Beads are heavy, especially glass and semi-precious stone beads. Houses, unlike people do not have deal with locomotion, and moreover, don't complain about how much something weighs, or whether it itches their neck. —Mind you, it's not just the customers who complain about this— I don't like wearing heavy or itchy jewelry either.
Enter the Bead Curtain. —I started making this several years ago, cuz I just love the Exoticness (never mind reality)[1] bead curtains evoke, and I had all these too-crappy-for-jewelry beads to use up. Over the years this has probably been the most popular part of the site, or at least the one about which I get the most email. So I've finally collected the various bead curtain posts together (hurried up a bit by putting a howto link on some blog or other:)
Patricia B's 2020 covid beadcurtain strand 04jan2020
Making the 2020 orange beadcurtain components 03jan2021
Back to working glass after a six month hiatus 19nov2020
2 green beadcurtain horsehead beads. 20apr2020
green blown hollow beadcurtain strand 29nov2019
2019 orange beadcurtain strand integrates some long-running themes
2 opaque beadcurtain strands, with bonus xmas earrings:)
J's rainbow beadcurtain strand 29nov2017
2012 beadcurtain strand, first in the series 24nov2017
2015 orange beadcurtain strand featuring yellow scrolling. 23nov2017
Rainbow beadcurtain featuring rainbow fused focal 30nov2017
2013 orange beadcurtain strand 24nov2017
2016 fuchsia beadcurtain strand with gold-fuming 23nov2017
2016 orange beadcurtain strand 21nov2017
Pink & green bead curtain strand
2017 entry into the orange beadcurtain project 20nov2017
green and pink bead curtain strand featuring Peggy Prielozny's beads. 20sep2017
new bead curtain strand in amber 19sep2017
golden green beadcurtain strand with fuming & dichro 26jun2017
bead curtain strand in romantic colours. 15mar2016
failure and fave: 5th in a series of 18" mini-beadcurtain strands 29jan2016
mini-beadcurtain strand has a somewhat insectile appearance. 28jan2016
Third in a series of mini beadcurtain strands. 27jan2016
Another brown mini-beadcurtain strand. 26jan2016
First in a series of 5 `mini' 18inch bead curtain strands 25jan2016
Annual Tidy Studio pic... 30mar2015
Green and amber beadcurtain strand unites several legacy styles. 11jan2015
2nd in a (sub) series of orange beadcurtain strands strung in 2015. (For Frances.) 07jan2015
2014 beadcurtain strand featuring autumn oranges, yellows and acid yellows is delivered on the 12th day of xmas, amongst temps in the teens and snow. 06jan2015
It always amazes when others see beauty in my failures. 24jan2020
Custom bead strand based on black, white & CiM sherwood green. Created 18nov2013. 27mar2015
Tidy studio, circa 2008. 08mar2013
An old page from 19may2012 features an equally old beadcurtain strand photographed 29may2012. 14nov2017
Vicky Haider found my bead curtain instructions and successfully used them to decorate some antique brackets. Lovely. Originally posted 28mar07. 28mar2007
Bead curtain 2.0: after we moved, I added another 20 strands or so, washed off the accumulated dust and reshot. The pix aren't that great, which is why it took me so long to put 'em up, but they're the best I've managed to date. Originally posted 27mar07 27mar2007
subindex for 5 examples of 2006 bead curtain strands . Individually, they're not very impressive, which perhaps will encourage people who think they can't make one of these thing that they can. And the next set of links, below, tells you how. Originally posted 26jul–04aug06. 18oct2006
purple strand, originally posted 04aug06. 04aug2006
pink bead curtain strand, originally posted 25jul06. 25jul2006
blue strand, originally posted 03aug06. 03aug2006
green bead curtain strand, originally posted 28jul06. 28jul2006
fuschia bead curtain strand, originally posted 26jul06. 26jul2006
red bead curtain strand, originally posted 27jul06. 27jul2006
Some tips on making your own. I actually start at the bottom, so the following three links are in order: finishing the bottom , step by step design decisions for a single bead curtain strand, and making the top loop. Posted 01, 04, and 01apr06, respectively. Oh, and here's an earlier, and I'm...
The first post 05may2006
Mini-curtain 11apr06 11apr2006
the original beaducrtain page:) 22may2004
`Bead Curtain' is the term I use for multi-strand lengths of beadwork I typically hang in windows to catch the light. Those of you who have visited butterfly houses and the like may have noticed the strands of heavy chains in doorways that serve to keep the butterflies safely inside. Originally–...
file created 05may06; updated 18oct06
[1]Originally, this phrase was ‘Oriental Exoticness’; then I added the parenthetical disclaimer; now I've changed the phrase, though this footnote is for people who are wondering about what this page used to say. Also, as I now understand it, bead curtains actually serve a purpose: to help keep insects out of rooms in warm climates; that is, they serve as a coarse screen back in the days when weaving—and wire—were prohibitively expensive. You now see the same thing in butterfly houses and the like, which allow people to pass easily, but keep the critturs safely in their warm greenhouse.
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
