Flower Beads, then and now

The art of making flowers from small seed beads or seed beads is many centuries ago. It is thought to have started in Europe as early as the sixteenth century, although the flowers beaded base could have been made much earlier. As its popularity spread, several methods have been developed, the French method which wire passes only once through the bead and the Victorian method, also known as the method of English Russian, where the wire passes through the bead two or three times.
There has been a long association with the church and flower beads. A string of pearls, a rosary was used for prayer, the string of beads composed of 15 units, each unit containing 10 small beads and a larger one. Each bead is held in turn, as each prayer has been recited the 150 beads represent the number of psalms in the Bible. The man or woman who recited the prayers for the community were the first to make beaded flowers and so the association between church and floral decorations started. The French beaded flowers used as garlands, called Immortelles, who had been left on the grave of the deceased. These could be up to several meters in height, and when, after long disintegrated, the beads were re-used for other decorations. Venice became the center of production of beads and during that time most of the women than the rich, made beaded flowers for churches, banquetting tables and floats. Murano glass is still valued today.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s the Italian and French peasants who worked in the vineyards in summer, worked with beads in winter clothes and beads embroidery jackets.The not used for this purpose have been transformed into flowers to decorate the churches. In America a floral pattern was published in 1865 suggest that flower could be used as hair and clothing decorations and another was released in 1928. It was not until 1957 that the kit beads have been sold, and the manufacture of the flower bead has grown in popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s until 1980 when supplies from Eastern Europe became difficult. At the turn of the new century there is a renewed interest in French beaded flowers. Bead Types Rocaille beads or seeds are used to make the flowers of beads as described above. They are available in a large variety of colors and the most popular size is 10 or 11 gauge, although the flowers very small can be made of 15 gauge heel. Czech beads are quality less expensive heel available, and perhaps a good starting point. Japanese pearls are very high quality and uniform in shape, but more expensive. Beads in the shape of flowers and leaves are available in different materials such as plastic, glass, clay, acrylic and lucite that was initially used in jewelry, but it has become very popular in the 1960s and 1970s and is widely used today in contemporary jewelry.