How the patterns are constructed | |||||
Re: Necklace of Old-Fashioned Chinese Cloisonne Beads -- beadiste | Post Reply | Edit | Forum | Where am I? |
The basic idea is a blossom branch, with the various little twig, leaf, flower, and buds motifs applied in one of two different compositions.
I had a hard enough time just following the lines with a pencil, let alone bending hair-thin little wires to create the motifs. Guessing this takes a bit of practice...
By about 1980, the blossom branch was very much simplified into a design just about anyone could follow, and this lasted until the Beijing Enamel Company ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s, quit making the beads because even the standardized abbreviated design was too labor intensive, and had to be re-organized in a bankruptcy around 2000.
|