Thursday, April 30, 2015

Ancient evil eye glass beads and how they were made ?

The first glass beads were made as cheap substitutes for precious stones,which could be polished,cut shaped and pierced but only with great difficulty,given the technical limitations of the jeweller's art at the time.
Glass beads were often startlingly attractive as substitute gems despite the apparent simplicity of their technique.In addition they had the advantage of being finished to the final decorative touches in one technical stroke.How were the earliest vitreous evil eye beads made? it is widely believed that they were built up on a core of baked clay,which was rolled in a vitreous glaze and fired on small stands until the glaze hardened like glass.
In this case it is probable that glass beads were manufactured wherever ores were smelted and clay fired.Indeed they were widely made and used throughout the ancient world from Mesopotamia to Egypt,Phoenicia to Iran,India to many parts of Africa,China and Japan to Europe and throughout the Mediterranean to various parts of the Americas.
The appearance of these beads was extremly varied,indeed,it is almost impossible to find two alike ,and yet the vast range of techniques and types can be rendered down to a few basic technical principles.