Last night I attended a presentation by internationally-renowned pioneer beadmaker and bead history enthusiast Tom Holland, organized by the Glass Shoppe Studio and the OGBA. First of all, I still can't believe how big and active the beadmaking community is here! There were at least 50 people at this lecture. Secondly, I was blown away by how much I still didn't know about glass beads. Thirdly, Tom Holland is fabulous and adorable.
I missed the first part of the lecture because of slow buses and me being slow in figuring out the exact location. But I was there in time to hear Tom talk about ancient beads with the eye of a beadmaker, reverse-engineering them and explaining the techniques and tools that would have been used, and his theories on trade and influence between beadmaking cultures.
For example, it took him 5 years to figure out how to make this Islamic Folded Bead! Without thinking about it, I would have guessed that this bead was made with twisted cane, but no - it was folded from a thin disk.
His enthusiasm about ground murrine chevron beads and chevron-esque beads was cool, but then when we got to see his own work (and the work of his equally reknowned partner, Sage) it really hit home. His work, and especially the lapidary-faceted work, was just stunning. And we were only seeing what was left over after several days of teaching and visiting in Toronto and Ottawa!
It was also really humbling to hear the story of this cool pioneer who built his own torch and struggled to develop brand-new techniques with no teachers or resources other than his collection of ancient beads. These are techniques that we all take for granted now as beadmakers, but only because artists and teachers like Tom and Sage and a handful of others in the 80s and 90s opened the doors.
For more on Tom Holland's local classes (which I sadly can't even consider taking during our big move as money is too tight) check out Lise's blog PERLES DE VERRE (in French, translated through Google Translate - I love how they translated the name Sage into Wise!)
