Blind beading

Blind beading, a photo by Cobra_11 on Flickr.

I love arts and crafts. One of my favourite activities is beading. You might think that blind people can't do precise things such as sewing beads. Wrong! Today, I decided to make a bracelet from Hama beads. As you can see, I'm using my left hand to feel for the beads. I'm holding the needle in my right hand in such a way that my index finger is close to the tip of the needle - this prevents me from getting pricked with the needle when putting beads on. The beading is going a bit slower than it would otherwise (it took me about an hour to do 5 cm of the bracelet), but that doesn't matter. There is one more thing, though: the colours of the beads. Blindness doesn't mean you have to give up on them. Sorting out beads by colours (you can buy packets of beads that are pre-sorted already, which is very helpful) can help you make a colour-coordinated bracelet. However, since I prefer colourful bracelets, I just use a big box of mixed beads.

Not being able to see my bracelet, I just feel my work with my fingers. I'm learning about arts and crafts from an entirely different perspective. The colours aren't important any more. What matters is the precision of my work and how equally the beads are sewn together. I'm learning aesthetics from a different point of view.