Antique Steel Cut Beads

Today I wanted to show some of my Antique Steel Cut beads. These are all from France, Circa 1900. The silver-colored ones are marked P3 on the back of the little tag, the black ones P4. I paid 6 and 7 dollars each for the little 2" hanklets about 1990. I bought the "gilt" ones (hard to see inside the baggie, I know, but it's stapled shut, and  wanted to preserve the pricing and packaging info) about 2001 for 20 dollars. I've seen similar beads recently on eBay for around 35 or 40 dollars. 

Most of these beads are TINY! I have a size 16 needle, and some 000 Nymo, and I have used some of these beads in different projects.  I love the heaviness and sparkle of these beads, and how small they are.

52 Earrings

I call these earrings "Angie", because of all the angles. They're made with gold filled 20 gauge wire, gold filled 2mm beads, and 4 and 6mm Swarovski crystals. I'll be teaching them at Beads'N More.

Gabriella Earrings

I used vintage West German  round drops along with vintage Swarovski dangles and beads in Vitrial Medium, plus Gold-filled 20 gauge wire, oval jump rings, and French earwires.  The hardest part was making the 2 wire armatures match.

I wanted them to be mirror image - but they turned out to be "folded" the same way - left to right. I thought I could turn one over, but no, it's one of those magic items that is the same on both sides. Oh well, no one will be able to tell when I'm wearing them! 

They remind me of Flamenco dancers, so I named them "Gabriella".

Beads that I can't use...

I've had this bead for maybe 20 years, and it was old when I got it. I was told it's a Russian Blue bead. It's made of cobalt glass.


I love the stories behind beads, I think it adds to their value. I have a cigar box full of receipts and cards that I got when I bought some of my more special beads, but they aren't with the beads, and some of them just have the date and cost, but no artist/vendor name or description. And here I thought I was documenting my collection by saving all the receipts!


I'm hoping to find out more about some of the beads I have. If you have more information about any of my beads will you please correct or add to my knowledge?

Beads that I can't use...

I have a small collection of Bat beads. Bats are good luck! This one is made of carved bone.

Beads that I can't use...

This is a Fairy Berry borosilicate glass pendant by Gail Crosman Moore. The first pic is without flash, second with flash (and a dime to show size).

I had an idea....

(Well, really I have them all the time.) But I was thinking about blogging and discipline, and thought that I'd try this - Mondays I'll post about patterns/classes/kits, Wednesdays I'll post the weekly Earrings, and Fridays I'll post a pic and descriptions about a bead or two in my humongous collection of "beads I can't use because then I won't have them any more" collection. Of course, I'm still allowed to post between times and about other things, too.

Maybe this will help/inspire/discipline me do several things: give my blog a structure, inspire me to bead, catalog my vast bead collection. Now to come up with clever titles....

Weekly Earrings

Here is the first pair of earrings....
"Olivia" are Comanche style earrings, about 4 inches long. They are made with vintage Czech 3-cut light amethyst colored seed beads, vintage Czech color-lined 8º seed beads, Czech and Japanese 11º seed beads, Japanese twisted bugles, real (lab grown) emeralds, Czech baby dagger drops, and Purple Velvet AB2x Swarovski crystals. I put them on gold-filled French earwires. Took about 3 hours to make.