The idea of decoration has been practiced since the time of the Neanderthal man. Beads were used as decorations made from bone, rock, shell, and plants. Both men and women displayed these beaded decorations. The use of glass beads came later on in history. It wasn’t until around 2300 B.C. that a vast number of glass beads were made. These beads were artistically crafted using a number of different manufacturing methods.

Beads JewelryThe most commonly noted civilization that had a huge majority of the population wearing beads was Egypt. They manufactured an enormous variety of beads in a wide span of different materials. They were worn for jewelry and adornment, and on everything from sandals to apron. The most common event that called for new elaborate creations was funerals. As you may guess, the most intricate stones and jewelry were made for the wealthy.

Glass beads are most recognizable to the seventh and eighth dynasties. The Egyptians were the first to manufacture towards a large commercial market at around 1400 B.C. The eighth dynasty is known as the first era of major glass making. These glass beads soon took the place of other precious stones. With this new ability to mass-produce glass beads came a wide variety of designs and styles.

Once the nineteenth dynasty came to an end, Egypt saw a decline in glass making skills. Glass all but disappeared after the fall of the New Kingdom in around 1095 B.C. Glass didn’t see much of a revival until the Ptolemaic times, when Alexander the Great founded Alexandria. It was during this period that some of the most gorgeous and complex beads throughout history were made.

From this period, at around the end of the 1st century the Syrians discovered how to blow glass. They would do this by putting a blob of molten glass on the end of a hollow tube and blew down the tube. The different tricks and techniques of bead making followed general glass making to allow for a limitless possibility of glass bead design.

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