This is the latest, a really nice iteration of the micro bead necklace craze. Here we have serpentine micro beads (2mm) combined with a lot of other very interesting and attractive shapes: tapered square cross section light green 25mm elongated beads, rounded cornered 7mm cube beads, and a very slightly puffy round centerpiece 27mm diameter
Want to know the story behind these beads? Read on...
Nearly 30 years ago an archeologist in Pakistan encouraged some of the digging crew to see if they could make tiny stone beads during the off season. He wanted to see how tiny ancient beads could have been made without modern power tools. The guys developed a system of powering a drill tipped with diamond dust with a bicycle. Now I know that bicycles didn't exist 3000 years ago, but wheels did, and were used for pumping water and grinding grain, so why not drilling holes in stone beads?
The archeologist has another motive too. If the tiny beads being excavated from the site could be reproduced, it would kill the black market for the ancient ones, and his site, and others, would be less likely to get looted in future.
It worked, and making micro beads in Pakistan and Afghanistan has become quite a little industry. These days they are using somewhat lower quality stone, sometimes dyed or treated for durability (lapis and turquoise are naturally quite soft stones) but the necklaces are still popular and affordable, considering the huge amount of work involved to make and string these tiny beads.
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