Cow: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEADS

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Cow: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BEADS

VENETIAN BEADS: Most Venetian beads we see out and about were produced over a flame, one-by-one, by a glass lampwork artist. And while experienced beadmakers can produce prodigious numbers of beads in a day, the skills that go into making these glorious beads can take years to perfect.

The beads that people call wedding cake beads - the ones decorated with flowers -- are actually (for the most part) called "fiorato" or flowered beads.

Some of the more recognizable Venetian bead styles include:
Sommerso, as in "submerged -- colored glass beads that are encased in a thick and visible coating (that's why they look like they're submerged or under water,) often with foil or aventurine (copper filings that look like gold) center. Newer versions are often given a matte final finish, which makes the interior color or foil really glow.
Millefiori, or Thousand Flower beads -- this design looks lie a patchwork of flowery roundish sliced decorations, all melted in around a solid (typically black glass) core.
Trade beads (beads made for the African trade -- oftentimes produced by Venetian beadmakers) are often decorated this way.
Contributed by Anne Morrissey

Make a Foil Bead with Pat Frantz

Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with a variety of tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil-fueled lamps.

Bead Tips:
A great place to start in learning to date is to familiarize yourself with beading trends -- e.g. steel cut sautoirs from the early 1900s, Czech and German press-molded beads from the 30s, then the explosion of plastics from all over Europe in the 50s and beyond, to name a few big ones.

Some more tips on dating beads. Of course there are exceptions to ever one of these guidelines; I'm just trying to share typical characteristics of jewelry from different ages:

Strand lengths --
Old, single-colored molded beads with knots between each one on very, very bead are often Flapper age. Reference books show little quirky things like "suntan" colored pearls as popular 20s trends.

Short- or almost too short to wear! - single strands of molded beads were popular in the 30s and often imported from Germany.

Multi-strand mixed graduated glass and plastic beads had their heyday in the 50s . Before then, multi-stranders are most usually all one material (glass, Bakelite, pearl, metal)

Bookchain necklaces with odd drops (brass, Bakelite, pearls) were popular in the 1930s - early 40s. Once metals were restricted to war use, novelty jewelry manufacturers turned to innovative alternatives, such as leather, cord, paper, shells, wood - even macaroni!

Fishing line for stringing came into use in the 50s.

Certain Swarovski colors are good clues on a piece's age:

Mass-produced AB crystal was introduced in the mid-50s

The desirable brown AB Mink color was a 50s-60s phenomenon

A whole new slew of intriguing colors has been introduced by Swarovski over the past few years -- take a look at the in-season colors on their site -- many of these colors have never been introduced before.

Look for Depression glass colors in beaded piece of the 1930s

The huge new trend of high-quality, artisan-made lampwork and glass cane handmade beads started here in the 80s and 90s and continues today with the most complex beads selling for hundreds of dollars each.

Love beads -- popularized in the 60s -- led to a re-discovery and popularization of African trade beads, too, as artisans incorporated these collectible treasures into ethnic-looking beaded collars and bracelets. Dealers selling hundreds of strands of trade beads to the public became common sites at popular venues such as the Brimfield market.

There is a big business now in reproducing ancient-looking ethnic beads that are such good facsimiles, they often fool even seasoned collectors. As in vintage jewelry, it pays to know your stuff -- and to do business with dealers who share provenance info.
Contributed by Anne Morrissey

Date(s): August 25, 2009. Album by Jewelry Ring. 1 - 51 of 51 Total. 6203 Visits.

1 Classic Venetian millifiore. These look to be Moretti beads (the name of the studio on Murano) Marked: Italy Compliments of Nona Grampp Nona's of Alexandria Edit	2 Glass, Metal & Plastic beads Unmarked Courtesy of Nona Grampp Venetian fiorato (means "flowered", often called "wedding cake") lamp work Edit	3 Molded Glass Beads Marked: West Germany Courtesy of Nona Grampp These "berry beads" are typically West German. Edit
4 Japanese art glass and sugar Beads The green and black translucent (givre, I guess) are probably West German. Courtesy of Nona Grampp Edit	5 Blue Glass Beads Marked: Vogue Courtesy of Nona Grampp Edit	6 Colorful Glass Beads Marked: Japan Courtesy of Nona Grampp Interesting it's marked Japan. The leaves are typical Czech (don't know anywhere else this style is made) molded glass. The button flowers are usually West German. The peachy colored beads could be glass "frit" beads but I've also seen these in plastic. Edit
7 Carnelian beads & Brass Filigree Unmarked Courtesy of Nona Grampp I showed this to a friend who imports beads and she thought the Carnelian might have been cut in Idar Oberstein. Edit	8 Chinese Hand Painted Glass Beads Clasp marked: Silver Courtesy of Nona Grampp Most beads painted like this are Chinese porcelain. Clasp is typical Chinese, prolly 1970's or later. Edit	9 Glass Rose Shaped Beads Marked: Czechoslovakia Courtesy of Nona Grampp There are modern metallized plastic beads with a similar shape - perhaps this is what they were copying... Edit
10 They appear to be givre glass (mixed clear and colored glass), West Germany Beads Yes, rose givre. The facteting is fire polish, and these also have a lustre finish. Compliments of the Amanda Lamarche Collection Edit	11 Blue & White porcelain beads likely produced in China in the past 25 years. Compliments of the Amanda Lamarche Collection Classic blue and white Chinese porcelain beads. Typical Chinese clasp. 70's or later. Porcelain is a type of clay, a very fine clay, which can be fired to a very high temp. and often has a beautiful translucence which cannot be obtained using other types of clay. Edit	12 Cylindrical Beads Compliments of Delores Benedict Bitz of Glitz Edit
13 Art Glass Bead Necklace Courtesy of Delores Benedict Edit	14 Molded glass and seed bead Necklace Courtesy of Delores Benedict Edit	15 Pink and Blue art glass beads Courtesy of Delores Benedict Beautiful! I have some very old Venetian trade beads, presumably made for the North American Indian trade made in a similar manner, a sommerso type process, altho these do not appear to be that old. The sapphire are fire polish, and, interestly, Swarovski made some of the "tire" bead spacers. Edit
16 Cloisonne Wedding Cake Beads Courtesy of Delores Benedict NOT Venetian, not glass. These are Cloisonne. The "ruffled" or "corrugated" appearance of the gold wire outlining of the cells is a twisted wire technique. Edit	17 Gerda Lynggaard for Monies Copenhagen Lucite Beads Courtesy of Delores Benedict Edit	18 Green glass beads Courtesy of Delores Benedict Edit
19 Red Glass Beads Courtesy of Delores Benedict Edit	20 Pink plastic beads Compliments of Dolli Dolan Jewels by the Sea Store Dolli's Jewels By the Sea Edit	21 Sommerso style beads,but they are more likely Japanese lampwork than Venetian, based on shape, decoration, and the beads they're strung with. Compliments of Lilly Vittetow Lilly's Vintage Jewelry Edit
22 Sommerso style beads,but they are more likely Japanese lampwork than Venetian, based on shape, decoration, and the beads they're strung with. Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit	23 Czech Wooden Beads Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit	24 Germany plastic beads Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit
25 Japanese plastic seed beads Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit	26 Japan Satin beads Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit	27 The orange and white are Japanese millifiore (or mosaic) lamp work beads. Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Edit
28 Glass sugar beads and green glass leaves Courtesy of Lilly Vittetow Czech, I think. Edit	29 Green plastic beads Compliments of Sharon Hall gemdiva64 on eBay Edit	30 ROSE QUARTZ, CRYSTAL BEADS & BLACK GLASS BEADS Compliments of Pat Seal Treasures From Yesterday Vintage Jewelry Edit
31 HAND CARVED RED WOODEN BEADS PROBABLY FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA Courtesy of Pat Seal Edit	32 CLOISONNE BEADS PROBABLY FROM THE ORIENT Courtesy of Pat Seal Yes, Chinese Cloisonne. Edit	33 CARVED AMETHYST BEAD Courtesy of Pat Seal Edit
34 LOVELY GREEN JADE BEADS Courtesy of Pat Seal Edit	35 CARVED BEADS EITHER VEGETABLE IVORY OR PLASTIC Courtesy of Pat Seal Edit	36 Could be Indian, Japanese, or even Venetian beads. Courtesy of Pat Seal Edit
37 Unusual GREEN/PURPLE Marbled Satin Glass Bracelet/Earrings Compliments of Alison Gadberry Alison's Antiques & Vintage Jewelry Curved beads like these are still made in the Czech Republic today - some call them "Angel Wings". Edit	38 Purple lucite beads Courtesy of Alison Gadberry Edit	39 Transparent Green Prystal Lucite Beads Courtesy of Alison Gadberry Edit
40 Bone or Ivory beads Compliments of the Audrey Gibbons Collection Looks like carved bone. Very typical. Edit	41 Hagler seed beads Courtesy of Audi Gibbons Stunning! The glass beads and cabs were probably Czech. The flowers shapes are still being made, and the "dog bone" shapes are typical Czech. Edit	42 Bakelite beads in many shapes Courtesy of Audi Gibbons Edit
43 Millefiore beads Courtesy of Audi Gibbons Although these look Venetian, the very obvious seams indicate lesser quality beads, and I have seen some Indian beads similar, usually not this color combo. Edit	44 Colorful crystal beads Compliments of Karen Walck Haley Joyful Vintage Jewelry Edit	45 German wired Lampwork glass flower beads Courtesy of Karen Walck Haley Joyful Vintage Jewelry Edit
46 Hollow glass beads Courtesy of Karen Walck Haley Joyful Vintage Jewelry Edit	47 Wedding cake glass lampwork beads Courtesy of Karen Walck Haley Joyful Vintage Jewelry Edit	48 Mottled turquoise-in-matrix beads along with goldtone beads and some may be retortoli filigrana (a type of zanfirico) *I'm checking on a few things - will get back to this one* Compliments of Tracy Green Venus Vintage Jewelry Edit
49 Crystal glass beads and faux pearl beads Compliments of Ronda Allman The cone shaped beads on either side of the faceted rondelles were a common element in art deco Czech necklaces. Great Barbarian Edit	50 Beautiful glass beads Courtesy of Ronda Allman The satin glass drops on the right are likely Czech, altho not an exclusive type of glass to CZ. The faux jade green color is called "Japan jade" by Czech manufacturers and "Chinese jade" by Japanese manufacturers. The mosaic glass teardrop on the left could be lampwork from a variety of sources. Edit	51 These glass face beads are made in China, and are handpainted on the inside of each bead by skilled craftspeople Compliments of Susan Corwin Eureka I Found It! Edit