Lusciously Random

I decided last night that I wanted to make a ring using a strawberry sead bead mix. The mix has some lovely colors ranging from a dark burgandy to a light pink. When thinking about how I wanted the ring to look, I really liked the look of all the beads just piled together.
The randomness of the mix appealed to me. So, the question then becomes: how to create a random design? First, what is random? From Dictionary.com random –adjective 1. proceeding, made, or occurring without definite aim, reason, or pattern: the random selection of numbers. 2. Statistics . of or characterizing a process of selection in which each item of a set has an equal probability of being chosen. 3. Building Trades . a. (of building materials) lacking uniformity of dimensions: random shingles. b. (of ashlar) laid without continuous courses. c. constructed or applied without regularity: random bond. Second, how to acheive random on purpose? My plan was simple. Take my pile of mixed beads, poke my needle in, whatever bead stuck was the bead I would use. The problem came when five times in a row I stuck my needle in and came out with the same light pink bead. Something in my mind insisted that in a random pattern you wouldn't have the same bead next to itself five times. See, my mind wants random to be like the shuffle feature on my mp3 player, where the same song is never played twice in a row. Turns out, that's not really random. After I thought about the nature of random and what I really wanted of this ring, I decided to treat the process the same as I treat my Kareoke Revolution song selections... random with right of refusal. This means I poked my needle in but if I thought I had too much of that color bunched together, I tried again... and sometimes again.
	Overall, though, I think I am happy with how the ring turned out. Very vibrant and fun, and while not 100% random, asthetically pleasing. I shall have to purchase more seedbead mixes. They are a good way to experiment with different color combinations. And they are just fun!