Happy
This 63 cm long necklace happily mixes a medley of colourful vintage chevrons (aka as ‘star’ and ‘rosetta’ beads) from the ‘80s with bright turquoise blue and cobalt blue glass beads, and metallised plastic beads, all vintage. For more info on the necklace, please click on Details, and if interested in my musings, please go to Story.
The identification of the beads start from the bead in the centre, moving upwards, with measurement for some of the bigger beads, with metal beads named last.
Length: 63 cm (25”)
Weight: 142 gms
18 mm turquoise coloured vintage glass beads, discs and small cylinders
Medley of multi-coloured vintage chevrons (beads made using the cane technique) from the ‘80s
14 mm & a pair of 10 mm cobalt blue vintage glass beads
Vintage patterned metallised plastic cylinders
Small metallised plastic spacers
Pair of Thai silver lengtheners
Gold filled crimp tubes
Silver toggle clasp
In my first trip back to my hometown Kuching, after the pandemic, I visited the shops along the waterfront in the Main Bazaar, hoping to bag some old Sarawak beads. I was largely disappointed as one of the best shops that I had purchased old beads from over the years had closed, and what was available in other shops were beads that were often not in good condition besides being very expensive. Nevertheless, I was excited that there was this one shop that had strings of vintage chevrons which the owner said dates to the ‘80s. I bought them, not having collected any chevrons of this nature.
Chevrons, also known as star or rosetta beads, have a history that goes as far back as the 16th century, first made by Venetian glassmakers, involving an elaborate and laborious cane technique and glass fusing of multiple layers! Very old chevrons are highly valued by bead collectors, and even vintage ones are considered ‘collectable’. I did some research, and my informed guess is that the ‘80s chevrons in this necklace were possibly made in China or India.
I set to work on my ‘treasure’ soon after I returned to Singapore and am delighted with this vibrant necklace pairing the colourful chevrons with glass beads in turquoise and cobalt (also vintage, as I have had these beads since the ‘90s, and they were said to be old stock from a factory that had closed down some years before). To this mix, I added some metallised plastic beads too, also collected in the ‘90s, and probably Italian in origin. Another necklace that came out of this trove of chevrons that is also in this first tranche is Stars Galore (under the Materiality theme)
I have named this necklace Happy, and I think it would work with a range of colours, from pastels to muted tones, to darks, but perhaps not brights? It may go with stripes or small polka dots, but any print or pattern would have to be fine!
