Crumb beads
Re: Re: ID #2 -- Carole Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: floorkasp Mail author
07/06/2014, 07:15:50

I would think that crumb beads are made pretty much anywhere that handmade wound beads are made. They are also called 'end of day beads' implying that the beads were made with the glass sweepings of the workspace at the end of the day. Seems pretty unlikely, as most of these beads have quite specific color combinations.

Lampworkers call these crums 'frit'. Not sure if that is a recent name, or that is has been along for a while. You can buy frit (or make your own) in a great variety of colors and mixes. It is a fairly easy way to add decoration to a bead. You can melt the pieces in completely, or you can leave them slighty bumpy and rough.
I have seen Czech, Venetian, Indian, Chinese, Indonesian, French and Japanese crumb beads. And I have made my own.

Having looked at the Sick & Co catalogue, I see many crumb beads, but.....the colors do not really match the example shown here. Most are more colorful and are brighter. There are some with a black base color, but then the Venetian ones usually have a bright yellow or white crumb. used.
So the color and the way they are finished at the ends make me think Indian. But having said that, their general appearance is almost universal in style......

Here are some more crumb beads. An example from a Czech samplecard, and some of the first lampwork beads I made.

IMG_1473.jpg (52.4 KB)  IMG_1932.jpg (36.5 KB)  


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