THE TECHNIQUE OF BEADWORK

Riekje Jouvenaz-Broekman and Angela van der Burght

The Dutch word kraal, meaning a bead, derives from koraal, meaning coral, and is the generic term used to denote mostly small, round or flat objects which may be hollow or solid and are made from natural materials such as wood, shells, pearls, amber, bone, eggshell, nuts or seeds, as well as from glass, stone/ceramics, ordinary and precious metals and plastics. They are generally drilled through or provided in some other way with a hole, eye or mounting for the production of beadwork. This involves the utilisation of techniques such as bead mosaic work, appliqué work, bead threading, bead embroidery and bead weaving. Ever since the Stone Age, beads have been worn for magic, communicative or decorative purposes.

Archaeological excavations in Iran have unearthed polished, perforated stone beads dating from the 16th century B.C. In Europe, beads have been manufactured since 5000 B.C., made not only from natural materials but also from cindered powdered glass and frit. The earliest known Egyptian beads date from 4000 B.C.; these were generally made from steatite covered with a nearly-glass enamel. Glass was first used in about 1700 B.C., coming as a raw material from central Europe. Under the rule of the Pharaohs, from 3000 B.C. to 30 B.C., bead production became highly developed: the netting and webbing covering the mummies, designed to protect them against the evil spirits, were the first textile works comprising glass and faience beads. In Egyptian, the word sha signifies "good fortune", whilst sha-sha means "bead". The great glass production centres were located in the royal palaces, such as those at Amarna and Thebes. The beads were formed around a central core, using the core-forming technique. In western Africa, European beads were already being traded, via the trans-Sahara route, as early as 1000 B.C. On account of their value and lightness, they were used as a substitute for metal forms of currency, thereby offering an ideal vehicle for studying the history of patterns of trade and culture. Thus, for example, glass beads were manufactured in Switzerland from 850 B.C. onwards, after the fashion of Egyptian barrel beads.

From the Roman period until the early middle ages, beads made from softened glass threads were wound around a small rod or cane. (See "The Technique Flame working, Pâte-de-Verre and Core-forming.") Refinements were also achieved in the technique of mosaic glass, which had originated around 2000 B.C. in Mesopotamia. Beads made from mosaic glass take the form of small images and designs – for example, a portrait, object, chequered motif or rosette – composed of cane glass of different colours and fused together to form a single cane which was pulled out lengthways in such a way as to reduce the size of the motif, with the pattern or image being visible in each cross-section of the rod. Chips were broken off these canes or murrini to form the semi-finished product prior to fusing, slumping and inlay working. (For further details, see "The Technique of Mosaic Glass, Filigree and Millefiori".) The glass beads were dispersed by the Romans along the trade routes of the Roman Empire, towards the northern regions inhabited by the barbarians. Amber made the return journey along the same routes. The Romans themselves used beads made from gold and faceted precious stones for their sepulchral offerings.

The glass used in the Nitra beads (the oldest glass discovered) is made of cobalt and came from the Hungarian silver mines. In the Middle East, blue faience beads and semi-precious stones remained popular up until Roman times. The colour blue was thought to provide protection against bad spirits and the "evil eye": in Arab countries, especially, blue beads and eye beads were worn as talismans and amulets by children, brides and pet animals, and even means of transportation were decorated in order to ward off ill fortune. Phoenician workshops in Carthage and the Egyptian delta manufactured glass beads in the form of human faces and animals' heads. In the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures, gold and opaque glass beads were produced for export throughout Europe. They are also known for their beads imprinted on one side with marine and plant motifs, which were threaded to form a chain or sewn onto garments. In Hungary, black glass beads have been discovered bearing Jewish or Christian motifs and lions' heads, theatrical masks and miniature portraits of emperors and gods. During the era of the great migration of peoples, beads were very important, being valuable, light and portable, and giving a clear indication of their owner's social standing. The beads were highly colourful, grand and compact, and it is now no longer possible in practice to ascertain the extent to which the imported beads were mixed with those formed in the local way, using local techniques. Thus, the Vikings living at the time of the last migration, from 800 to 1000 A.D., manufactured beads locally but also imported them.

Since the Middle Ages, beads have been used for bartering purposes, and those produced in Venice (Contarini were the Venetian beadmakers) secured a commanding position worldwide. In the 17th and 18th centuries, colonists all over the globe as a means of bartering used beads. Spanish and Portuguese explorers took vast quantities of Venetian beads with them; right up until the present day, these are still worn in Brazil. The beads used in east Africa and by nomadic tribes represent a system of communication designed to indicate rank and social standing, and also serve, in the researches carried out by anthropologists, as a means of determining an age or period. From the 16th century onwards, the slave trade brought about the bartering of slaves in return for beads. Before the Low Countries, Portugal and Spain started to supply their beads, India and China met the African countries' demand for glass beads. In India, considerable quantities are still manufactured from blown and dried tubes which are pressed into the shape of small beads in two copper half-moulds, with the blow pipe serving at one and the same time as a glass tube. Also in that country, ready-made tubes are cut and melted into a circular shape as bangles. The dangerous process of silver-plating the inside surface of the perforation is still performed by sucking in a mixture of distilled water and nitrate, cyanide, potash and ammonium. In addition, by a process introduced by the Czechs in 1938, black decorated beads are produced here for the furnace.

Venetian glass makers faced the death penalty if they revealed glass-making recipes; yet some managed to escape from Murano, setting themselves up in Bohemia and Amsterdam. From 1600 to 1750 Amsterdam gained a significant share of the world bead trade, producing beads manufactured à la façon de Venise. Glass was a material unknown to the Indians of north and South America; they made beads from stone or shells, and many modern beads resemble the pipes produced from the quills of porcupines. The Dutch bartered beads in return for tobacco. For a handful of beads worth 60 guilders, they purchased New Holland – later to become Manhattan – from the Manhato Indians. The north American Indians went on to use Amsterdam beads in the weaving of their wampum belts – a ritual means of communication, into each of which over 10,000 small glass beads were worked.

In 1900 the glassmakers in the Thuringian Forest specialised in the production for the furnace of glass pearls, which were textured from within with imitation mother-of-pearl made from a solution of fish-scales. In order to make them heavier, they were filled with wax. Even the crown of the Queen of the Netherlands is decorated with these false pearls! After the Second World War, glassmakers who had been driven out of their home territory set up new workshops in Bohemia, Bavaria and Thuringia. Gablonz is still the prime industrial centre for bead production, with the beads being shaped for the furnace or blown to form fashion accessories. A great many beads were manufactured here using a Paterleisen (a Paterl being a bead used in a rosary), namely a long, thin iron rod with a slightly conical end. This iron was used to draw a glass filament out of the frit, the filament then being wound round the rod. Once the iron was fully wrapped about with beads, they were tapped off into a pot of ashes to cool down. The pot was shaken from time to time in order to prevent the beads from fusing to each other. A glassmaker might produce some 13,000 such beads per day. The women and children of the household threaded the beads onto a strand.

Beads take their name either from that of the archaeologist who discovered them (e.g. Haevernick's glass beads), or from their shape (e.g. barrel beads), the technique used in their production (e.g. coil beads, zigzag beads) or the place where they were found (e.g. Kemptenwirkel beads, Filottrano beads).


Beadwork
Beadwork is a combination of beads and textiles or metal wire; it is produced by a series of processes whereby, at the textile creation stage, beads are threaded, woven, crocheted and knitted, at the textile working stage, they are sewn on or embroidered and, at the textile processing stage, they are linked together using, for example, small metal rings. The materials worked with beads and spangles (known as beaded fabrics in English) may be further processed to form garments, covers, upholstery or accessories. In addition to these functional forms, we saw in the early years of the former century saw the development, from such "useful womanly handiwork", of "space structures", whereby small glass objects such as rings, beads and strips are combined to form larger spatial structures.


Bead mosaic and appliqué work
Where the fixing of beads with threads ceases to be important from a functional or visual standpoint, the underlay is made of wood or some other rigid material and the beads, either loose or threaded onto a strand, are attached using glue or a sealant, the resulting product is known as a bead mosaic. Johann Michael van Selow, a Dutchman who worked in Brunswick, Germany, in the 18th century, invented this. The greatest examples of this technique are to be seen in the work of the American Liza Lou, who has decorated a half-scale model of her kitchen with bead mosaics: floors, walls, curtains, cooking range, the kitchen table with its table-cloth, plates and tartlets, the washing up and the flowing water – everything is created from thousands of small beads. Her latest work was exhibited in the Shine exposition in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam where a real American back yard on full scale was made of beadwork!

Where pieces of glass such as imperforated glass pearls, splinters of glass or bits of mirrored glass are attached using glue or sewing techniques such as overlaying, the resulting product is known as appliqué or application work. N.B.: In the case of appliqué work on fabrics, bits of fabric are placed on a textile, and where glued flat glass is used this is known as glass appliqué. The latter technique will be discussed in another article.

All sorts of techniques exist for creating beadwork and showing off beads to their full advantage. Thanks to their lustre, colour and variety of shapes, beads can have a striking effect. Beadwork is not only attractive but also costly. It is made from expensive materials or using highly developed, time-consuming techniques. Moreover, where the beads are made of glass, a piece of beadwork, despite its weight, is fragile and breakable. It has to be handled with great care by those using it. Less obvious is the way in which the weight of beads affects the shape or form of the article itself. Light materials can "blouse" airily out, wrinkling and puckering under the weight of the heavier beads. The attachment of fringing weighed down by beads is not only a beautiful way of working clothes and garments, but also prevents lightweight materials from blowing or riding up.

The beadwork produced in the 19th century was extremely heavy. The beads and spangles – flat glass discs – were attached to clothing in their hundreds, or the pre-worked fabrics were processed to produce a garment or an ornamental or utilitarian article. As a result, the ladies who wore such clothing moved in a stately fashion. The often delicate base onto which the beadwork was sewn sometimes tore the first time it was used. Consequently, items of clothing and utilitarian articles made from beadwork are often reinforced with an extra stiff lining. This may be advantageous or disadvantageous from a design point of view: the work may descend in elegant folds or it may become ungainly. Synthetic or plastic beads are cheaper and lighter in weight than glass ones. This has led, since the end of the Second World War, to the increasingly frequent use of synthetic beads in the clothing sector.

Somewhat larger, smooth beads may be attached to the end of a loose-hanging cord to form a sort of "handle". Beads are also sometimes seen in use as a "button" in a button fastening. In threaded constructions comprising criss-cross yarn, beads and rings may where necessary be placed in such a way as to transfer the strength onto the fibres. Iron and leather rings and metal sequins, joined together to form coats of mail, absorb the shock of blows during combat; and in the 1960s the couturier Paco Rabanne designed fashionable "suits of armour" for the jet set.

One method of making beadwork is to attach the beads to a sub-layer made of material or leather. Where this process is used, the beads may be the most important visual feature, but it is also possible for the base and the embroidery thread to perform a complementary role. Another method of using the beads is to be found in the textile production techniques, whereby new types of weaving, knitting and lace work are created.

Thus, polished crystal stones are nowadays used as imitation diamonds, being glued onto a fabric base or, like beads threaded onto strands, woven, knitted or embroidered by machine onto materials and gauze fabrics. In the decoration of bags, shoes, ornaments and accessories, the tiny stones are usually processed in a mounting or setting.

Threading
The English term beads derives from the old English word biddan, meaning a series of prayers. The prayers comprised in the chaplet are said using a threaded string of beads, known as the rosarium or rosary, and are a variation on the age-old abacus, with the beads taking the place of fingers and toes. A rosary consists of a strand of 50 (in the case of a small rosary) or 150 beads each representing a Hail Mary, and with each series of ten beads (or decade) being interspersed with a larger bead standing for the Lord's Prayer. A chaplet is a closed set of prayer beads used for daily prayer in almost all forms of worship. This sometimes consists of little bones or just knots in the thread, but is usually made of coloured glass beads. The prayer beads used by Muslims consist of 99 beads each symbolising one of the fairest names of Allah. In the Buddhist religion, a set of prayer beads containing 108 beads symbolises the different stages of the development of the world.

Threading is probably the most commonly used way of making beads into necklaces, strings and networks of beads and bead curtains. Various sorts of materials may be used for threading purposes. The important thing, however, is that the sometimes sharp edge of the hole through which the bead is threaded does not cut through the thread. The aperture may be too narrow to accept the insertion of a thread attached to a needle. Specially produced yarn, stiffened with synthetic resin, is commercially available, onto which small beads with thin apertures can be threaded without needing to use a needle. This yarn is flexible when it moves, thus making it possible to attach costly beads by means of small thread knots placed between them. Strands threaded onto metal wire and synthetic yarns often grow stiff. The individual threads may be worked in such a way as to form thick bundles and intricate plaiting. A particular effect can be created when each bead is threaded onto different strands. The beads then lie fixed next to each other, creating a lace or network effect. Threaded onto very thin iron wire, these strands are made into chandeliers, sepulchral ornaments or Christmas decorations.

Needlework and embroidery
One method of making beadwork is to attach the beads to a base made from material or leather. The beads may be the most important visual feature, but it is also possible for the base and the embroidery thread to perform a complementary role. Small beads are affixed to the base by means of a needle and thread, either with one following on from another or with individual ones being placed together. The hole through which the bead is threaded then lies parallel with the base, so that the texture of the shiny bead is easily visible. If the beads are convex and large, this process may render the upper surface irregular. Consequently, larger beads are usually affixed with the aperture at right angles to the base. In that case, the fastening is secured by means of a small bead placed on top or by embroidery stitching. One quicker method that is sometimes used is to thread a strand and then attach this at regular intervals onto the base; however, this may result in a fragile, vulnerable piece of embroidery. In the past, figurative work was produced from pictorial embroidery patterns.

Fringing
The dangling fringes are fastened in small strands onto the base of – for example – a hem, purse or lampshade. The thread is affixed, the beads are threaded on, the beads are backstitched and the thread is attached anew. Here too, there is a quicker method of doing it, but one which results in a less secure attachment: a knot is tied in the thread and the strand is threaded and affixed to the base. However, the dangling movement and the weight of the beads may very possibly cause the knot to come undone.

Knitting
Knitting with beads is simple. First of all, the beads are threaded in the right order onto the piece of thread. For that reason, the beads must be precisely counted out, and during the knitting process a bead must always be placed in its correct position. In the case of flat knitting, whereby the even needle moves from left to right and the uneven one from right to left, the counting of the beads in accordance with the pattern is a painstaking and exacting task. In the case of round knitting, where the rows always go in the same direction, it is simpler to count out the pattern. Perhaps for that reason, round-knitted articles tend to display the most sensational patterns. It is likewise possible to produce three-dimensional knitting: by increasing and reducing the number of stitches, the round-knit proboscidal shape can be made wider or narrower, thus frequently creating complex shapes and forms. Examples of this are to be found in the work of the American ornamental designer Joyce Scott who has her work in the collection of The Museum Het Kruithuis, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.

Crocheting and spool-knitting beads
The process of crocheting and spool-knitting beads is based on the same principle as bead knitting. First of all, the beads are threaded onto a strand. In the case of crocheting, more of the yarn is visible than with knitting.

Weaving beads
Indian ornamental bead-woven fabrics are very well known. Bead weaving can be done in two different ways. For smaller weaves, the beads are threaded onto the linked or lengthwise threads of the weave. The bead is held in place by the criss-cross wefts. The yarns are visually subordinated. In the case of somewhat larger woven pieces, and weaving in which the yarns themselves play a greater role in the visual design, the beads are threaded onto the wefts or woofs. The weft may be interrupted at the selvedge, allowing extra beads to be threaded on. Accordingly, where this is done, the bead pattern does not have to be counted out in advance, and the design can be altered as necessary: the weaver enjoys great freedom in his/her work, and is thus able to produce a more expressive piece of work.

Beads in art
Beads as objects are being designed with ever-greater frequency within the framework of Studio glass. In the work of Richard Rackham, the different threaded beads signify the individuality of human beings, reflecting his experiences when journeying across the Sahara. Each bead can revolve independently from the others, just as each person is capable of moving independently of others. His artefact stands for contemplation, meditation and reflection. Naturally, the dimensions and weight of the chain are such that it cannot be worn. At the Kunst Hautnah exhibition organised in 200 by the Künstlerhaus in Vienna, the theme of "ornamentation" was expanded by various artists and designers to cover body art, installations and wearable – but also often unwearable – "jewellery". The photos of beadwork embedded into the skin provided one of the most forceful expressions of the role of beads as a vehicle for visual art.

Glass jewellery, such as that produced by Strass, together with polished stones mounted in settings, rivets and other ornamental objects made of, or using, glass are described in another article. Hollow glass beads are covered in The Technique of Flamework.

Translation : James Benn

© Angela van der Burght & Riekje Jouvenaz-Broekman, 2009
Riekje Jouvenaz-Broekman was a lecturer at the Maastricht Academy of Visual Arts