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Frankie what a fabulous picture - what is the large bead inbetween the silver? Am attracted to it.
Yes, gorgeous isn`t it! That`s tibetan mosaic coral.
Not wanting to lose a bit of their valuable mediterranean coral, tibetans use up tiny and broken pieces to stick on to larger bits with a kind of black lacquer or bitumen. I suppose they polish the bead when it`s set well hard.
Mosaic coral was the one thing that kind Howah looked for for me when he was back in China. But zilch...
And this is only one - hard enough to find anyway. Toya had a whole necklace of them. Have a look at her photos and have a good drool. I often do. Probably you can find it by doing a mosaic coral search on this site.
(Quite proud of the picture myself though it`s 50% down to chance with me).
These "mosaic coral" beads are special. Is it really bitumen that is used to stick the parts of coral together? I am curious to know.
I tried to find what stuff is they ussed by putting such a bead in acetone. The stuff used as a glue gets sticky and dissoves. So no black (asian) lacker I think because that does not dissolve in acetone. It must be something else.
The Losy Cities Beads website tells us that the adhesive is a mixture of wax and pitch called lakh. I could imagine that it might get sticky in acetone. You were brave to try, Harald. Did it harden again afterwards?
Frankie, it does harden again. It did in my case. But there are different kinds of adhesive used, I think. The color differs. It is nice to be able to soften the stuff when a piece of coral has gone lost and you want to replace it to make the bead hole again.
Frankie, For some time that Sri Lankan necklace has been bothering me (not in a bad way!) How long is it? How was it worn? That curved panel in the front is my big question- could this actually be a belt? Many ladies are fairly small, so something like this might fit....
Well, Hillary, indeed it could be a belt! The necklace end-to-end is 26". The clasp is 3.5".
The type of bead I have seen used in necklaces. And I`ve also seen similar clasps used in them too. But they could`ve been repurposed. Quite a while ago anyway. And there`s not much available to check against.
And since it wouldn`t go anything like round my waist - it didn`t occur to me!
Thank you. What a very good thought.
Well, that`s interesting......I`ve just come across eBay no. 17113608038......!!
What happened Frankie? Couldn't find the reference.
Sorry, Thelma. Try 171136080381.
It`s sometimes a good idea to be in bed before one falls asleep...
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