Habaneros Hideway

The Best Man Ever and Most Excellent Teenager are very fond of spicy food, and take it upon themselves each year to plant a few peppers. When the growing season is over they dry their harvest and ask me to string their crops (I am a jewelry maker, after all, weaving things together with a needle and thread is one of my skills) which then decorate the kitchen. This insures they will have plenty of heat to torture me with over the icy Minnesota winter. This year, I have jumped the harvest a bit, and done my weaving a little early, in honor of the Etsy Beadweavers September Challenge theme, Indian Summer Dreams.

This weaving replaces my original idea, "Fuschia Profusion." Gardens here seem to be alive with fuschia flowers in late summer, and my own personal one is somewhat overgrown; less well-tended due to the time I am spending at the beading counter. I thought to capture that sense of lush excess with a necklace, and was pleased with the result pictured here. This necklace was purchased in my costume studio by a lovely woman who came in to try on ballroom gowns. I was thrilled to sell the piece to someone I could plainly see loved it, but sad to lose my challenge piece!

But then, in my favorite local bead shop, The Bead Monkey, I discovered some funky carved coral peppers. They were wonderful, some neatly symmetrical and perfect and others scarred and twisted, just like the ones in my garden. Hence, the birth of my second September challenge piece, "Pepper Profusion." Same lush leafyness, and obviously bountiful harvest as the original, and but, for me, a bit more autumnal in feeling. I guess it's the difference between early and late Indian Summer Dreams! Compare for yourself. And be sure to check out our EBW team blog on the 9th when voting opens. It's a great theme and there are many wonderful entries to examine and consider. I'll remind you when it's time!