab­u­lous addi­tion to a closet of basics for work; they soften sharp busi­ness edges and can be worn from day into evening. Just lose the jacket or sweater, throw on a wrap, show some skin and let the beads do the rest.