By Allison Parker
Staff Writer

Daniel Collins demonstrates making bead jewelry.
Allison Parker

“Beads Heal” is Daniel Collins’ idea of an awesome bumper sticker.
For Collins, a Carrboro native, beading holds a therapeutic power unlike any other.
“Once you start making jewelry and being creative, chemically something happens,” he said.
At The Original Ornament, the only full-service bead store in Carrboro, Collins is able to get his daily beading fix.
“I come in here every day even if I don’t make something,” he said. “It’s like a family here — good energy and good people.”
The unique jewelry store provides customers a hands-on opportunity to create pieces on their own, said Casey Schlatter, owner of The Original Ornament.

“My favorite thing is teaching someone who knows absolutely nothing about beading,” she said. “The excitement on their face when they accomplish something gives me the energy to keep doing it.”

Feeling at home

What is a full-service bead store?
“At a full-service store, customers can actually put things together, and we help you through it,” said David Vitanza, employee at the store. “Other places in Carrboro sell retail jewelry, but you can’t actually sit down and make a piece.”
The Original Ornament opened in 1992 on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. In 1998, it was moved to Carr Mill Mall in Carrboro, and in 2005 it expanded to the size it is today.

“We came from Franklin Street, but when we moved we started on an uphill walk,” Schlatter said. “We are now in a community where people are loyal, support local businesses and have a place to park.

“Since we doubled our size, we are growing into our new shoes and spreading things out,” she said.

Competition isn’t a major problem for The Original Ornament, Schlatter said.

“There is some competition, but all bead stores are a little different; that’s how they all survive,” she said. “There are stores in Durham and Raleigh, but we pride ourselves in being one of the oldest in the area.

“We don’t want to be anywhere but Carrboro right now,” she said. “People are loyal and really think of us. It says a lot about the people who live in this town.”

The talking beads

Vitanza said he was interested in beading because he wanted to do something artistic. “I was looking for a job that had creativity in it,” he said. “I enjoy it because I can make things for myself on my down time.”

He said he helps customers start and finish projects as well as match various beads. “You need patience do something like this, but anyone can do it.”

Collins said beading is an activity that opens you up spiritually.

“When you open your mind and are creative, things happen in your life,” he said. “The fun and healing come from the creativity in making the piece.

“The bead will talk to you,” he said. “If I’m really feeling something, I’ll think about it and let it speak to me.”

Collins said he has learned a great deal from beading and is inspired daily by his work. “I recently learned that amber is made from tree sap,” he said.

Exotic and inexpensive

The Original Ornament contains beads from all over the world, from precious gems to African beads. The store also features glass beads made by local artists.

“When traders come through town and unload beads, I like to get the history behind the beads,” Schlatter said.

“We had a lady come from Colombia who uses vegetable and fruit dye on her beads,” she said. “She created a co-op of women in her country so she could provide them health insurance.”

Ashlyn Jones, a junior at UNC-Chapel Hill, said beading is a cheap alternative to buying jewelry at retail price.

“If I went to a store and bought necklaces like the ones I’ve made, they would be much more expensive,” she said.

Jones said beading is also addictive: “My roommate introduced me to it, and I got hooked. It’s almost like a drug.”

Not your average jewelry

Schlatter said she has seen it all at The Original Ornament, from people touching and smelling beads to making bizarre requests. “But a lot of times, people just want to just change something they already have into something else.

“A guy came in once with a coin he received from Alcoholics Anonymous for being 17 years sober and wanted to make it into a necklace,” she said.

Schlatter said she couldn’t do it because she would have had to use a drill to make the hole in the coin. “We don’t drill holes here, but I knew this was important, so I told him to go to his dentist.”

Beading with friends

The store offers basic classes that are both project-oriented and technique-oriented. The three technique-based classes focus on stringing, wiring and knotting. Schlatter said the classes are limited to ten people so there can be one-on-one instruction.

“The technique-oriented classes are informational, whereas the project classes are more fun and you actually make something,” Schlatter said.

On the last Wednesday of every month, the store hosts a social event called “The Beading Circle.”

“Part of beading is doing it with other people,” Schlatter said. “It’s a bunch of people talking and having fun, socializing and beading at the same time.”

The Original Ornament makes jewelry for special events and also hosts birthday parties for children. Jewelry requests for weddings are very common.

“Weddings require a lot of custom work, but we try to get people to do it themselves,” Schlatter said. “We are here to help and let people know that they can do it.”

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