Betty's Beading

One of the hobbies that captured the interest of a few in old Amana was beading. This art was done in free time with finely woven wires filled with bead patterns to make baskets, floral bouquets, trees, or decorate an object. A lady in Amana named Elizabeth "Betty" Christen (4/14/1919-2/8/1995) was very talented at creating these beaded objects. They were quite intricately crafted, unique and decorative and many sizes. The tiny one inch badkets were rare and fine! Perhaps they were inspired by Native Americans that used to come to the Amanas for food and trading.