Beads of Courage

I belong to a group of lampworkers that meet at Blue Fire Beads once a month to torch and talk–and then go to Chili’s afterward for dinner.  Sometimes it’s all about the food.  We started a little extra gig last year called Beadapallooza.  OK, so it was a blatant rip off.  What can I say.  LOL

This year Beadapallooza didn’t happen quite the way we had hoped so we decided to change it a bit.  We are meeting on Saturday and making beads for a group called Beads of Courage.  It’s a group that gives beads to certain children’s hospitals to be use as a ‘badge’ of courage.  We will be making purple hearts and just regular beads and sadly, flutterbys.  Every time a child finishes a procedure they get a purple heart.  Regular lampwork beads are for other things.  Flutterbys are given to parents when they lose a child.  Some of these kids have ropes of beads 35 or 40 FEET long.  That’s a hell of a thing to go through for a kid.  I’m lovin’ that we can do something to make their lives a little better.