Quietly Musing: October 2016

How do I love thee...... (my focal/ancient beads)

And how do I wear thee .....?

Let me count the ways.....

focal ancient beads suitable for making into bracelets

Most beadcollectors like to wear their beads (focal or otherwise) as necklaces but I choose to wear mine as bracelets. Perhaps the real reason is not so much my unlovely neck (although that is part reason) as that I cannot manage to string together a decent necklace.... too long for me to handle ....lack the skill....it so much easier to put together a simple bracelet on an elastic cord and presto I can have my fix !

Some examples :

Biconical amethyst focal bead with truncated biconical crystals

Flat six sided faceted crystal with old green and white glass beads

Top bracelet: Square tube focal turquoise with old coral

beads and two small turquoise flanking beads one carved

in the shape of a yuan bao, the other of a bird

Bottom: Flat oval turquoise bead with cloud carving

pattern likely to be from China's Warring state period.
The filler beads are old blue and white glass melons.

My simplistic bands focus on well, a focal ancient bead strung with plain old filler beads which may or may not be ancient. Pearls in particular make good supporting beads for my projects. Their neutral white color blends well with ancient beads.

Below I show off the round white pearls I inherited from my Mum (vintage around 70 years) and they have been teamed up with two flat ancient beads. Focal bead on left is an ancient nephrite tubular bead with 6 facets, while on right the dark red diamond shaped carnelian is from Vietnam's Sa Huynh culture (100 BC-200AD)

Pearls make good companions for ancient focal beads

Freshwater pearls are cheap, comes in an assortment of hues and I use them without fail to combine with focal ancient beads.

Fresh water pearls

The gemstone faceted tubular bead shown below, likely from Pyu dynasty (100BC-840AD) is a lovely sapphire blue, am hoping its one :) mixes well with these wee white freshwater pearls.

Sapphire color but is it sapphire ??

Next I've highlighted a rose quartz elephant with pink freshwater pearls. The rose quartz elephant bead is likely to be stuff from Pyu dynasty.

rose quartx elephant flanked by rosy fresh water pearls

Another arrangement with pink freshwater pearls is this bracelet featuring four focal, blue gemstone beads, again Pyu dynasty likely. The stones are in the most wonderful hues of blue. I am guessing and hoping, aquamarine, blue topaz or blue quartz. All are hand faceted.

favourite bracelet with four focal beads in shades of blue

An unusual ivory or bone (I'm not sure which) grooved tube bead which I interpret as representing an elephant is nicely matched with old white coral beads from Sarawak, shown below.

Grooved tubular bead may represent a Pyu elephant

Another favourite of mine featuring a carnelian crown shaped bead which was previously part of a Qing dynasty hairpin, shown below. Beside the focal crown bead, the two flanking beads are also way interesting. The small faceted round bead on the right measures only 0.5 cm is decorated with wavy bands that culminate in what looks like a pair of eyes, all courtesy of nature. By contrast, the round carnelian bead on the left is decorated with a basket ball pattern etched my man thousands of years ago. Some old coral beads act as fillers to this winsome threesome.

Focal crown bead and two flanking carnelian beads make a winsome threesome.

Here are close ups of the 2 small carnelians.

decorated by Nature

etched by man

No doubt my "creations" are not really remarkable but still they serve me well. With more than a dozen bracelets at my disposal I get to enjoy a different focal bead each day.

Below are another few more examples :