At the place we we stopped for lunch, I pulled out my camera and took this photo of a group of Turkish eye beads, inlaid into the concrete of the restaurant pavement.

Eye beads are seen everywhere in Turkey, and are constantly found in the interior and exterior decor of any building.

As a subpart of this thread, I'll post additional eye beads that I shot in Bodrum and back in Istanbul, as we go along, but being here they will be out of sequence.

JDA.

In my room at the hotel in Bodrum, these examples of Turkish eye beads were found. The textile work is part of a curtain or window treatment, with small new eye beads worked into the crochet or tatting (or whatever it is). I think these are plastic. It's a handsome and unexpected use of eye beads. The lamp on the wall has a very typical large furnace-worked pendant.

JDA.

Outside in the garden of the hotel is this fireplace, with another eye pendant hanging.

JDA.

I surre hope you haven't explained this later on and it's redundant, but is the "eye" bead to ward off evil spirits? I love to romanticize the stories. The first photo is beautiful.

Hi Linda,

Eye beads are apotropaic—meaning they ward off bad luck or fate. They are based on the idea that same or like is good for same or like. From early times in Europe and the Middle East, and persisting today, was the belief that certain individuals (or even anyone) could cause harm to you, your family (particularly children), your home or property—merely through a malevolent gaze combined with an ill wish. Some people would call this "being witched." The purpose of eye beads is to attract that evil gaze to the bead, so that the eyes of the two people involved do not meet. The bead can take the threat and neutralize it. Consequently, eye beads (of any sort) are protective amulets.

Jamey

Glad I wasn't totally misguided. I like the idea of the bead absorbing the bad vibes. Of course, then where do they go? I hope not to the next owner.

The town of Bodrum in located on a gorgeous bay, and is an important tourist local for Turks and foreigners.

The first image here is what I could see from the landing in front of my hotel room, of the bay with a sailing ship passing by.

In the 2nd image, we see the bay of Bodrum, many boats, and in the distance, an old castle. The castle is now the home of the Underwater Archaeology Museum, holding the artifacts recovered by George Bass—the chap who pioneered underwater archaeology. This is where I spent the afternoon of my day in Bodrum.

JDA.

I'm not going to show the actual castle. It is a typical structure made of gray stone blocks or bricks, with towers and ramparts, and was originally constructed to be a naval lookout and maybe an armory.

The building is now dedicated to housing all of the artifacts recovered from the nearby sea, from ships and boats that sank with their precious cargoes.

About twenty-five years go, I read the reports composed by George Bass, wherein he tells of his remarkable efforts to conduct field archaeology underwater using scuba-diving equipment. These artifacts are handsomely displayed throughout the castle—and include various beads and elements of jewelry. Although I was familiar with Bass' work, I did not come to Bodrum understanding that the museum was here, and would provide such an interesting time for me. I felt very fortunate to be able to go there and see everything.

Our first look is at two examples of traditional floor mosaics, that are not dissimilar to specimens we saw from Sicily and Naples.

JDA.

In an open area, before we get into the Museum (and where the mosaics and some statues are too), I snapped a photo of this gentleman who was engaged in making lampwork (or torchwork) ornaments.

JDA.

The glassworker was busy at the torch, using rods and pre-constructed elements, such as Venetian millefiori cane pieces ("murrini"), as decorations for his work.

In these photographs, we can see the ornaments he was offering for sale that afternoon. I have no idea how common it may be for artists to pursue lampworking using imported elements—but this is certainly in contrast to the traditional work that takes place at a furnace, taking glass directly from a crucible, and working it without much in the way of preformed parts.

JDA.

There's so much stuff I won't have time to show you. The museum has reproductions of boats, complete with their cargoes and showing the holds and interiors, many storage containers (mostly ceramic jars), and the detritus of the world of underwater salvage.

Here's a nice display showing some of the significant trade goods that would have been coming into Turkey from several locations, including the south (perhaps present day Lebanon). Lebanon is the home of considerable early glassmaking in the Near East, and provided many regions with the raw materials they used for local glassworking.

In this display, and in the detail below, we can see large round ingots of glass, colored teal and dark blue, that would have supplied local artisans with their raw material for glassworking.

JDA.

Occasionally, from recovered antiquities, there are large constructions that look for-all-the-world like gigantic beads. Beads for elephants? But, in fact, they generally have some other utilitarian or even ritual purpose. In the instance of the top photo here, we see two specimens of mace heads, carved from hard stones, on handles (that are probably reproductions). Mace-head-beads (if we may call them that) were imported from places such as (present day) Romania to the west.

Ivory was also a much admired material, and in the lower image we can see examples of both tusks from elephants and hippo's teeth. The huge curved tooth in the upper region is a hippo tooth. I recognize it because I own a specimen myself, and I have documented a few artifacts made from these (from Africa). Some of the smaller teeth piled together (in the foreground) are also from hippos.

JDA.

The bead: Basalt. Bactria.
The chain: Silver. Southern Morocco.

In this case, we see a very nice display of gold ornaments and other beads.

In the detail below, the uppermost gold pendant is seen.

JDA.

The beads seen here consist of stone and glass, and (below) faience from Persia.

JDA.

From very early in the time of glass-beadmaking, artisans made series of flat beads, formed in open-faced molds, that were used to adorn the foreheads and chests of beautiful women. Here we can see a small group of molded blue glass beads, shown with an indication of how they may have been worn.

These are somewhat related to the specimens I showed in the Istanbul section from Dr. Atik—although the previous beads were worn across the forehead, and simulate curls of hair.

JDA.

These two groups of beads are amber and glass. When I viewed them, I made the leap of faith that the amber beads were carnelian..., though they are identified as "amber." The glass beads are fairly large, over 1/2 inch in diameter. Unfortunately, they are so corroded it's difficult to identify them, or to say much about them.

JDA.

Here's a broken ceramic alabastron that was full of small glass beads. When I first saw this, I almost passed by it, because I thought these must be fossilized (preserved) seeds or grains. But I happened to spot a few perforations, and quickly turned around and took a closer look. The beads are corroded together into a mass, that we can see more clearly in the lower detail.

JDA.

This dark image shows us what a recovered ship would have looked like, if it were intact, and if we could see into inside of it.

Upon venturing outside of the museum, I snapped the lower photo of Bodrum and the Turkish flag.

Later that day, I boarded a bus to the local airport, and flew back to Istanbul.

I'll continue with the remaining days of my trip tomorrow,

Jamey

with lots of interesting places to visit. Plus the bay......some of my most favorite places....Monterey Bay, San Francisco Bay. Jamey, thank you for sharing these images of your trip!

On May 23rd, Asli and I drove about an hour outside of Istanbul to The Glass Furnace—a new school of glassmaking and glassworking located in an old factory. This will be the site of the post-Conference classes that will be held after the IBBC.

The first photo, here, shows the outside of the main building, followed by a view of the outside of one of the two giftshops they manage.

In the coming images, I will show some of the sights of this interesting institution.

The top image here shows a chap approaching one of the three furnaces they maintain for hot-working glass. They also have a glory hole, and studios devoted to lampworking, enamelling, and metal clay use.

The lower photo shows Ahmed, who is the teacher of lampwork, or contemporary torchwork. He is a beadmaker, but also makes other small objects. On that afternoon, he was busy making small sculptures that spin, representing miniature dervishes.

All of the facilities seemed very modern and up-to-date, and the staff were all friendly and courteous. It was a very pleasant afternoon.

JDA.

On one of the walls, they had displayed a number of objects they make—and, of course, my eye was drawn immediately to the gigantic eye amulet on the right wall, that is as large as a dinner plate.

Usually, an eye bead or pendant is made from molten glass, formed into disks and layered together, generally connected to a typical bead mandrel. In this instance, I would guess this piece has been made in a slumping/fusing kiln, by superimposing the different disks, and then fusing them into one piece.

JDA.

In the outside area where we had a nice lunch, I snapped this photo of two more eye amulets. I don't recall that I had ever seen this color combination before.

JDA.

While we were having lunch, I focused upon this sculpture that is placed over a pond, and hung from the ceiling above it. When I realized what it was I exclaimed, "Hey, those are gigantic beads!" No one at the table seemed to get it. I took a photograph, and proceeded to look closer. By golly, this object d'art is indeed strands of beads, like a gigantic necklace.

See the long view and close-up below.

JDA.

In glass cases that line the hallways, they have displayed the works of quite a few artists who are either resident there, or have passed through. The quality of their work is generally quite good, and on par with many competent glassworkers anywhere. There were several displays of beads, of which I show two examples here.

JDA.

I also noticed a case holding supplies that were available for purchase. This included the rods and millefiori elements we can see in this photo, that I am certain are Venetian. They also had a documentary video on disk, that I bought (though I have not watched it yet).

Below, here's a shot of a door knob, decorated with floral millefiori.

JDA.

At one point, we took an outside tour of the grounds, where I saw the apartments that are used by visitors and students. People come from all over the world to study here, so they have to run a small "hotel" to accommodate folks who will be around for some time.

Below is one of several similar sculptures of glass, that are like haystacks or mounds of fused glass. (Apparently window glass.)

JDA.

After we returned to Istanbul, I was interviewed again by a local reporter, and rested until dinner time. I met Gül, who also works for the Conference Committee, and we took a taxi and then a boat, outside of Istanbul and across the Bosphorus, where we met Asli at a swanky restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant had the obligatory eye pendant display—and it was a complex and beautiful one. I am sorry, in retrospect, that I didn't take a picture of it.

The photo here is the sunset along the Bosphorus, as we saw it that evening.

The next day I arose early, packed to depart, flew to Frankfort, Germany, spent a night there, and flew home the next afternoon.

I hope this reminiscence of my trip through Italy and Turkey has been entertaining. Thanks for indulging me.

Jamey