Bead

A bead is a small, decorative object made from materials like stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl. It usually has a small hole so it can be threaded or strung together. Beads come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from tiny pieces smaller than a millimeter to ones over a centimeter wide.

Beads are some of the oldest forms of jewellery. One of the earliest known examples is a pair of beads made from Nassarius sea snail shells, dating back about 100,000 years ago. Today, people enjoy the art of beadwork, which involves weaving beads together, stringing them on thread or soft, flexible wire, or sticking them onto surfaces like fabric or clay. Beads continue to be popular for making beautiful and meaningful creations.

Etymology

The word "bead" comes from an old English word that originally meant "prayer". It later came to refer to small, round objects. This change happened because beads were used to count prayers, like in Christian prayer cords and rosaries.

Types

Beads come in many types and can be grouped by the material they are made from, how they are made, where they come from, the patterns on them, or their shape. Some special kinds of beads, like millefiori and cloisonné, can belong to more than one group at the same time.

Components

Beads can be made from many different materials. The earliest beads were created from natural materials that people could easily gather, shape, and drill holes in. As people learned to work with more challenging materials, they added these to their collection of bead-making substances.

Beads have been a part of many cultures throughout history, made from various materials and used in handmade creations. They come in many colors, shapes, and forms, and sometimes have special meanings.

Today, the most common materials for making beads are wood, plastic, glass, metal, and stone.

Natural materials

Beads are still made from many natural materials, both from animals and plants, and from minerals. Some of these materials are treated with dyes or other processes to change their color.

Natural materials from animals and plants include bone, coral, horn, ivory, seeds (like tagua nuts), animal shells, wood, and pearls. Amber and jet are also natural materials formed over time.

Natural mineral materials include different types of stones, from gemstones to common minerals, and metals. Some metals occur in pure forms, while others are purified for use in beads.

Synthetic materials

The oldest synthetic materials used for beads were ceramics, like pottery and glass. Beads were also made from ancient alloys such as bronze and brass, though these often do not survive well over time.

Today, many types of glass are used for beads, including lead crystal, which contains lead oxide and has a special shine. Small, colorful plastic beads can be placed on peg boards to create designs and then melted together with an iron. These beads come in many colors and can glow in the dark or have glitter inside.

Plastic toy beads were first made in 1958 in Sweden. They were originally used to make ribbons but later became popular as toys for children. Different brands of these beads come in various sizes and can be fused together with heat.

Manufacturing

Modern beads made for everyone are shaped by carving or casting, depending on what they are made from and what look we want. Sometimes, special ways of working with metal or glass are used, or a mix of different ways and materials, like in cloisonné.

Beads are small, round shapes that come in many sizes and looks. They are made from many kinds of materials, and they all have a little hole in the middle so they can be put on a string. Researchers found forty-one shell beads from a place called Blombos cave in South Africa. They think these beads were made about seventy-five thousand years ago.

Glassworking

Most glass beads are made by pressing hot, colored glass into molds to get the shape we want. This is also how most plastic beads are made.

A smaller group of glass and crystal beads are cut by hand into exact shapes, but now this is mostly done by machines. “Fire-polished” beads are a cheaper choice. First, the glass is poured into round molds. Then the beads are cut and quickly heated again to make the surface smooth.

Specialized glass techniques and types

There are special ways to make glass beads look unique. Sometimes, a big block of glass is carved like stone. Other times, glass is shaped one piece at a time using a flame, and then it is left alone to cool properly.

Most of these special glass beads are made by melting pieces together, but some are made by controlling how the glass cools. Dichroic glass beads have thin layers of metal between layers of glass. Fibre optic glass beads have a shiny look across their surface.

There are ways to put many small pieces of colored glass together to make patterns, creating millefiori beads or chevron beads, also called “trade beads.” Furnace glass beads have many colors inside a clear outer layer. Cheaper millefiori beads can be made by using long, thin pieces of patterned glass and cutting small parts to put on plain glass beads.

Shapes

Beads come in many different shapes, including round, square, and tubular forms. Round beads are the most common and are often used in necklaces and bracelets. They can be made from materials like glass, stone, ceramic, metal, or wood.

Square beads are great for adding spacing in necklace designs and are also used in special prayer necklaces. Hair pipe beads, originally made from elk bones, are now often made from bison or water buffalo bones and are popular for decorative wear. Seed beads are very small beads used for detailed bead weaving projects.

Main article: Seed bead

Place or period of origin

African trade beads or slave beads may be antique beads made in Europe for trade during the colonial period, or they may have been made in West Africa by Africans, such as Mauritanian Kiffa beads, Ghanaian and Nigerian powder glass beads, or African-made brass beads. Archaeologists have found that as recently as the late-nineteenth century, beads made in Europe were still used in exploring Africa through traditional routes.

Austrian crystal refers to cut lead-crystal beads, named after the Swarovski firm. Czech glass beads are produced in the Czech Republic, especially in an area called Jablonec nad Nisou. Glass bead making there dates back to the 14th century, and despite challenges under communist rule, these beads are known for their high quality.

Islamic glass beads have been created across many places and times, from medieval Spain and North Africa to China. They can be recognized by their special styles and techniques. Vintage beads are collectibles that are at least 25 years old and come in materials like lucite, plastic, crystal, metal, and glass.

Miscellaneous ethnic beads

Tibetan Dzi beads and Rudraksha beads are used to make Buddhist and Hindu rosaries, called malas. Magatama are traditional Japanese beads, and cinnabar was often used for making beads in China. Wampum are cylindrical white or purple beads made from quahog or North Atlantic channeled whelk shells by northeastern Native American tribes, such as the Wampanoag and Shinnecock. Job's tears are seed beads popular among southeastern Native American tribes. Heishe are beads made of shells or stones by the Kewa Pueblo people of New Mexico.

Uses

Beads have been used in many ways throughout history. They are often used for prayer or devotion, such as in rosaries for Christians and misbaha for Muslims. The word "bead" actually comes from an old word meaning "prayer," showing how important they were for these practices.

Beads are also used for other purposes, like calming down during stressful times, as seen in Greek komboloi. Some cultures used special beads as money, and beads can even be part of games or help with counting.

History

Beads are thought to be one of the earliest forms of trade among humans. Some believe that trading beads helped humans develop language. People have used and traded beads for most of human history. The oldest beads were found in Blombos Cave in South Africa (about 75,000 years old) and Ksar Akil in Lebanon (about 45,000 years old).

Surface patterns

After glass or crystal beads are shaped, their look can be changed by adding special coatings. For example, a coating called Aurora Borealis makes the beads shimmer like a rainbow. There are other coatings too, like vitrail, moonlight, dorado, satin, star shine, and heliotrope.

Some beads are made to look like expensive materials. These are called faux beads. They can look like pearls, rocks, minerals, or gemstones. People also make beads that look like precious metals or ivory. Tagua nuts from South America are used instead of ivory because trading real ivory is not allowed anymore.

Magnetic beads

Magnetic beads are special tiny objects used in medical care and research. Scientists can attach important molecules, like antibodies or DNA, to these beads. This helps them find specific materials more easily using a magnet. This makes studying and testing much simpler and more accurate.