Climb Every Mountain
© 2021 by Cynthia Rutledge 

Who doesn’t love The Sound of Music? Every time that I watch the movie the songs stay with me. I find myself humming the songs or softly singing them days after watching it. I love all of the songs in the film, but Climb Every Mountain is probably my favorite.

The dynamic duo of Rogers and Hammerstein brought the long endearing music and lyrics to The Sound of Music making the film a much-loved classic. The lyrics of Climb Every Mountain are so inspirational. The Mother Abbess is singing to Maria helping her to understand the parallels between a nun’s choice for the religious life and choices that she must make to find her purpose and direction in life.

For Maria, she had to come to terms that she possibly wasn’t suited to being a nun due to her creative side and her inability to follow strict rules. Remember the words “How do you hold a moonbeam in your hands?”.

So, where does this lead, you may ask? I look at this song as how I have followed my dreams of being an artist. I have climbed many mountains and forded many steams, with ups and downs along the way. But I will continue to follow every path I know and give it all the love I can give. And when I see the next rainbow, I will follow it!

My design, Climb Every Mountain was inspired by the lovely lyrics of the song. A brass cuff blank is covered in peyote stitch and laced together on the edges with fire polish beads to lend a bit of sparkle. The central component (the mountain) is a bullet CZ, simply bezeled in peyote stitch with a circlet of pearls. Three CZs are bezeled, and connected to each other, to add the finishing touches on either side of the center component. Beautiful to wear and certainly brings a song to mind.

Workshop: This is a one-day workshop - Exclusive for Orlando Bead Retreat 2022
Skill level: Intermediate to advanced
Bracelet length: 7/8 inch wide at center top, 5/8 inches wide for the bracelet by desired length.