Bead manufacture

Gnei Salma Bucker,Grade 13, Sailan International School,Negombo.

A bead is a small object made of glass, wood, metal, shell, nuts, teeth, bird quills, plastic or some other material. A bead usually has a hole through it so that it can be strung together with other beads.

The word bead comes from the old Germanic word 'bidden' meaning 'to pray.' This is because of beads helped people to count their prayers (Bedes). Beads are still used as religious or magical objects in many parts of the world. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims have rosaries to count their prayers.

Today, one of the chief commercial producers of beads is Czechoslovakia. The industry began with the manufacture of celluloid beads made to look like coral, later grew into beads of wood, horn, tortoise shell and glass.

Venice and Italy are famous for its glass beads from a long time. The craft of making them dating back from 13th century. Venetian beads are often gilded and decorated with bits of coloured paste blown onto them in the making.

A mass of glass is used in the manufacture of glass beads. It is either white, black or coloured to resemble some precious stone. The glass is blown and pulled out into a hollow rod which may be as much as 30 metres (100 feet) long. These rods are then cut into pieces about 30 cm (one foot) in length and heated. Small pieces are cut off and cooled, a process which toughens the glass and fixes the colours. The rough beads are placed together with charcoal and plaster or ashes in a rotating drum and treated over a furnace.The beads are rounded and polished by rubbing together in the drum, while the plaster or ashes keeps them from sticking together. Finally they are washed to remove waste matter and to clean the hole in the centre through which a thread or wire is run to string the beads together.

Gnei Salma Bucker,Grade 13,
Sailan International School,Negombo.