There are so many wonderful beads and necklaces I really envy the owners of these gorgeous pieces.On my blog I want to share with you some of my 'finds' and hopefully to give you some help and advice on looking after these beads.
I've just finished restringing these fabulous beads for a regular client who lives in Morocco.
She regularly buys these old necklaces that are using on plain parcel string or fishing line which is dirt cheap but not a good restringing material as it becomes brittle with age and breaks.
I added an old section of German Silver chain which I took from a broken Yemeni necklace German silver has a low silver content as was used for a lot of jewllery all over Africa.
Not beads this time but I just could not resist buying these onyx grapes when I saw them in a local market.
Onyx is a banded variety of the oxide mineral chalcedony. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The colors of its bands range from white to almost every color (save some shades, such as purple or blue). Commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of black and/or white.
This is one of a set of necklaces I was sent to restring and it contains extremely old Indian Agate beads.
The art of making traditional Kiffa beads is gone. Such beads were originally made in Kiffa, Mauritania. They were used as hair adornments by Kiffa women. Nobody is really certain of the age of this period of Kiffa bead making. Most of the experts in this field date it to the early 1900 s through to the 1940 s.
Traditional Kiffa beads were individually produced by hand, with a central core made out of various materials. This core was sometimes made from dark gray powdered glass and sometimes non-glass materials. Using a needle and spit, tiny portions of red or blue or yellow or white powdered glass were laboriously applied to the bead core. This was done over and over again until the beads were totally covered with this outer layer of powdered glass. The semi-finished beads were then "cooked" over outdoor open fires until the powdered glass fused.
I recently came across cork thread for jewellery.it only comes in wide sizes and would not be awfully bendy but I can see it really working well for certain types of bracelets and necklaces.
This is where to buy it
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/386250558/portuguese-cork-round-5mm-light-green?ref=shop_home_active_9
Wonderful old chevrons and other beads.
Not old beads but these Turquoise are so lovely I would dearly like to have anything as beautiful in my collection.
Getting around to adding some more items to my shop on etsy. If you see something you would like to buy you can buy directly from me if you don't have an etsy account.Email me for details mybeadyeyeinfo@gmail.com
I actually got some time last week to make a few new bracelets.The bright colours of my beads really cheered up a grey Cornish Winter day!
Some of the bracelets are a large size as last time that I did a craft fair several men said they would have liked to buy one but they were too small for them.
One of the bracelets has a Cornish Slate button which I bought at a fair a few years ago.I've used them all now and really need to look out for more.
This goes way beyond a beaded necklace! Not sure how long it would take to make it but probably about 2/3 days? http://www.atelierfiftyfive.com/home/category/accessories/5
There are some absolutely stunning designs on atelierfiftyfive.com
Banded Agate necklace made with a pendant I bought on ebay in 2004 for £3 I think. This is my own necklace which I love but I will restring it as the flat agate pendant needs to be worn over clothes ideally as the pendant will 'stick' to skin making it hang rather wierdly!
Some assorted agates from Afghanistan
More banded agate pendants from antique arts asia
Mali in Africa is the place to find lovely jewel coloured trade beads such as the 'light bulb' or Czec 'wedding beads' which come on rainbow strands with each bead being a different colour and pattern including striped and swirled designs.
Timbukto was at the centre of the nation and was the main trading post for West Africa.
This is what African Trade Beads say about bohemian glass beads-many of which are found in Mali.
"The three centuries of the Czech / Bohemian glass bead industry stem from the expertise of their stone cutters, working with bright red garnets in and around the Bohemian village of Turnov, in today's Czech Republic. Development of glassmaking began in the early 1700's to compete with the Venetians, who had started to produce less expensive translucent red glass and depress the genuine garnet market."
photo from http://moroccanmaryam.typepad.com/
Sometimes I see something that is just beyond my patience and this lovely necklace is made by an African jewellery designer who raises money to support orphans so look at her very complicated necklace design
If I was asked to create something like this it would be fascinating but a major undertaking and I would need to allow about 8-12 hours1
Firstly I would thread at least 20 strands of small African glass beads .I like the use of white beads here but another bright colour like red or turquoise would work too.After all of the threads were done and laid out on my work table I would start the twisting of the strands and would finally attach the strands to one or more button type fastenings.The other ends could be looped over each other to make a closure.
As I say not easy but how fantastic to be able to produce something as beautiful as this.
The best thread to use would be a c-lon thread which is easy to secure by applying heat to the ends of the knots rather than glue,which I hate as even with the tiny tubes I find glue comes out too quickly.I can solve this issue by using a pin or a cocktail stick but I still prefer the heat sealing method.
