​The Upper Midwest Bead Society (UMBS), TOHO Beads, The Japanese Beading Association, TeamTOHO, and Lotus Beads and Jewelry are joining forces to take the TOHO Peace Chain Project to new lengths by actually connecting them together and creating the longest beaded Peace Chain in the world!  UMBS is inviting us to participate! 

"There are many ways you can join our Peace Chain Project. We have a one-year goal. We would like everyone around the world to gather together friends, family, and new and old acquaintances to join us in this monumental effort by working together to make a one-mile-long beaded Peace Chain with the goal of promoting peace."

"We hope you will think peaceful thoughts as you enjoy making these rings, thereby infusing the rings themselves with calm and happy feelings."

"Your segments of chain will be connected to ours throughout the year to create 1 mile of chain. This chain will stretch all the way around the Mall of America! We invite you to come from all over the world to the Mall of America on August 6th, 2026, to bring segments of your Peace Chain with you and join us to commemorate the Day of Peace for a "Grand Connection." During this event, we will connect all of the remaining Peace Chain segments together."

So, the Bead Society is proposing that we have some Beading gatherings where we can work on the Peace Rings. Each ring is very small, and doesn't use a lot of beads. The directions are fairly straightforward. You don't need to know any elaborate stitches. There is even a YouTube video. The Bead Society has lots of colors of seed beads we can employ. If you are interested, you can contact Kay at kayd at beadsocietyla.org.  If you would like to host one of these events, let us know. 

The January 7th TBS Program Meeting will feature Margie Akin talking about Collecting from an Anthropologist's Point of View. Margie has an extensive background in teaching at UC Riverside, CSU San Bernadino and the University of Redlands. Margie is a Cultural and Linguistic Services Specialist. 

The event will be in person, and on Zoom. We will be meeting in the Uruapan room of the Veterans Memorial Building at 7:00 pm PT.  Zoom information is Meeting ID: 899 883 2615, Passcode: Beads.  

Beads have been collected since women and men walked the earth. "Beads were probably the first durable ornaments humans possessed ... " *

TBS Business meeting at 6:30 pm.  Join us! 

*Liu, Robert K, Foreword, The History of Beads: from 100,000 B.C. to the Present. Dubin, Lois Sherr. Abrams: New York, rev ed., 2009, 

Pow wows are a great place to find seed beads and see wonderful beaded workmanship! Pow wows are gatherings of Native American tribes to celebrate and honor native cultures and traditions. They are a social event that usually features a variety of dances, songs and vendors. 
Here's info on an upcoming one at CSUN in Northridge on November 29, 2025. 

Here's a link to the Press Release from California State University, Northridge.

To find other Pow wow events, you can try searching the Pow Wows Calendar from PowWows.com.  

The website for Calexplornia has lists of California Pow Wows. Unfortunately, it may not be as timely as one wants. 

Another website specifically for California is NewsfromNativeCalifornia. It is broader than just Pow wows. For example, there is some interesting information about rock art locations in California. 

In addition, another website on Southern California Pow wows comes from the San Manual Pow Wow and is linked  here. 

If you know of other websites that have useful Pow wow information, let us know in the Comments. 

The Bead Society sponsored two field trips in September to the Bowers Museum and the Broad Museum. The group went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to The Bead Society of OC - Bead Sale in the outside courtyard and to the exhibit, World of the Terracotta Warriors at the Museum. World of the Terracotta Warriors comprises over 110 newly uncovered treasures including Terracotta Warriors, chariot regalia, jade and gold adornments, bronze vessels, and immersive digital experiences. In a landmark collaboration with the Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center and esteemed museums and archaeological institutions across Shaanxi Province, These artifacts make their North American debut, offering audiences unprecedented glimpses into China before and during the Qin dynasty. Below are some pictures from the exhibit taken by attendees. 

In addition, several Bead Society members went to the Broad Museum in downtown Los Angeles to see the exquisite works of Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me. These sculptures were stunning with intricate beadwork. The colors were so vibrant!  According to the Museum,  Gibson's artwork are "all reflecting the artist’s radical vision for a future in which all people are seen, accepted, and loved."  The show came to The Broad directly from the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), one of the most prestigious exhibitions of visual art in the world, where Gibson made history as the first Indigenous artist to represent the USA with a solo show. The exhibit has moved on, but for more information you can click on this link from the Broad Museum.  The video installation of She Never Dances Alone is also available on the website. 

And here are some photographs from members of the Bead Society on this marvelous work. ​

The Bead Society regularly hosts field trips to various museums and events. There are plans to visit the Autry Museum in November. 

The Bead Society Cultural Arts and Bead Show was held on November 1st at the auditorium of the Veterans Memorial Complex in Culver City. In addition to beads and finished jewelry, we also had pottery, clothing, photography and exquisite origami objects. See the pictures! The attendance was good, both vendors and attendees expressed their pleasure. In addition, the Bead Society Booth filled four tables with beads, supplies and jewelry and made a decent return. We even acquired some donations from some of the attendees. We offered  complementary giftwrapping at this event. We had paper, ribbon, bows. Some people event decorated gift cards. We had demonstrations by Deidre Green and Janice Metz. 
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Here are some pictures of the event. We even included some before shots, so you can see how the auditorium transformed! 

The Bead Society is very grateful to our volunteers who helped out at the Bead Shack Table, the Membership Table, and at the various Demo tables. And of course, the Bazaar/Pop Up Committee headed by Sylvia Humphrey deserves a lot of credit. Raul Soliz, our helper and his daughter, Bianca were very helpful! 

Beadmaking in Glass, a World of Techniques

The diversity of glass techniques that are used to create beads is much bigger than often thought.  Pretty much every glass technique you can think of, has also been applied to beadmaking. Lampwork beads, furnace wound beads, drawn beads, molded beads, coldworked beads, blown beads: there are many ways to make a bead. In this presentation, we will travel around the world to see, for example, beads made at a wood fired furnace, seed bead production in India, lampworking in Indonesia and the making of molded beads in the Czech Republic. You will never look at a glass bead the same again!

Floor Kaspers is our speaker, all the way from the Netherlands via Zoom! Join the Bead Society in person at the Veterans Memorial Complex in the Uruapan room or via Zoom. 

November 5th, 7 pm Pacific Time

Meeting ID: 899 883 2615
Passcode: Beads

Business meeting at 6:30 pm.  Join us! 

The October 2nd Bead Society Program Meeting will be held via Zoom at 7 pm on Symbolism in Global Jewelry. Note that this meeting is a Thursday, not our usual Wednesday meeting time. 

Thursday, Oct 2nd, 2025 6:30 PM Pacific Time
(Program at 7 pm, Business meeting at 6:30 pm. )
Meeting ID: 899 883 2615
Passcode: Beads
               
We are in for a great treat for the October 2, meeting, with Sindi Schloss, gemologist, appraiser and educator, talking about Symbolism in Global Jewelry.  Sindi is a return speaker for our group, she is very knowledgeable, lively and entertaining. As Sindi will share with us, “symbolic thought defines us as 'modern man'. Jewelry is one of the first indicators and examples of symbolic thought and predates rock art by 90,000 years!”  This presentation will examine primary symbols witnessed by early humans and translated into jewelry as wearable symbols. Not only will this presentation expand your worldview, but give you a greater appreciation and ability to interpret purpose and meaning of jewelry.
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The September Meeting of the Bead Society is the first meeting of our fiscal year which started July 1. We are going to focus on what we did this summer. Ideally, what we made! We also had successful events at the Fiesta of Gems sponsored by CCRMC, and the Pop Up of the Whole Bead Show. It will be a sharing session, so members and attendees are encouraged to participate. You can share what you made or send pictures to Kay who will put them together into a slideshow. So come to the meeting and show us What you Made this Summer! 

​The meeting will be held on Zoom. 

Bead Society Meeting & Program!
Wednesday, Sep 3, 2025 6:30 PM Pacific Time (Program at 7 pm, Business meeting at 6:30 pm. )
Meeting ID: 899 883 2615
Passcode: Beads

All are welcome! 

Lisa S, President and Kay D, Webmaster and Bead Shack host of the Bead Society hosted a table at the Sandbourne Santa Monica Hotel for the one day Pop-Up Whole Bead Show. We were graciously invited by Ava Motherwell of the Whole Bead Show. We were able to recruit some new members, and chat with lots of interesting people. We were also able to promote The Bead Society Cultural Arts and Bead Show! in November.   

The Show had some interesting beads such as black diamonds, lots of gemstones,  and German and Italian polyresin beads. There were also lots of pendants and interesting bone beads. Ava of the Whole Bead Show was off to San Diego after our show. 

The Fiesta of Gems hosted by the Culver City Rock and Mineral Club was June 28-29, 2025. The Bead Society had a presence there. We had two tables filled with beads, jewelry and findings at discount prices.  We enjoy participating in this show because the people who attend are very interesting. There is a lot of overlap between people who hunt for gemstones and people who make jewelry with them. 
 
Various Bead Society volunteers such as Angie C, Sylvia H, Bridgette W, Carmen L, Diedre G, David K and Nikki D helped out at the show. We demonstrated basic bead design for making a necklace with Lisa S, Bead Society President, and Kumihimo with Kay D. We had sample projects for popular bead weaving stitches We also answered questions about bead stringing, supplies, and classes.

The beads and jewelry come from donations from the families of Bead Society members and others. We have used the beads in classes, donated them to various groups and have sold some at our Pop Ups and other shows. We look forward to next year's show!