I have just been mesmerized with Eye Beads lately. I wrote all about my obsession with them on my glass bead blog. You can read the entire article on eye beads here. But here’s the part I adore about Eye Beads:
“Eye beads are meant to offer protection. Think of the third eye in Indian culture. The eye bead for protection is also really popular in Greece, Armenia and in Egypt. I’ve always been fascinated with Egyptian eyes and looked at lots of Egyptian artwork to come up with the background colors for that bead above. I also researched Egyptian symbolism to figure out what to put on the back.
I found out that a squared off version of a swirl… an image prevalent in all human art since the caveman era … stands for home. What a better thing to offer protection over than home!”
So, the obsession continues… I’ve had several requests for blue backgrounds with gold accents – a common color in Egyptian art. But… blue and yellow don’t really play well in glass. There’s always a weird green halo that my own eye really dislikes.
Both beads were made free hand in a loose eye shape. I covered both with a variety of blue glasses, both opaque and transparent. Each was wrapped with goldstone and feathered. Then I built the eye with murrini from my friend and very talented glass artist, Janel Dudley.
About the First Bead: Traditional dark eyelid, the goldstone does not sparkle much on this one. There is an Egyptian symbol for “home” on the back in goldenrod stringer. 28 mm hole to hole x 24 mm wide. $55.00
About the 2nd Bead: I really like the goldstone in this bead…it really sparkles! It was the first one I’ve made with a lighter colored (ivory) eye lid and the first time I attempted to place “eyeliner” UNDER the lid. The back side is plain with only the goldstone feathering showing. 29 mm hole to hold x 23 mm wide. $55.00
