I’ve created quite a little pile of ancient styled beads now but have been finding myself torn between leaving them looking shiny and new or trying to give them a more aged appearance.
Here are some, bright and shiny from the kiln – these designs are typical of Viking age beads.
Trailed and Raked
I decided to try and ‘age’ some during the actual torching process -
Glass beads distressed during creation
I do like this effect very much, these have turned out looking pitted and slightly dull, much more like their real counterparts.
Here again, are some shiny beads, this time with black and white twisted or latticino glass decoration.
Beads before etching
See the difference when these beads have been etched?
Beads with twisted glass decorations
The beads have a softer look to them and no glare. I think it makes them look ‘older’.
One more picture – a pile of etched beads!
Etched mixture
So what do you think?
I like the etched and distressed look, I like the fact that it does give the appearance of age to the beads. BUT I can understand that some people might prefer to see what ancient beads would have looked like back when they were first created, before they had lost their shine.
It’s also not my intent to mislead anyone into thinking these beads are older than they are, but something in my brain much prefers the aged look to the new ones. It’s funny, but ancient beads are supposed to look OLD!! To my mind at least – what about yours?
How did you do the distressed look on those beads? I am a lampworker who also does viking re-enactment, and really like the way that looks, I’d love to try that technique if you’re willing to share it.
Hi Karla, thanks for asking! I used baking soda, you can do this in a couple of ways either by rolling the hot bead in it, much like you would frit or by mixing up a slurry of baking soda and water. I think the slurry gives you a bit more control as you can decide how thick/thin to make it. Once the bead is rolled in the baking soda put it back in the flame. It will bubble a lot as the bs is burned off. The finished result is a very distressed looking bead. Two words of caution – make sure your ventilation is good as I believe the bs gives off noxious fumes when burned. Also less is often better, i’ve found using too much can lead to a finished bead that is easily chipped.
For added effect you can of course etch the bead once its finished.
If you saw my reproduction Egyptian necklace, those ‘faience’ beads were also created using baking soda, its a cool technique but can leave the bead feeling a bit rough. If you’ve got a tumbler you could probably smooth them by tumbling for a while
Hope that helps, have fun!