A bead is a small, decorative object that forms in various shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. The size of the beads ranges from less than 1 millimeter (0.039 inches) to over 1 centimeter (0.39 inches) in diameter. A pair of beads made of Nassarius seashells, about 100,000 years old, is considered the earliest known jewelry example. Beadwork is an art or craft making objects with beads. Beads can be woven together with special threads, strung together to thread or soft wire, flexible, or attached to the surface (eg cloth, clay).
Video Bead
Type of beads
Beads can be divided into several types of overlapping categories based on different criteria such as the material from which they are made, the processes used in their manufacturing, place or period of origin, patterns on their surface, or their general shape. In some cases, such as millefiori and cloisonnÃÆ'Â © c beads, some categories may overlap in interdependent ways.
Maps Bead
Components
Beads can be made of many different materials. The earliest beads are made of various natural materials that once collected, can be easily drilled and shaped. When humans become able to obtain and work with more difficult materials, they are added to the various substances available. But now synthetic materials are added.
In modern manufacturing, the most common bead materials are wood, plastic, glass, metal, and stone.
Natural ingredients
Beads are still made from many natural materials, both organic (ie, from animal or plant based) and inorganic (pure mineral origin). However, some of these ingredients now routinely undergo some extra processes beyond just forming and drilling such as color enhancement through dye or irradiation.
Natural organisms include bones, corals, horns, ivory, seeds (such as tagua nuts), animal shells, and wood. For most pearls of human history are precious beads of natural origin due to their scarcity; the process of modern pearl culture has made them much more common. Amber and jet also come from organic organic although both are the result of partial fossilization.
Natural inorganics include various types of stones, ranging from gemstones to ordinary minerals, and metals. Finally, only a few precious metals occur in pure form, but other refined base metals may also be placed in this category along with some natural alloys such as electrum. There are also paper beads.
Synthetic materials
The oldest synthetic materials used for the manufacture of beads are generally ceramics: pottery and glass. Beads are also made of ancient alloys such as bronze and brass, but because they are more susceptible to oxidation, they are generally less well preserved in archeological sites.
Many different glass subtypes are now used for beadmaking, some of which have special names of their own components. The lead crystal beads have a high percentage of lead oxide in glass formulas, increasing the refractive index. Most other named glass types have formulations and patterns that can not be separated from the manufacturing process.
Small plastic beads, colorful, and easily mixed (some brands are Nabbi, Hama, Perler, and Pyssla) can be placed on a plastic-supported array peg to form the design and then melted together with the clothes iron; as an alternative, they can be strung into necklaces and bracelets or woven into key chains. Fusible beads come in different colors and levels of transparency/opacity, including varieties that glow in the dark or have internal glitter; peg boards come in various shapes and some geometric patterns. Plastic toy beads, made by cutting plastic tubes into short pieces, were introduced in 1958 by Munkplast AB in Munka-Ljungby, Sweden, under the Nabbi brand. Known as Indian beads, they were originally sewn together to form ribbons. Pegboard for bead design was discovered in the early 1960s (patent 1962, patent granted 1967) by Gunnar Knutsson in VÃÆ'¤llingby, Sweden, as a therapy for parental home; pegboard then gained popularity as a toy for children. The bead design is glued to a paperboard or Masonite board and used as a trivet. Then, when the beads are made of polyethylene, it becomes possible to melt them with a flat iron. In 2005, Munkplast/Nabbi introduced Photo Pearls software that turned digital photos into beads designs. Pests are present in three sizes: mini (2.5 mm diameter), midi (5 mm) and maxi (10 mm). The perler beads come in two sizes called classic (5 mm) and large size (10 mm). Pyssla beads (by IKEA) only come in one size (5 mm).
Manufacturing
Modern mass-produced beads are generally formed by engraving or casting, depending on the material and desired effect. In some cases, more specialized metalworking or glass making techniques may be employed, or a combination of some techniques and materials may be used as in cloisonnÃÆ'Â ©.
Glassworking
Most of the glass beads are pressed glass, mass-produced by preparing a set of desired liquid glass colors and pouring them into the mold to form the desired shape. This also applies to most of the plastic beads.
A small and more expensive part of glass beads and lead crystal beads are cut into the right individual shape. This was once done by hand but was largely taken over by a precision machine.
The "Fire-polished" aspect beads are a cheaper alternative to hand-knit glass or crystal. They get their name from the second half of the two-part process: first, the glass batch is poured into a round bead mold, then they are equipped with grinding wheels. The facet beads are then poured onto a tray and heated briefly long enough to melt the surface, "polishing" out any uneven small surface of the grinding wheel.
Special glass techniques and types
There are several special glass-making techniques that create a distinctive appearance throughout the body of the resulting bead, which is then mainly referred to by the glass type.
If a glass batch is used to make large blocks bigger than forming them when it cools, the result can then be carved into smaller objects in the same way as a rock. In contrast, glass craftsmen can make beads by working glass lamps individually; once formed, the beads experience little or no more formation after the coating has been properly annealed.
Most of the glass subtypes are some form of fused glass, although golden stones are made by controlling the reductive atmosphere and cooling conditions of the glass batches rather than by combining separate components together.
Dichroic glass beads incorporate a semitransparent metal microlayer between two or more layers. Fiber optic glass beads have the effect of eyepatching chats throughout the grain.
There are also several ways to put together many small glasses together into multicolored patterns, producing millefiori beads or chevron beads (sometimes called "trade beads"). The "Furnace glass" beads wrap multicellular nuclei in a transparent exterior layer which is then annexed in the furnace.
More economically, millefiori beads can also be created by limiting the pattern process to long, narrow rods or rods known as murrine. Thin cross-section, or "decals", can then be cut from murrine and blend into the surface of a plain glass bead.
Shape
Bulat
This is the most common form of beads that are hung on a wire to create necklaces, and bracelets. The shape of the round beads is joins and pleases the eye. The round beads can be made of glass, stone, ceramic, metal, or wood.
Square or Cube
Square beads can improve the design of the necklace as a spacer but the necklace can be strung with square beads only. Necklaces with square beads are used in Rosary necklaces/necklaces of prayer, and made of wood or shells made for swimsuits.
Oval
Tube
Potato The hair pipe beads Rib ribs are the original material for long tubular hair tubular beads. Today these beads are generally made of bones of bison and water buffalo and are popular for breastplates and chokers among Indian Plains. Black variations of these beads are made of animal horns.
Beads
Round-shaped seed beads are round or tube-shaped beads with sizes ranging from under millimeters to several millimeters. "Seed bead" is a general term for each small bead. Usually round, beads are most commonly used for weaving and weaving-weaving looms.
Place or period of origin
African trading beads or slave beads may be antique beads produced in Europe and used for trade during colonial periods, such as chevron beads; or they may be made in West Africa by and for Africans, such as Maurytic Kiffa beads, Ghana and Nigerian glass powder beads, or African-made brass beads.
Austrian Crystal is a generic term for cuttling lead crystal beads, based on the location and prestige of the Swarovski company.
Czech glass beads are made in the Czech Republic, especially the area called Jablonec nad Nisou. The production of glass beads in this area dates from the 14th century, although production is under pressure under communist rule. Due to this long tradition, their workmanship and quality have a very good reputation.
Antique beads , in antique collections and markets, refers to items that are at least 25 years of age or older. Antique beads are available in materials including Lucite, plastics, crystals, metal and glass.
Miscellaneous ethnic beads
Tibetan Dzi beads and Rudraksha beads are used to make Buddhist and Hindu (lazy) rosaries. Magatama is a traditional Japanese bead, and cinnabar is often used to make beads in China. Wampum is a cylindrical white or purple bead made of quahog or North Atlantic that supplies shell shells by native North American tribes, such as Wampanoag and Shinnecock. Job's tears are seed beads that are popular among native Southeast American tribes. Heishe is a bead made of shells or stones by the Pueblo Kewa people in New Mexico.
The symbolic meaning of the beads
In many parts of the world, beads are used for symbolic purposes, for example:
- is used for prayer or devotion - eg. rosary beads for Roman Catholics, misbehood for Muslims
- is used for anti-tension devices, e.g. bead worried
- is used as currency, e.g. Aggrey Beads from Ghana
- is used for playing games such as owari beads for mankala
- The Greek komboloi beads as in Crete
History
Beads are known as one of the earliest forms of commerce between the human race. It is thought to be due to the bead trade that humans develop the language. Beads are said to have been used and traded for most of our history. The oldest beads found to date are at Ksar Akil, in Lebanon. Before discovering this, the beads found in the Blombos Cave are the oldest in about 72,000 years.
Surface pattern
After forming, glass and crystal beads can have their surface appearance enhanced by etching opaque opaque layers, applying an additional color layer, or both. Aurora Borealis, or AB, is the surface layer that diffuses light into the rainbow. Other surface coatings are vitrail, moonlight, dorado, satin, star shine, and heliotrope.
Imitation beads are beads that are made to look like more expensive original materials, especially in the case of fake pearls and simulated stones, minerals and gemstones. Precious metals and ivory are also imitated.
The Tagua beans from South America are used instead of ivory because the natural ivory trade has been restricted all over the world.
See also
- Glass beadmaking
- Jewelry design
- Murano beads
- Pearls
- Ultraviolet-sensitive beads
References
Further reading
- Beck, Horace (1928) "Classification and Nomenclature of Beads and Pendants." Archaeologia 77. (Reprinted by Shumway Publishers York, PA 1981)
- Dubin, Lois Sherr. Jewelry and Jewelry of North Indian States: From Prehistoric to Current . New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999: 170-171. ISBNÃ, 0-8109-3689-5.
- Dubin, Lois Sherr. The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. for Present, Revised, and Expanded Edition . New York: Harry N. Abrams, (2009). ISBN: 978-0810951747.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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