Wall Art

After collecting antique Trade beads for years, I started thinking about other ways to display them, instead of  the straight forward jewelry approach.  There could be times when you don't want to wear a bracelet or a necklace everyday, but still enjoy the beauty of the artifacts. Keeping things organic and natural is just second nature to me, so when it came to designing wall hangings, I took a walk. Literally. Walking my dogs every morning in the Arizona foothills, provides many earthy materials. A twig here, a stone there, a seed pod or cactus rib, it all works. All of my hangings have a main support of maybe a twig from a native Arizona tree, or cactus skeleton, or perhaps a piece of washed up driftwood collected on vacation. I can't seem to go anywhere without dragging home some treasure. My collecting started as a kid, when I would go out for a walk in the woods with my family and come home with my pockets full of goodies.  Great pleasure can be found in nature, if you just open your eyes. 

Back to the work bench....twigs, shells, stones, feathers, wine corks, handmade clay beads, beach glass, leather, a bit of wire wrapping, and a the main feature, Trade beads....it all comes together in a one of a kind hanging. 

Ostrich Eggshell beads

I like to use the ostrich eggshell beads in my designs. They add a different texture and contrast when paired with the reclaimed Trade beads.

Ostrich eggshell beads are the most common ornaments found in Later Stone Age sites in Africa.  Some were recently recovered from a site in the Serengeti National Park Tanzania, are  believed to be about 70,000 years old, according to a team of scientists.  The research was supported in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration and the Leakey Foundation.

The ostrich is the largest living bird in the world today, found in it's natural habitat only in Africa.  However, there is evidence that ostrich roamed over many parts of Asia, including India, in the past.

Ostrich eggshell beads are made by shaping and perforating small fragments of eggshell.  Beads were made by women. With a stone, the eggshell is broken into small pieces.  The pieces are pierced with an iron awl, then threaded onto a strip of sinew.  Then the strand of eggshell pieces are laid down on a hard surface as the rough edges were chipped off with a horn.  The strand was then tightened between two knots by having the fibers twisted between them.  This resulted in the strand becoming very solid and rigid like a stick. This "stick" was then rested on a piece of hard wood and ground with a course-grained stone, to the desired size.

Today, ostrich eggshell beads are still being made by the Sun Bushmen women of the Kalahari Desert. To the San Bushmen, ostrich eggshell beads are symbolic of good luck/good fortune.

bevsbeadz.comVisit my website and see if you can spot these beads within my designs!

What ARE Trade beads?

Trade Beads

I have been collecting Trade beads for 20 plus years. During the past 2 years since starting my jewelry business "Bev's Beadz", I have been asked that question more times than I care to remember.  It puzzles me as to why people don't  know this? Were you absent that day in grade school ? Do the schools no longer teach that? I remember learning about beads and how they were once used as currency hundreds of years ago. It was the barter system. We didn't always have coins and dollar bills!  Millions of beads were once produced in Venice, Italy and made their way to Western Africa where they were traded for gold, palm oil, slaves, etc. We're talking real history here folks. When you visit my website bevsbeadz.com and browse my jewelry, you're not buying some shiny, glitzy beads from the local craft shop, you are getting a real piece of history. Trade Bead Jewelry....antiques you wear!