Re: Powderglass Beads
Re: One more question pls, is there other kind of beads that are made from crushed glass? thx -- pk Post Reply Edit Forum Where am I?
Posted by: Beadman Mail author
07/11/2007, 04:32:12

Hi PK,

Your question is sort of vague.

The general name for any beads made from crushed glass is "powderglass" beads, The basic technique was devised in antiquity, and has similarities to the manufacture of molded faience artifacts (to which it was no doubt related). In Europe, making items from powdered glass has some tradition, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was routinely called by the French name "pate de verre." Nevertheless, this name, translated as "glass paste" or "paste di vetro," is ROUTINELY used to describe countless glass items that were merely conventionally made from hot glass. There is some stigma against glass as an "important" material..., and these writers seem to think that if you call the item "glass paste" it makes it more significant. It is very difficult to criticize and counter this rather silly (and antiquated) idea and presentation of glass. But this sort of thing is pandemic in the world of antiquities, and totally entrenched.

Glass is a versatile material, that can be used in many different ways. And there are a number of different ways these groups of techniques can be divided. Most industries that are proficient in glassworking use hot techniques—in which the glass is melted and manipulated.

But there are also cold techniques, or types of work that begin with room-temperature glass (even if heating is applied eventually). For instance, a chunk of glass can be worked just like a piece of stone—being chipped, grinded, "carved" (not really a correct word for glass), etched, polished, and finally drilled. This is usually characterized as "lapidary work." Several hundred years ago, the Chinese excelled in this work, at a time when they had little or no hot-working of glass. There is some expectation that folks who indulge in lapidary glassworking may not be technologically proficient enough to MAKE glass and to work it via typical hot techniques.

Likewise, when glass is reduced to powder (or crushed fragments), the people who pursue making artifacts are sometimes or often people who do not have the skills necessary to work melted glass in a hot state. Thus, lapidary and powderglass techniques are considered to be somewhat "primitive." Nevertheless, these techniques demand certain skills, a variety of techniques or ploys or manipulations, and the resulting beads (or whatever) can be complex and even beautiful. Some powderglass beadmaking ends with lapidary finishing (like polishing), resulting in a product that resembles a stone or precious material (like coral). So, this is not to say that "primitive" necessarily indicates an inferior product. It is more like these sets of skills are out of the norm within glassworking. And they can tend to be labor-intensive, and are pursued by folks who are willing to invest a lot of time into their work. But the work circumvents the melting and manipulation of glass, that includes its own sets of skills, techniques, and variations, and is considered by many to be the "natural" or "preferred" way to use glass as an art material.

Anyway, in several parts of the world there are industries that have indulged in both lapidary work and powderglass work, apart from the three countries in West Africa that routinely do it (and generally do not do, or do very little, hot work)—these being Mauritania, Ghana, and Nigeria. (Formerly, glass beads were also made in South Africa from recycled glass.) It is the Ghana beadmakers who make the greatest number of powderglass beads, in the most widely varied types and styles. The work of Mauritanians and Nigerians (very different from each other, and from many Ghana beads), are more limited in terms of techniques, but encompass many variations in shapes, sizes, and patterns.

I know of powderglass beads from Thailand, Borneo, and even from American Indian tribes a few hundred years ago, and possibly from South America around the time of European Contact.

Did you have a more specific question in mind?

Jamey



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