Replica Jatims and Chinese Knotting

A few years ago while still in my salad days of beadcollecting I bought a bundle of replica jatims.

Genuine Jatims are ancient glass beads from Indonesia which are very collectable and costly. Unfortunately my hoard are not the genuine stuff and I was stuck with them! Frustrated and not knowing how best to dispose of them I ended up using them as bottle stoppers!!

As picture shows combination didnt seem to gel and the project was soon abandoned.

These beads have caused me much heartache and I had left them to languish in my cupboard for a long time. But now that I have taken up Chinese knotting, I have found a new use for them. These large colorful beads with their ample perforations are just the right size for the rather thick cords used in Chinese knotting. Here's an example of Jatim millefiori beads strung with a Chinese double connection knot.

Hmm, do the jatims bring out the rich glow of the satin green cords or does enhancement happen the other way round ? Anyhow chinese knots have brought me to a better relationship with my repro jatims.I will be knotting necklaces with blue and white cords for my blue and white-eyed millefiori jatims and maybe yellow cords for those with yellow dots and stripes etc etc ......looks like I have projects up to my ears.