A bead shop is never far away it seems. I have been working
at things non-beady in Jogyakarta (Java, Indonesia) and staying in a hotel I
didn’t choose. Yet, on Monday after a long flight, my first walk around the
streets nearby my hotel to orient myself and stretch my legs led me to a bead
shop. It was a small shop with ropes of gemstones and pearl beads on the wall
behind a glass case counter full of made up necklaces of all shapes, colours
and sizes. There was no time to stop and look carefully so I promised myself
that treat when all my other work is finished. That anticipation felt a sweet
treat amongst my non-beady workdays. However, ironically I never returned to
the beadshop. Instead, I discovered from Ganis, a local woman I am working with
here, that behind the hotel I was staying in is ‘the’ bead shop for Jogyakarta.
Ganis’s mother is a beader and it her the favourite place for beads. It is
apparently the best bead shop in town for serious beaders. New anticipation
flowed as I waited for my day ‘off’ to be a bead tourist on my final day in
Jogyakarta.
During delightful anticipatory walk through the tiny lane
ways behind the hotel I passed by several gold jewelry shops and finally arrived
at a local market with jewelry shops surrounding it. There amongst them was
Petra – ‘the’ bead shop of Jogyakarta. A kilo of crystal beads later I had to
agree it was quite a bead shop. It stocks in bulk every conceivable non-precious
metal finding needed for bead making and a staggering array of local, Chinese
and Czech crystals, gemstones and every plastic bead imaginable. Amongst the
buzz of dozens of other beaders I had a wonderful time choosing my beads. The help
of a very attentive shop assistant meant I was guided to special deals, sale
beads and every question I had was answered. It was fantastic service but the
highlight was joining a beading class that was in progress as I arrived.
Crammed into a small space in the corner of the shopfront several
women in deep concentration worked with support from the teacher on making bags
and jewelry. Beadweaving is clearly very popular in the area as there are
classes three times a day, seven days a week and each class is full to
overflowing. Whilst I couldn’t really talk with class participants because of
my limited Bahasa the language of beads kept us ‘talking’ for some time as they
showed me the intricacies of their beadweaving and looked at mine. 
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