One of the first talisman bead necklaces I made started out as a single strand piece. A few years later I used a bone spacer to design a three-tier necklace out of the same beads, making it a shorter. The stringing material was still intact, but I decided to restring it using salmon nylon that I waxed. I wanted it to be a bit larger to fit around boring but beloved turtleneck tops. “One likes a bit of color” (said Albert in “Bird Cage”) comes to mind.
It was not a necessary task, yet I cut old knots and re-knotted them. I learned that over time my craftsmanship has improved. I was always a stickler for good craftsmanship. Because if something is worth doing it’s worth doing well. I needed to add a few beads, and make more knots than I did before. Like making a knot even if the hole of the bead was large, for the sake of the next bead, with a tiny hole, that would secure it. You don’t see the knot because it is inside the large hole.
Talisman for Me, glass button and cupid, by Kathleen O’Brien
As I neared the end, I realized the string would not be long enough to finish it as before, with a button and loop. It was way too much work to start over, so a solution came to mind. Using the one toggle I had utilized less string. Even still, I had to strain to tie it off with half knots then finish the ends with wrapping. In those moments I appreciated myself as a craft-person. That I could solve this problem, and would take the time to make something sturdy, made to last for a while.
Talisman for Me, toggle and knotting by Kathleen O’Brien
Best of all was being able to handle and revisit the stories imbued in some very special beads in this necklace. Like Tibetan turquoise that I acquired in my first trade at Karma Dzong Christmas Fair, the first bead I was given by a friend in 1968, some very old faceted glass Mardi Gras beads, a friends’ mothers’ trinket, a big furnace class triangle that gave me the idea to let it move over some seed beads, black Oaxcan clay bird from the 70’s, little brass dog, cupid & ram, the tiny ivory lion with a missing leg, Italian coral good luck horn, an emerald glass button from my favorite vintage dress and so many more. It’s like a collage of good will memories adorning my neck and keeping it warm. Worth the effort to preserve it. Which is why I make bead talismans.
Talisman for Me, lion and ram, by Kathleen O’Brien
Talisman for Me, brass dog next to the first friend bead, Italian good luck horn and birds, by Kathleen O’Brien
Talisman for Me, furnace glass triangle, by Kathleen O’Brien
Talisman for Me, first rendition by Kathleen O’Brien