Melon Beads

Brief documentation for Melon Beads. Because this bead does not involve adding designs to glass (just shaping the glass), it would likely have made a better project earlier on for me, but, I found these to be fun beads to make!

Documentation Link

Recreation of a Bead String from Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetary

The main source used for this project is an archeological report published in 1987.  Evinson,Vera I.. Dover: The Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery. London: Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England. 1987.

Documentation 
added 12/13

Commissioned viking bling necklace

I was asked to make a necklace for a friend to wear with her Viking. The request was for heraldic colored beads (black, red, blue, & white). All of the beads here are either documentable, or very close to period practice (i.e. similar decorative technique/designs can be documented, just with different colors).

The bead choice was influenced by beads found in early Anglo-Saxon England, as these are the beads I have been working to recreate for the last 6 months or so. Before making the necklace, I asked the recipient to look through a list of historic beads, and point out a few that she liked. I then used ta few of the beads she chose as the basis for my inspiration. In period, most necklaces were not strung with the level of modern symmetry and the use of small metal spacer beads that I used in this necklace. However, early period necklaces might have been organized with a central focus bead as I have done here (see Castledyke necklace), and many of them do have some symmetry, if only a more vague symmetry of color/form (see Buckland partial necklace string-->documentation in progress).

When I tried 4-5 months ago to make beads for other people, it was very hard & stressful for me, because I could not always reliably create the bead I wanted to make, or keep my beads a consistent size. I would go through many beads until I created a few that satisfied me. Creating this necklace was MUCH easier. There were only a 2 or 3 beads I rejected during the process of making the 27 beads on this necklace. To me, this is a huge sign  that I have gotten better with my bead making, and I look forward to being able to make things for people in the future!

Teaching Handouts- on making and decorating glass beads

Here are some handouts I have given out at classes I have taught, or that I have used at A&S displays.

Materials
Making a Basic Wound Bead
Methods of Decorating Beads 
Period v.s. Modern Tools and Techniques



edit: this post was updated 10/2014

Mucking Excavation Bead Typology

Recreating the bead typology from the Mucking cemetery excavations was a change to make many different beads,  many of them new bead types which I have not created before.

Link to Documentation

Glass Beads- Background Research/Documentation

The link below is to an ongoing "research paper" that represents what I have learned about glass beads and bead making in period. Some of the information in this paper has been included in documentation I have created for specific projects, but, this paper represents an Appendix that I can add to any project I create to provide the reader with a relevant historic overview. I hope to continue to add to it over time.

Link to Documentation

Reticella Beads

Purpose

To recreate, as accurately as possible, a style of early medieval bead known as Reticella beads. In working to recreate this bead, my hope was also to improve my ability to create and work with twisted glass rods, as the use of these glass rods is the major skill required to make Reticella beads. 

These beads were found in several societies. The color combination in the top row of beads were from Frankish/Merovingian people and they were also imported into Anglo-Saxon England from the continent. The color combination from the bottom row of beads is from Scandinavia and Ireland. T

Documentation