The University of Idaho Argonaut

Beads come in hundreds — if not thousands — of different colors and designs, can be made from just about any hard substance and come in almost any shape.
At noon Tuesday, the University of Idaho Women’s Center will be the place to learn how to make your own bead jewelry. At the same time, Women’s Center staff member Lysa Salsbury hopes to help students relax.
“We want students to come in, get off their feet and do something creative,” Salsbury said.
The idea for a beading workshop at the Women’s Center came last semester when Salsbury did some beading of her own to relax.

“Debbie Hornbuckle at the Tutoring and Academic Assistance Programs put on a beading workshop in her office,” Salsbury said. “It was calming.”
Salsbury said that Hornbuckle brought her own personal beads and beading materials for students to use.
Hornbuckle, who is an office administrator at TAAP, has used beading not only as a way to reduce stress but also as a way to help people focus.
“I initially started using beading workshops as something for people with development disorders,” she said. “There is something therapeutic about beading that makes it as good of a mental workout as jigsaw puzzles. It makes a person take their mind off of all their stress and just focus on beading.”
While the Women’s Center will be hosting the beading workshop, Hornbuckle will be the one providing all the materials and teaching needed to make something out of beads.

“She’s not charging anything for the workshop,” Salsbury said. “She just wants to give students an opportunity to come in and spend some time beading.”
Besides the therapeutic benefits of beading, there is also the benefit of just making something that you can show off.
“When I did the workshop last semester I enjoyed the fact that for a little bit of my time and effort, I was able to make something tangible.” Salsbury said. “I still wear earrings that I made then.”
Hornbuckle said that was the main reason why she was able to offer the workshop for free.
If the workshop gets a good enough turnout, both Salsbury and Hornbuckle would enjoy making it a regular occurrence at UI.
“Making small bead jewelry like earrings wouldn’t be too expensive,” Hornbuckle said. “As long as people seemed interested enough in the workshop, I’d love to share my hobby with students.”
Hornbuckle also hopes that she can get students interested in a hobby that she feels passionately about.
“It’s just a great hobby for somebody who doesn’t feel they can spend a lot of money,” she said. “But it produces something that people can show off and feel a sense of accomplishment for finishing.”
Salsbury hopes any students who want to spend some quality time being creative will stop by.
“It’s a way for students to cut their stress,” she said.