Glass Beads Rainbows

There is an ancient legend that tells a story of a demigod who had such a compassionate nature that seeing people suffering from pain and injustice he could not help weeping, and his tears, rolling down his cheeks and dropping to the ground turned to glittering precious stones.

For some inexplicable reason people are attracted by the sparkle of diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and other gems, and in some cases this attraction has nothing to do with greed. It is believed that gems are tears of the Earth and pearls are tears of the Ocean. Anything bright and glittering is usually regarded as something cheerful and giving joy to the eye.

Beads are known to have been used in ancient Egypt. Many civilizations of later times borrowed the idea and passed it on. Probably, through Byzantium, beads came to Europe, where the 13th century saw the first widespread flourishing of their use. It was Venice that started to produce glass beads ornaments in large quantities at the end of the Middle Ages. Since then Venice has often been referred to as “the capital of glass beads.” Even noblemen and even royal personages did not consider it to be below their dignity to wear glass bead ornaments. Starting from the 15th century some German states began manufacturing glass beads, vying with Venice for the first place as producers of these ornaments. In the 16th-17th centuries it was Bohemia and Moravia that came to the fore as major producers and users of glass beads, so much so that they were sometimes called “the glass beads lands.”

It was through Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia that the use of glass bead ornaments came to the Russian Empire in the 18th century in the wake of great reforms conducted by Peter the Great. Mikhailo Lomonosov, an extremely gifted man whose genius manifested itself in many spheres of human endeavor, set up a workshop – one of his numerous enterprises – to produce, among other things, glass beads. Unfortunately this production lived but for a short period of time. At first glass beads in the Russian Empire were worn only by the local aristocracy and church top hierarchs, and only gradually fascination with glass beads spread among other walks of life. Afterwards the art of making glass bead ornaments has become a truly folk art and even now glass beads are considered to be elegant additions to the holiday dress by many people living in the rural areas (especially Russia and Ukraine). Typical combinations of colors and patterns of the glass bead ornaments can also be found on painted wooden bowls, embroidered towels, curtains and shirts, in decorative paintings.

Satin and velvet are popular fabrics to be decorated with glass beads and they are usually preferred in shades of black, white and silver. The play of colors against such backgrounds is truly captivating.

Glass bead ornaments and decorations were believed to have some magic powers and there were charms made of glass beads. A charm made of black and red beads – it was considered to be the most potent combination of colors for a charm – was given as a gift to children, close relatives and lovers to show that the giver cared very much for the people such a charm was given to. Even now, at the very beginning of the 21st century only those who are known to have a pure heart are believed to be fit to make glass bead ornaments. You must not make them when you are in a bad mood either because it is believed that your mood will be passed on to the wearer of the ornament you have made.

The rainbow is universally loved for its marvelous play of colors. Glass bead ornaments are man-made rainbows.

Prepared by Vlada Popushoi