Options for Beadwork
Beadwork is loosely defined as any craft or art that uses beads for decorative or artistic purpose. This includes attaching beads to cloth or stringing them together into jewelry. Beads can also be incorporated into sculpture, multi-media artwork, and wall hangings.
Most beadwork involves stringing or threading beads onto wire, thread, or yarn. However, some traditional forms of beadwork involves weaving beads together using special threads. The resultant patterns and images are similiar to woven fabric. This weaving can be achieved using special bead looms or with off-loom techniques. Other forms of beadwork include bead crochet, bead embroidery, and bead knitting.
Historically beads were predominantly used for personal adornment. The oldest beads discovered by archaeologists are nearly 100,000 years old. They are believed to have been used in jewelry such as a necklace or bracelet. Other uses for beads include religious purposes such as prayer beads and as good luck talismans. Some cultures even believe that beads have curative powers. Beads have also been used for trade, from the wampum beads of native tribes to the Madris Gras beads of New Orleans, though each had a very different value!
There are a dizzing array of brilliant beads available for the modern beadworker. Dichroic glass beads fuse a thin metal film to a glass surface. This results in a metallic sheen that appears to change color depending on the angle from which it is viewed. Furnace glass beads use traditional glassworking techniques in a large glass furnace. The resulting beads are often multi-colored or contain decorative stripes.
Other types of glass beads include lead crystal beads, lampwork beads, and fire-polished beads. Beads can also be made from semi-precious stones, bones, shells, plastic, paper, metal, clay, fiber, stone, and wood. Vintage beads are beads that are over 25 years old. Tagua beads are made from vegetable ivory. In fact, many faux beads are now in production to simulate precious metals, ivory, gemstones, and other expensive minerals and stones.
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