I'm just curious.  Is there anyone who gets carsick if they read in the car, but doesn't have a problem beading?  My expectation is that the activities are so similar they would have the same effect, but I'd like to know.

 I can't do either activity in a car.  Flying-yes

 That makes sense.  I can read on a plane, but get deathly ill if I try it in a car.  At least I can ride in the back seat now!

For me it depends on how the road is. I generally don't read much in the car, but I do ok with beading as long as the road isn't too curvy. For straight sections of highway, no problems. Twisty mountain road-forget it! Besides, the twistier the road, the more chance I'd rather be looking at the scenery anyway. Driving from OK to CO & back to visit family? I'm beading all the way because there's not a darn thing worth looking at until you can see mountains. I also don't take any beadwork that's too complicated either just because it's a pain to work on. I like something that I don't have to concentrate on 100% so I can still carry on a conversation or look around a bit.

On our recent vacation driving from Oklahoma back to our home state of Pennsylvania, I tried beading while traveling for the first time.  For me, it worked out GREAT!  No headache or car sickness, but then I can also read while riding, too...maybe that's why it didn't bother me at all.  I also agree with someone else who mentioned selecting something not too difficult.  I chose to fill in the background on a cuff bracelet I was working on, so I only needed to have one type & color of bead at a time. I moved my seat a little closer to the dashboard, put my beads in a container with low sides on the flat area of the dash in front of my seat, and beaded the miles away.

I, like someone else, cannot read in a car, but can do so on an airplane.  Last summer my husband and I left on a 6-week road trip from Florida to AZ, WY, NM, MT so I thought I needed to bead to pass time during the less scenic portions of the drive.  Definitely a flat terrain.  I had a bead tray and was working on doing some beaded bezels around cabachon stones - no pattern needed.  Sudden stops and transferring my beading tray to the backseat to leave the car were disastrous - beads all over the place!!!  That was short lived.

I can't read in the car, but can bead.   (My car-sickness when I try to read isn't immediate & violent - I can read a map, or a short newspaper item, but can't sit & read a book.)

I agree with the comment about picking a project with larger beads, and I think it's easier if there are few different beads.  I'd also avoid colors (e.g., matte black) that are hard to see in less-than-perfect light.

I use a plastic box (Tupperware or Rubbermaid type of thing) that's 9"x12"x3" with one of those flocked beading mats inside.   I put a smallish working number of the bead types I need in those shallow triangular bead dishes and keep those by an edge so they shift around less.   Occasionally a sharp corner will spill the beads out of the dishes, but the 3" edge of the box keeps them under control.  There's room for some tubes or small boxes of beads, the dishes, and I still have a little working area.    Tools are carried in a small canvas bag (the semi-circle cosmetic-bag kind with a zipper; got it at Hobby Lobby or JoAnn or someplace like that  in the paintable canvas bags area).  That can sit in my lap or on the floor while working, with just the tools I need immediately in the box.   When I'm done working, I just put everything in the box, snap on the lid, and it's handy to carry or stash.

 Ann T.

I use the Project Tin for beading when I travel.  It is a nice size that fts on my lap.  Keeps the beads in place with the low sides, and the velvet jewelers pad keeps the beads from rolling around and is a great work surface.  When I am done beading the lid snaps on and the whole thing fits in a backpack or carry-on and the work is ready when you want to continue with your project.  It can be purchased through www.shibui-daughters.com or at local beadstores.

 

I can not read or bead in a car. I have had a problem since I was a child. I remember always having to sit in the front seat with Mom and Daddy on long trips, because if I sat in the back, they'd have to stop to let me out as I got physically ill. I hated that, because our station wagon (8 kids) had a back seat that faced backwards and I would hear my lucky brothers and sisters having fun with cars following us.

I really feel sorry for all the people that cannot bead or do anything else while riding in a car. I read, bead, draw and even do watercolor in a travel journal. My travel bead tray is actually one of those plastic divided deep dish plates to create your own frozen tv dinners with a tight fitting lid. I lined the divided sections with velux. I never have spilled beads, even around sharp cuves. A sudden hard brake may be another story altogether. I use the large section to spread my beads that I'm weaving with and the other two for thread, scissors, other projects in progress, bees wax, tweezers, needles, etc. I think you get the idea. While I am beading, my car's cup holder holds my tubes of beads, and then I put them back into my tv dinner bead tray before putting the lid on. It holds 3 or 4 tubes at once. The beads don't scatter if you put it on the floor  when not beading. I love it so much that it is my primary beading station even at home. I keep one for beadweaving and one for wirewrapping.

The difference between beading and reading (besides the first letter!) in the car is that with reading, your eyes are moving fairly rapidly side to side. With beading, your eyes are more stationary, looking just at the bead you are working on. You may also find that you look up more frequently while beading. I could never read in the car - very violent results. I tried doing some wirework for my first attempt. I could wrap a little wire, look up while finishing the wrapping and then look back. I've now graduated to completing an entire peyote bracelet between my house and my sister's! It sure makes a four and half drive more manageable. Now I just have to convince my husband that he should drive every time!

Peggy, Pat, AnnT...Welcome to Bead and Button!  I hope you'll stick around and join more conversations.

About beading in the car, well, I'm the only person in my family that ever drives anywhere, so it would be pretty dangerous for me to try beading in the car!  If I ever get to be a passenger, at least I've picked up a lot of ideas in this thread to try out.

Cat

 I get very sick from reading in the car, but I have NO trouble beading in the car, except for the potholes.  So if you haven't tried yet do try.  It passes the miles so quickly.

Hi Everyone !  I can read in the car but never tried beading.  I have indeed beaded in an eighteen wheeler, tho !  Straight, smooth roads, no problem.   Mountains no problem as well but I'd much rather look at the mountains.  I travel with a bead buddy and put the little beads in the ditch and the bigger beads in the deeper cups.  I need to let all the air out of the seat so my feet are on the floor and there is no bounce in the seat.  If the cats don't get me on the way up to the dash board the bumps in the road will.  I pick them all up when we change drivers.  Has anyone ever been so engrossed in a project that they bead it in their sleep ?  I would dream of loosing a needle in the bed and then wake up to look for it.

Happy Trails

Two Hearts

I think a bead crochet project would be perfect. With all the beads already strung, there's no danger of losing them.

My husband is a drivin' fool, so I always get to 'ride shotgun' and bead away. We travel the same road all the time to visit the kids so I'm really not missing any new scenery. I work on simple projects with a big tupperware bowl on my lap, so even if a bead gets away, it'll just be at the bottom. Also: I use one of those big magnifiers that hangs around my neck - the ol' eyes ain't what they used to be! LOL

I agree with Peggy. The eye movements required by reading and beading seem to be different enough that beading doesn't necessarily cause the unpleasant reaction that reading does. I do only fairly simple beadweaving in the car. I keep all of the beads in a small plastic screw-top jar that can be closed quickly and easily if the road conditions ahead look bumpy enough to make beading difficult (shaky needle) or spill the beads.

I can also read on the plane with no adverse affects. Only unusual turbulence compares to car travel.

I get sick reading or beading in the car if my peripheral vision is not blocked.  I use a pair of wrap around sunglasses and stuff (yes its' true!) small pieces of tissue on each side to completely block my peripheral vision.  If I keep my head down so I cannot see outside the car, I can bead or read in the car without getting sick.  This seems to work much than draping a towel over my head, which makes me look like I wearing a burka or a turban.  Many strange looks from passerbys (my husband told me - obviously I could not see!).  I have only done this once since my husband happened to fall asleep and drive off the road while I was thusly adorned... nothing worse than feeling the rat-a-tat-tat of the shoulder of the road when you don't know what's happening! 

I have always been able to read, etc. in the car, except for a short span of a couple of years where I couldn't. It may have to do with the ex-husband (who wasn't an ex- then) who was driving.  

My DH Mike is the driver in our family, so I get to bead, read, knit (though he says "you'll poke your eye out with those things"), crochet, do crossword puzzles and Sudoku while we're on road trips. We just got back from a 2 week road trip to NJ from AZ. I made necklaces for my daughter in law and my 2 nieces in law - just simple single strands with seed pearls and Swarovski. Plus, I took about 30 lbs of beads to string for the store. I deliberately brought shaped beads, like saucers or rice, so that I could find the holes without looking. That way I could watch scenery if I wanted to and could even string some when the light started fading. I got a couple hundred strands done while travelling - about half - impressed myself!

AFTER we got home, I discovered a neat way to travel with beading. I use my laptop briefcase. (The laptop now lives in a rolling case, so the briefcase was empty.) It's got pockets for tools, patterns and miscellaneous. I can even carry it instead of my purse. Which would make Mike happy - he always gives me a hard time about being cruel to my horse because of the size of my purse. The case is doesn't have hard edges like the Tupperware lapdesk I used on the roadtrip. You can put a vellux bead mat in it. It zips shut nicely, containing all the potential fugitive beads, crimps, etc. And, it looks professional, which is another thing that makes Mike happy. He doesn't gripe near as much if I carry my briefcase filled with beading stuff, as he does when I carry my tote bag(s) filled with "stuff".  

Someone mentioned spilling their beads putting the tray in the backseat at a stop. I got really good at anticipating gas stops or potty breaks, so I could have everything in the Tupperware lapdesk and closed up by the time we stopped. One of the things I didn't like about that lapdesk was that the edges were hard and that sometimes it wouldn't close completely and I'd have needles and beads escaping if I picked it up wrong. If I'd thought about the briefcase sooner, I wouldn't have lost anything!

We're planning another road trip at the end of August, so I'll take the briefcase along and do some beading and will report back on how it works.

 

oh my .. I did not think this possible ... I use so many different materials and change my mind so much as I go that I would need to much material and space ... I would also be afraid of loosing my beads in the car .. must not be fun to pick up