Bead Jewelry
In India Bead Art is nearly 5000 years old which dates back to the time of Indus Valley Civilization. People of that old civilization especially made beads out of gold, silver, copper, clay, ivory and even wood. The excavations done found finished and unfinished beads from ancient places. As one observes people get amazed at the wonderful sense of bead work and jewelry of the ancient times.India has been amongst the largest producers of glass beads and particularly with regards to the beads produced in Banaras are exported in large quantities. During Mughal era, Bead jewelry was very much in vogue.
Bead necklaces are made of different size and shapes, embedded with precious and semi-precious stones, had been quite popular during those times. Then later when Europeans came to India, the Bead work became much more transparent and semi-transparent. Europeans were more cautious about the better and refined as well as transparent bead work, which enabled the artisans to develop their art up to the optimum. The making of bead jewelry is extremely complicated and time consuming.
Firstly according to the procedure the material for the beads is chiseled to obtain a desired shape and size. Then later a hole is drilled into the material, so that a string passes through it, facilitating the stringing of a number of beads together. This whole process take time for the bead worker and need lots of patience. Indian craftsmen have known the making of silver beads since ancient times.
Karnal city is mainly known for hollow beads made out of silver. These days, beads made out of sterling silver are gaining popularity. Now is the time for fancy glass beads, colored glass beads and crafted metal beads too. In todays modern times the glass beads have become a part of the jewelry worn by urban women in India. Beads which are made from semi-precious stones also continue to be popular in the country.
Beads usually come in an assortment of shapes and colors and at times, are carved also. Other than the use in jewelry, they are used for embroidery works too. It is real fact that Bead jewelry has played such an important role in human history, while it is not a wonder that handmade beaded jewelry makes such an important appearance in our myths and legends as well. Most of the people were fascinated with beaded jewelry in the past as we are today. The magic ring in ancient times has played a large part in myths and legends from around the world.
For instance, in the original Aladdin, while the most powerful Genie was summoned from the magic lamp, a less powerful Genie came from a magic ring. King Arthur's magician Merlin was given a ring that forced him to fall in love with a young sorceress, while the Norse god Odin had an arm ring that would drop new gold rings from it every day. Bead jewelry has become very much in vogue even in the Fashion Industry for as the trends go on changing for every season.