Powderglass, Early 1970s Era Beads, 7mm Diameter, Various Thicknesses, 26-inch Strand
SKU: AFS-283
Sale price
$10.00
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Only 1 in stock
Description
- Early 1970s era powderglass beads, from the time when trade beads were first starting to come out of Africa in bulk and interest in African beadmaking was just getting started. These are a mix of colors and sizes: wine bottle green and medicine jar blue
- Ground glass, the consistency of sand, was funneled into 5x8mm depressions in a clay tablet. A small stick was inserted in the center of each glass filled space. When the clay slab was heated the glass would melt enough to fuse and the stick would burn away leaving the hole.
- These were what I now call level 1 powderglass beads. Level 2 saw the advent of different colors of glass being layered on top of each other creating horizontally striped beads. Level 3 brought vertical stripes and we are now at Level 4 where glazed surface decorations have taken over from patterns made with the powder in the mold.