Thursday, March 20, 2014

Viking Mosaic "Eye" Beads










Full Documentation for Project 


Primary Source:
Callmer, Johan. Trade Beads and Bead Trade in Scandinavia, ca. 800-1000 A. D. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977.
 



Associated Creative Project:



As a creative project, I constructed a mosaic cane in the colors of my heraldry, which are green and yellow.


I created the mosaic cane with five rays, because one of the elements of my heraldic device is a cinquefoil, which is similar in shape to a “Starburst” Viking mosaic design. 


I then added dots to the ends of the rays to more closely approximate the cinquefoil.  I think these would make great tokens!




I added a metal wire ring to the bead as an added design element. Individual beads have been found in graves with rings attached to the bead like this. Below are two links from England's Portable Antiques Scheme website which I used in making the rings.