In my previous post, I outlined what kinds of beads I would be looking for out of my large glass bead collection.
In short, I sorted through thousands and thousands of beads, picking out shapes, colours, and sizes I thought “felt right”… then divided them all by colour, and then looked at my list to pull out the documented shapes, sizes, and opacities that I had evidence for. I also pulled out some wonderful melon beads, dotted beads, striped beads which I was super happy to find in the collection.
I did end up still keeping the beads that “felt” right – even if I didn’t have specific evidence for them, for either “look and feel” festoons in future – or other historically-inspired/informed jewelry I want to make.
But.. I went from a huge pile (like photographed below) to something that looks like…. this:
Some of the green beads validated by my research
Kind of depressing really… to go from handfuls and handfuls and handfuls of lovely beads… to just a pinch! However, with all the different colours I have, there will still be plenty for necklaces and festoons!
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Dawn's Dress Diary 