Global

Do you ever save old calendars, the ones that have artwork or photos to decorate each month? I have some I've kept for a very long time for the beautiful images in them.

One of my favorites is a calendar with images of antique maps.

I like the colors and the spidery writing on many of these. And the images of countries and waterways when so much of the countryside was still unknown. They look hand-drawn, not like the modern maps we see today.

I have a framed print of an antique map hanging up. It's an ancient image of the world, two circles with drawings of the continents inside. It's a reproduction, of course, but I like the coloring and the images from it.

I've been enjoying making these round, teardrop and oblong beads, some with images from old vintage maps on them.

To me they seem very vintage, like antique globes. I plan on making some for gifts, to decorate packages and later to be used as holiday decorations.



Shaped like a flattened globe, with ornate copper endcaps, this one looks particularly old to me.

I built a chain for it with black beads, brass findings and a length of chain that can lengthen and shorten it. I really like this one. It's got the word 'EARTH' clearly visible on one side of the round bead, and because it turns freely you can sometimes see the markings for the ocean, sometimes the longitude and latitude markings.

Digging around in the bead stash, I found some glass seed beads, and strung some necklaces to hang these little globals from, if they are to be jewelry pieces. If I had enough beads, I'd make a long, long strand, to wrap around the holiday tree's limbs.

That's the amazing thing about beads, they can be used in so many ways.