Handmade beaded jewelry is often unique and highly unusual. Once the basic skills of jewelry making have been learned, the creator can go in a thousand different directions.
Even the same pattern can be reproduced by different people, and through each of their mistakes or techniques, can end up looking completely different.
Handmade beaded jewelry depends on the skill of the maker, the materials they use and the time they have to spend. As each of these things vary between every piece that is made, each piece of handmade beaded jewelry is produced differently across time and by different people.
History of handmade beaded jewelry
Patterns and jewelry making techniques have often been handed down through history within the family group, as a form of cottage industry. The handmade beaded jewelry skills and techniques were often protected with secrecy by families who wished to keep the trade within their clan.
Handmade beaded jewelry has often held cultural significance. Different types of handmade beaded jewelry could represent fertility, religious ceremony and celebration.
Social status has also had a long association with the types of handmade beaded jewelry allowed for an individual to wear. Adornment and self-decoration extends back through history across all cultures.
The skills and techniques of handmade beaded jewelry were enabled when the very first bead was made. It is thought the earliest beads involved using strung bones. This would have signified the hunter-status of the wearer, and the successes of each kill.
Handmade beaded jewelry these days builds on these early traditions. With the technologies of glass, crystal cutting and mass manufacture, beading materials have grown as have the people who produce them.
Handmade beaded jewelry today
Today, beading materials are produced globally by countries that specialize in the techniques of the handmade beaded jewelry industry. The Internet allows people to access and import these items with greater ease than ever before.
Handmade beaded jewelry still retains a special significance to the crafts-person who made it. People who admire handmade beaded jewelry also give it a different kind of value- appreciation.
Beautiful handmade beaded jewelry can be purchased anywhere around the world, but there is still nothing quite like the satisfaction of creating the piece yourself.
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