A "side trip" beaded project

What about Vermeil? It's sterling silver covered with a thin layer of gold.
I know some here don't like FMG, but they do carry Bali style Vermeil beads
and clasps.
http://www.firemountaingems.com/sear...ermeil%20beads
I remember reading an article about those necklaces in a recent Bead mag,
but can't remember which one!

In Biblical times, a "bride adorned for her husband" actually wore her dowry
as jewelry, referred to in the parable of the lost coin. The woman wasn't
just looking for loose change in the couch, she had lost part of her dowry
and was frantic to find it.

I saw a very interesting program once (I think it was a National Geographic
special) about how women in India wear their bank account as gold jewelry -
when they need something, they trade their jewelry for it. It is often
melted down and remade into more jewelry. And then when their fortunes
improve, they repurchase the jewelry to wear until they need to buy
something with it again.

Hubby has made some very lovely poly clay beads, either leafing them (gold
or silver) or using PearlX powders for metallic look (you can check out my
eBay store to see some examples of the PearlX powders). HTH
--
Karleen Page
Vibrant Jewels: http://www.vibrantjewels.com/jewelry/welcome.htm
JustBeads: http://www.justbeads.com/search/ql.cfm?s=21770
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Vibrant-Jewels-Beads-and-Jewelry
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"Kathy N-V" wrote in message
. giganews.com...
In addition to the totally impractical sculptured piece I want to
make, I'm thinking about a side trip to make a Bedouin marriage
necklace. Traditionally, nomadic people counted their wealth in
livestock, which isn't quite as easy as a Visa card when you need to
buy something. (I keep picturing a store front in some far off
country with stickers on the door: pictograms of various credit
cards, and the outline of a sheep. We take Visa, MasterCard and
livestock. There is a two goat minimum, and no personal checks,
please. Yeah, I'm strange)

Women had their own bit of personal wealth, in the form of a necklace
made with silver coins. If things got tough, she could clip the
coins and spend them. Far easier than taking a sheep to the
supermarket to buy Huggies. I actually found the right coins, and
the necklace shouldn't take very long to make.

The coins make me laugh - they are traditionally made of fine silver
or sterling, and were traded as such. However, those wily folks
stopped using pure silver a long time ago. Now they use a mixture of
real silver and whatever odd white metals are kicking around.
Apparently this causes some difficulty when someone tries to spend
the coins on the necklaces. :-)

There is a similar beaded tradition in Indonesia (I think - I am not
100% sure, an can't get up and find the book right now). Married
women wear necklaces of many strands of red seed beads threaded
through huge gold beads (like 50 mm).

Because these are poor people and enormous gold beads would be a
really difficult dowry to scrape up, these folks have developed an
ingenious alternative. They make base beads out of tree resin and
the add a thin layer of beaten gold on top. Then the gold beads are
embellished like the applied decoration Bali beads we normally see.

The effect is incredibly striking. The necklaces are quite
beautiful, and the beads are often passed down from generation to
generation. As far as I can tell, they are never used as a way to
get some money in a pinch. I suspect that tree resin is much lighter
than solid gold, and would keep the women from needing a lot of
chiropractic care. (Hollow gold beads wouldn't work, because he
women wear these necklaces 24/7, and the beads need to stand up to a
lot of abuse)

I want to make a similar necklace, but finding the gold beads has
been a problem. I'm now considering making beads from polymer clay
and gold leafing them, or finding some humongous silver Bali beads
and either gold leafing them or just leaving them silver. The
necklace, although wearable, would be only for display, so the wear
issue is not a problem.

Any thoughts or comments? Would I be cheating to put real clasps on
the necklaces instead of just a thong to tie the thing together? I
want to do that in case I ever want to actually wear the necklaces -
a leather or raffia strip would be uncomfortable, and just wouldn't
feel secure to me.

Traveling the world in my living room,

Kathy N-V

Poly clay and gold leaf sounds like the way to go. Sounds fun.

Tina


"Kathy N-V" wrote in message
. giganews.com...
In addition to the totally impractical sculptured piece I want to
make, I'm thinking about a side trip to make a Bedouin marriage
necklace. Traditionally, nomadic people counted their wealth in
livestock, which isn't quite as easy as a Visa card when you need to
buy something. (I keep picturing a store front in some far off
country with stickers on the door: pictograms of various credit
cards, and the outline of a sheep. We take Visa, MasterCard and
livestock. There is a two goat minimum, and no personal checks,
please. Yeah, I'm strange)

Women had their own bit of personal wealth, in the form of a necklace
made with silver coins. If things got tough, she could clip the
coins and spend them. Far easier than taking a sheep to the
supermarket to buy Huggies. I actually found the right coins, and
the necklace shouldn't take very long to make.

The coins make me laugh - they are traditionally made of fine silver
or sterling, and were traded as such. However, those wily folks
stopped using pure silver a long time ago. Now they use a mixture of
real silver and whatever odd white metals are kicking around.
Apparently this causes some difficulty when someone tries to spend
the coins on the necklaces. :-)

There is a similar beaded tradition in Indonesia (I think - I am not
100% sure, an can't get up and find the book right now). Married
women wear necklaces of many strands of red seed beads threaded
through huge gold beads (like 50 mm).

Because these are poor people and enormous gold beads would be a
really difficult dowry to scrape up, these folks have developed an
ingenious alternative. They make base beads out of tree resin and
the add a thin layer of beaten gold on top. Then the gold beads are
embellished like the applied decoration Bali beads we normally see.

The effect is incredibly striking. The necklaces are quite
beautiful, and the beads are often passed down from generation to
generation. As far as I can tell, they are never used as a way to
get some money in a pinch. I suspect that tree resin is much lighter
than solid gold, and would keep the women from needing a lot of
chiropractic care. (Hollow gold beads wouldn't work, because he
women wear these necklaces 24/7, and the beads need to stand up to a
lot of abuse)

I want to make a similar necklace, but finding the gold beads has
been a problem. I'm now considering making beads from polymer clay
and gold leafing them, or finding some humongous silver Bali beads
and either gold leafing them or just leaving them silver. The
necklace, although wearable, would be only for display, so the wear
issue is not a problem.

Any thoughts or comments? Would I be cheating to put real clasps on
the necklaces instead of just a thong to tie the thing together? I
want to do that in case I ever want to actually wear the necklaces -
a leather or raffia strip would be uncomfortable, and just wouldn't
feel secure to me.

Traveling the world in my living room,

Kathy N-V