I also like these a lot; and I used to make them from Fimo, usually using leftovers.

The style is sort of related to the morfia bead, in that the decoration consists of twisted striped canes that are placed on the surface of the bead. In a morfia, the canes are longitudinal, and altering ones have reverse twists—creating a sort of "herringbone-like" pattern. (And by the way, this is the bead/pattern copied in many murakad/Kiffa beads, where we see parallel chevron lines—see my article in Ornament on this topic).

The present beads are made by spiraling the twisted striped canes around the circumference of the bead, from the north pole to the south pole. It may be one cane or several, and these canes may be twisted in opposite directions, or not.

This is a pretty simple bead to produce, so I expect Frankish beadmakers would have been able to do it if they so desired. However, since I know similar beads are brought out of Central Asia (Afghanistan and Iran), I suspect most speciems, even from Frankish sites, may be imported.

When viewing Frankish beads, the first thing you notice is that the color schemes rely heavily on three colors: brick-red, yellow, and white. Also, the technique oif these beads is fairly crude (compared to many others, even from much earlier in time). The use of blue and green is sparse if not almost absent. This is one of the reasons that imported beads stand out—since so many "Syrian" and "Egyptian" beads make ample use of blue and green (even if the "Frankish colors" are present too—which they usually are).

So when we see a spiral cable bead in a Frankish context, and the colors are primarily red and yellow, I have to consider the possibility it may be local. But it's easier to conclude it's imported, since we know Eastern beadmakers made them already.

Thanks for asking.

Jamey