Gönül Paksoy and Edible Beads

I was thrilled to see that Gonul Paksoy, one of my favorite Turkish artists is featured in the latest issue of Selvedge magazine. One of her areas of exploration is making necklaces of edible beads, using items the the rest of us would normally just eat.









Here is a photo of her necklace made of cranberries from her new book "Edible Beads" that is included in the Selvedge article. Photos are by Rehan Eksi.











Here is another necklace of pistachios.












This is the cover of the issue of Selvedge (Issue 36, Sept/Oct 2010) that contains the article on edible beads. If you are unfamiliar with the magazine, it is a wonderful publication from the U. K. that covers textiles. For more information, visit http://www.selvedge.org/










We first discovered the work of Gonul Paksoy at the International Bead and Beadwork Conference in Istanbul, Turkey in 2007. First, the Rezan Has Muzesi had an exhibit of Dr. Paksoy's bead collection and some of the jewelry that she made from the historic beads. Along with that, Ms. Paksoy mounted an exhibit of necklaces made with food items, i.e. edible beads.





Here is one of her necklaces made of wrapped candy that was exhibited during the bead conference. Photo by Don Recklies.























Here is another necklace made of coiled orange peel and dried fruit; photo by Don Recklies. The museum set out dried and fresh fruit for people to make their own jewelry but, unfortunately, no one had eaten dinner and many participants ate the "jewelry supplies" instead of making art.