We wear them, we buy them, we count them, we sometimes even pray with them but why are beads so precious to the human psyche and where did it all begin? Here are a few tasty tidbits about a material that holds such importance in our crafty endeavours.
Man began stringing teeth, bones and shells from early in his historical journey; seems we’ve always loved an accessory. Of course early jewellery had practical purposes - pinning clothing together and so forth - but beads and jewellery also demonstrated a person’s social status or indicated a group they belonged to.
A bead is a small, decorative object that is pierced for threading or stringing. They can range in size - a millimetre, a centimetre, several centimetres - in diameter and are found made from glass, plastic, stone, horn, ivory, metal, shell, pearl, coral, gemstones, polymer clay, metal clay, resin, synthetic minerals, wood, ceramic, fibre, paper and seeds.
Beadwork, where beads are woven together with thread, strung onto thread or wire, or adhered to a surface is the ancient and the modern form of working with beads. Beads on clothing can be found as far back as the Late Old Stone Age (Upper Paleolithic). These were large beads of shell or ivory. Beaded items in Egypt, using small faience beads, have been found to date back 4000 years.
There are many fascinating references to beads throughout history. Did you know that around 300 B.C. Buddhist monks were banned from wearing beaded shoes? Too ostentatious one assumes.
The earliest mass-produced seed beads were the Indo-Pacific beads of India and related places which dominated the bead trade for close to 2000 years. The modern era of beadwork began around 1480, when Venetians learned how to draw tubes and turn them into beads. Individual glass beads, however, have been dated back to at least Roman times.
We still trade in beads today... A Roman glass bead sold at auction in 1992 for USA$5,250. A single Bodom, a glass bead made in West Africa, sold in London in 1931 for £300, then worth $1500... and now a conservative USA$30,000!
In the early 20th century beads continued to play an important role in Western society fashion. Victorians and Edwardians draped themselves in beads and embroidered beaded grments. Even the ‘Flappers’ of the 1920s embraced beads in fashion. They were also the first to enjoy experimenting with the word’s first plastic beads, made from bakelite.
After the wars came the plastic revolution and costume jewellery took hold. Beaded fabrics became less fashionable and the market for plastic beads exploded. They were affordable and able to economically mimic expensive beads.
Today, many countries around the world produce beads and offer beaders a deliciously broad choice of styles. Some people still buy historic beads and beaded jewellery but creative folk now also make beads from their own materials. Fashion continues its affair with beads and only last year Dolce and Gabbana runway shows featured models in dresses encrusted with crystal beads of different shapes and sizes.
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