Bead Chains of the 1830s

Woven bead chains were unknown to me until just a few months ago when Diane Fitzgerald came to teach a workshop at our Guild.

Not more than one week after her visit, I stumbled upon two bead chains available for sale.  One at an  antique store not far from my house and one on Etsy.

I couldn't believe my luck.  What is the likelihood that, after just hearing about these antique bits of needlework, I would find myself confronted with two real-life examples...?

All of this in the same month that I would buy my first bead loom and begin taking classes from bead looming expert, Erin Simonetti.  

I don't ever take serendipitous events lightly.  So I did what any good bloodhound would do when confronted with such a coincidence.  I followed the path, did some more research

 and I bought the two beaded ribbons.

So...what are these beauties and what were they used for?

All my knowledge comes from two articles written by Massacusetts Textile Curator, Lynn Zacek Bassett.

According to one article which appeared in the December 1995 publication of The Magazine Antiques, these finely woven chains were popular in America in the mid-1830s and they were woven on a loom similar to the one pictured above.

The chains were quite long, ranging in length from 40 to 60 inches.  The beads used were most likely from Murano, Italy and were much smaller than anything we have commercially available today.  

The bead chain pictured below is only 3/8" wide and contains about 12 beads per row or 28 beads per inch.  This makes for a very delicate and lovely ribbon of beading...

It is believed that the popularity for bead chains originated in young ladies' academies where beading was often part of the fancywork curriculum taught together with other domestic arts such as embroidery.

It was common to bead your name, age and place of residence into the chain similar to the practice incorporated into girlhood samplers.

One of my chains has the date "1834" and the name "H.W. Gilbert" woven into the strip which is completely consistent with the author's research...

The chains were often worn as necklaces and were finished with tassels or bits of silk ribbon at the end.  

Often there would be a watch or key tied onto one ribbon end and tucked into a belt while the other end would be pinned to a bodice. 

There are historical accounts of the chains being worn as adornment in the hair and also carried by men as watch chains. 

Bead chains frequently included memorials, sentiments of friendship, virtues or moralistic mottoes.  

Though neither one of my finds contains a written message, the dark blue version does contain many motifs representing religious faith, domesticity, and love.

 A few appear such as faith (cross), charity (heart) and birds (signifying the soul)...

And crowns which often represented immortality in heaven...

The fad was short-lived and seemed to be limited to the 1830s.  

I find them to be very lovely, reminding me of a beaded strap used for a chatelaine, though too delicate to actually be used for that purpose.  They are not well-known and are often misnamed by museums and collectors as either belts or necklaces.

Perhaps you have run into something similar and not known what it was called?  

I saw one on Ebay the other day that has since sold.  It only had a name woven into the ribbon..."Ruth".  No date.  Here's a link to the sold listing so you can see it.

Diane Fitzgerald has a group of beading pals that are all making a section with the intention of swapping sections with one another to form a chain.  Rather than using a loom, they are using the peyote stitch so that each section can be "zipped" together.

I imagine it as a friendship sampler of sorts...a chain of friends similar to something like the ribbon pictured below...

This one appeals to me most and I imagine it would be fun to do a journal ribbon of sorts.  Once again, the mind is a whirlwind of possibilities.

A few of my friends are beginning to play with the concept and we may end up doing a similar exchange.

Many thanks to Diane Fitzgerald for sharing these delightful bits of history so that I can share them with you.

I also found another great article written by Lynne Zacek Bassett in the May/June 2000 issue of Piecework Magazine titled Guard Thy Hours: Bead Watch Chains of the 1830s which included a pattern for the chain pictured on the cover to make yourself...

I'd be interested to know if any of you have ever encountered one of these chains or intend to make one  in the future.  Keep me posted.

Looming Snowpeople -- Progress Report

Over the weekend, I attended Part II of my looming snowmen class with Erin Simonetti at Bead Soup in Savage Mill.

Once again, Erin did not disappoint.  

We learned ways of adding dimension such as the pop-out eyes, the noses, the pompom and the scarf...

I still have to finish my icicle swag and give the big snowman some scarf fringe and a flower for his hat brim. 

Erin Simonetti Snowman Bracelet In-Progress

One thing I'm still not sure about is the top edge of the bracelet.  I'm not sure if I'm finished up there or if I should add something else.  I'm going to wait to see how big my icicle swag gets on the bottom edge before I decide.

One thing I discovered is that the Coronet Braid that I had in my stash works really well as a warp.  

Normally, we use a twisted cord called C-LonTex 400 but I didn't have any so I found this braid made for needlepoint worked very well.  The sparkle from the braids were perfect for this design.

There is so much potential with this technique that my mind hasn't stopped spinning since class on Saturday.

The more comfortable I become, the more I'm thinking of the loomed "base" as a piece of "fabric" that is prepped for embellishment.

I am thoroughly enjoying learning this new technique from Erin whom I believe to be a master in the creative possibilities of loom weaving. 

I have to figure out the clasp and a few finishing details so it may take a few more days before I'm wearing it.

But it's a pure shot of happiness to work on something so festive and fun...

 

What's not to love about all that sparkly, icy goodness?

Happy Monday!

Stacked and Loaded

Like most of you yesterday in the Mid-west and the East Coast, we had a snow day.

Jack got his wish and a day off from exams and Jim came home from work around Noon.

While the snow blew around outside, Jim and I spent the afternoon binge-watching Breaking Bad on Netflix and I did something that's needed doing in a looooong time...

I numerically sorted all my delica beads.

I know.  Not only did we have Polar Vortex II but perhaps hell froze over as well.

For years I've used the old plastic-baggie full of plastic-tubes method of storage...

And yesterday I migrated to this new, space-saving, stackable method recommended by Erin Simonetti (I posted about Erin before here and here)...

I was lucky to find these stackable containers online at Joann.com and on sale.  Check it out here.  Erin has also had success ordering them from Walmart.

As I work through many of Erin's loomed designs, we have been using small numbers of beads with many colors.  Though a kit is provided through the Bead-Soup store, I was wasting a lot of time and money by not using what I already had.  The only problem was I didn't know what I had.

Now I do.  Erin places the containers on the inside of the loom as she's working.

Picture courtesy of Erin Simonetti's blog heading

No need to pour beads out onto a mat or anything...you just bead directly from the container.  When you want to travel, just re-stack the containers and off you go.

I am all set and ready to go for our Mystery Class in February.  I needed to order a couple of beads to make the scarf for my snowmen so I'm waiting for them to come in.

Another snow day for us here and I am working on Japanese embroidery today.

Happy delica day!

P.S.  A few of you asked about the looms we were using in yesterday's post.  These are looms that Erin's husband makes and, as yet, they are not commercially available.  I know that Kathy Fritz at Bead Soup is looking for a supplier to make the looms so when ordering information becomes available, I'll let you know.

Looming Snow

We're expecting a little snow tomorrow with Polar Vortex II.

Jack has two hard exams tomorrow, Calculus and AP German so he's praying for LOTS of snow.

This past Saturday I was back at Bead Soup in Savage Mill to continue my education on bead looming.

The incomparable Erin Simonetti was back, once again, with a spectacular design...

a snowman cuff bracelet.

Loomed, designed and copyright by Erin Simonetti

What I love most about Erin's work is all of the three-dimensional elements she adds to her loomed pieces.  Like the fringed scarf, 3-D pompom and flower on the hats.

And the ICICLES!!

I am trying to learn her looming tricks because I see a real possibility with adding textile and embroidered elements down the road.

And learning from Erin is an absolute HOOT!

First of all...the woman knows how to embrace a theme.  Her fingernail polish always coordinates with the class project...

Here she is helping someone with their first row.  Just like knitting, the first row can be a bit tricky and Erin doesn't want anyone to go away from her class feeling frustrated.

She dressed for snow with her shirt and her handmade necklace...

And then she gave each one of us a necklace with either a bottle of snowflakes or snowman face parts...

I kind of like my emergency snowman kit!

Thanks to my neighbor for letting me use her shirt as the backdrop for the photograph...

Check out how neat and organized her beading set up is...

Something for me to aspire to!

Everyone always has fun in Erin's class...

And, as if all of this wasn't festive enough, Erin cranked it up about ten more notches when this guy showed up about halfway through our class...

His name is Rick Wright and he is a caricature artist and friend of Erin's from high school.

He drew a caricature of each one of us to take home, all courtesy of Erin.

I know, right?  It makes you want to move to Maryland just so you can get in on the fun. 

I was heading to our annual Tea with the Nieces and Jack right after class so I was wearing a tea cup sweater, hence Rick's version of yours truly...

Thank you Rick and Erin.

This morning, I finished the basic looming on my bracelet...

I chose a two-snowman version and a colorway that uses Miyuki's new Luminous delica beads.

That's yet another thing that I love about Erin's designs.  

She provides lots of options for customizing her designs.  Smaller design options for smaller writsts, different edgings and fringes to choose from, different methods for modifying the clasp, etc...heck, at the December class, she even provided a chocolate and vanilla version of Santa.  It's just great.  

You can follow Erin's work on Facebook here or on her blog, Beads Beading Beaded.  If you read back through her older posts, she provides tons of information on her loomed beading approach.

As for me, I'm a fan for life.  I'm off to add noses to those snowmen and figure out which 3-D elements I'd like to add.  We have class again on Saturday so I'm hoping to finish my homework today.

Happy Monday everyone.

Off the Loom!

My class with Erin Simonetti is over but the lessons she taught me will be with me for a long time.

Not only that, I have this great bracelet she designed as consolation until I can take another class from her.

We gathered again at Bead Soup in Savage Mill, MD for Part II of our class.  

A great bead store which I've only recently discovered.

This is Eunice my seat neighbor.  That bracelet she's wearing on her wrist was a past class that Erin taught at Bead Soup...

Eunice beaded the other bracelet choice that Erin offered, Autumn Leaves...

And this is Lisa...

She taught me the brick stitch so I could make this little mouse.  Thanks to her for my new friend...

She had such pretty nails that I had to use her hands for a close-up action shot...

And here is Nancy cutting her bracelet off the loom...yikes...

Nancy is an old pro so I was grateful to see her do this step because I was dreading it.

Thanks to Erin's method, it was not bad at all and I was able to finish my bracelet yesterday and add its clasp...

And, as if all that fun and goodness wasn't enough, Erin made us each a pair of earrings to go with our bracelet! What??  How cool is that?

 I got a set of lampwork pumpkins...others got leaves or candy corn...

When can I take another class from her??

 You can find Erin and her work at her website here or her blog here or follow her on Facebook here.

Happy Monday everyone.

 Believe it or not, I'm beading again today. When it rains, it pours...but I love rain.

Looming Pumpkins

My embroidery practice has been all over the map recently.

I'm working on my Scotland book, knitting, making threads for Japanese embroidery, AND I'm working on Mrs. Rose.

Sounds like I shouldn't add one more thing to my plate, right?  

New item on Susan's plate

Well...opportunities to learn from those we admire don't always come along at convenient times.

This past weekend I finally had the chance to learn from Erin Simonetti, a woman whose work I've admired and and followed for many years...

Love her!

Often, loomwork can look a bit flat...but Erin has a gift for creating three-dimensional beaded sculptures...all on a loom.  

Like this piece called Multiplicity that was a Finalist in the Bead Dreams Competition in 2006... 

Multiplicity by Erin Simonetti all rights reserved

She's been a Finalist in that competition at least 3 times that I am aware and has been published more times than I can count.  Take a look at her website (click on all the links in the left sidebar) and her blog...they are both full of beautiful designs, inspiration and tips. 

Much to my delight, she began teaching this year at Bead Soup in Savage Mill, MD which is where I was this past weekend learning to make this fall-themed bracelet...

Bracelet and design made and copyrighted by Erin Simonetti

We have a lot of homework this week.

I've finished looming the bracelet base and now I have to add the tendrils and the two lines of crystals on either side. 

We'll be making the little mouse peaking over the top of the cuff and learning how to remove the piece from the loom and attach the clasp this coming Saturday so stay tuned.

It's Pumpkin Season in Maryland!

P.S.  Those asking about the bracelet on my wrist in last week's post...it's this bracelet designed by Laura McCabe...