On another note, I decorated our very small Christmas tree with other stuff I found around our house. (Still haven't found the box of ornaments from last year. The story of my life....)

But we had plenty of extra face masks, so I used them, too!

Yes, that's a squirt bottle of water in front of the tree, because a) the cats keep chewing the tree, and b) the cats keep taking the ornaments to play with!

Whatever holiday you are celebrating, here's wishing you a lovely, peaceful, and happy one!

The indonesian beads are pieces of old windowglass and so, drilled and grinded. So different method of recycling.

I should have measured them before I got home. Most of these are around 1/2" thick, but I have more in my collection that are even thicker.

A lot of these cold worked grinded beads, especilally those from Indonesia, have two opposite sides who are smooth and shiny. The surface of the window glass or the thick frontside safety glass of old fashioned cathode ray tv tubes.

The indonesian beads are pieces of old windowglass and so, drilled and grinded. So different method of recycling.

Sorry for the double message, I can’t delete or change it anymore.
Anyway there are stories that the thick frontglass of old television tubes were used to make these coldwork beads. Some of these beads are painted superficiall in different colors, which can be removed with nail polish remover (Acetone?)

Hello Luann,

In the previous BC platform (beadcollector.com) there were some discussions related to lapidary-worked glass beads, and those from Indonesia versus those from West Africa. These are no longer available to be viewed. A lot of significant discussion was lost with the changeover.

In the 1990s Indonesian beads were routinely called "television"—and were said to have been made via recycling the screens of useless (broken) televisions. (NOT the "tubes"—which would have been thin mechanically-blown fragile glass. The screen glass would be much thicker, as its purpose was to protect the tube, and to be a surface that could be cleaned—as we know from any previously typical television sets.)

In the early 2000s, African-made lapidary-worked clear glass beads were (out of the blue) ALSO then referred to as "television." I made the assumption that Africans glommed-onto the name from exposure to Indonesian beads (and bead-naming). Either while traveling in Indonesia, or at some Bead Show where such beads were offered.

My proposition was immediately challenged by Kirk Stanfield, who thought it was a ridiculous suggestion. I can only say that my ideas came from my experience. Although Africans have made lapidary-worked glass beads for much longer than there were any modern Indonesian glass industries, it wasn't until AFTER the Indo beads were made and offered for sale that I ever saw African beads also being referred to as "television."

In a way, you have fooled yourself into thinking your beads are "African" by calling them "recycled glass beads"—which is what African glass beads are routinely called. I call these "lapidary-worked glass beads." And, of course, the implication is or may be that such glass is recycled from glass that was originally something else. In West Africa, a lot of glass came from bottles, cosmetic jars, and whatever was available and interesting (and cheap). In recent years, window louvers have been used, because they have been available in many colors. And some glassworkers (i.e. Cedi) have used imported Bull's Eye glass. (I bought some red beads in 2005.)

And, by the way, the Chinese have made lapidary-worked glass ornaments for centuries. They probably only began making hot-worked (furnace-wound) plain beads for export in the late Ming Dynasty (ca. CE 1600 or later).

The link I show here is the earliest BC.N post I could find, where I discuss Indonesian glass beads. And the topic of lapidary-working is a side issue, in relation to the beads being discussed.

Jamey

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=48654&iZz=48654&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0

They are also discussed, in passing, from 2007:

http://beadcollector.net/cgi-bin/anyboard.cgi?fvp=/openforum/&cmd=iYz&aK=53201&iZz=53201&gV=0&kQz=&aO=1&iWz=0

The multiple strand hands are all sort of Coke bottle green. These are the ones that had "Made in Indonesia" tags. I'm not sure where I bought them, but I have plenty of others in similar sizes/thickness/shapes that are brown (like beer bottles), clear/white-ish, grey, and blue. And almost all of them relate to real bottle colors, so I assume that's where your term "lapidary-worked glass beads" comes into play?

Hans, none of mine are powder glass, nor painted, I don't care for them very much, for some reason, rarely buy them. I think those of us who aren't expertse used to be called "sand-cast beads", don't know what the proper term is called now, but they look very different than those in the picture.

Jamey, yep, I've called all the beads I've bought from African bead traders "African trade beads". And I've always assumed the beads were actually FROM Africa, if not actually MADE there (like Venetian, Dutch, Bohemian glass trade beads.) Would "repurposed" glass beads work? :-)

Hi Luann,

The name and identifier "trade bead" was devised in North America by archaeologists and anthropologists, to separate native-made beads from imported beads. The imported beads are trade beads. Calling "all beads from Africa "trade beads rather defeats the purpose of the term—because many many beads are and were made in Africa, and were not traded there.

As I define it, the Trade Bead Period ran from CE 1400 to 1950. And, of course, not every bead made in that time would be a "trade bead." Within Europe, or any country of origin, the domestic use of beads would just be a commercial pursuit. "Trade bead" is only a useful term if the context is one of contrast between one group of beads and another. And those others are "native-made beads." The practice of trading beads for commodities and services can be assumed to have ended by 1950 at the very latest. By that time most nations had and used actual currency to pay for things.

I'm not sure how powderglass beads got stirred into the conversation. I guess because Hans said your beads are not powderglass—which is correct. But it was powderglass beads (many of which have been made in West Africa), that were mistakenly called "sand-cast" beads from the 1970s (and still today by people who are slow to understand and alter their perspectives and terms).

I'm going to assume the beads you have are lapidary-worked glass beads, made from available glass. If they are marked "Indonesia," they are almost certainly not powderglass. This is not a technique the Indonesians (we're talking about Java, here) exploit for beadmaking. But the reuse of available glass for lapidary-made beads is well documented.

Jamey