Question:
I am in a medieval re-enactment society and am searching for any books
or articles on bead embroidery, bead needle work, or bead making of
European area in 500-1600 a.d. I do extensive teaching, I do have some
resources referring to pictures or methods, but I know there is more out
there. We have embroiders, loomers, and lampworkers amost other types...
We have many people getting into this, most bead societies in the states
only deal in the short 200 years of the US, when you ask about Medieval
work, they say" Medieval, like Medieval America?" No. There was no
Medieval America. Only Early or Ancient America.
Someone out the must know of some publications/books whatever that deal,
even in part, with medieval beads and beadwork.
Answer:
-I think this came up before and the explanation for the lack of
materials for inspiration is that in Medieval times beads weren't worn
for jewelry, but mostly as ornamentation on clothing.
I don't know much more than that. BUT, if you want it badly enough,
you'll surely find a way!! Remember, if you can't find it, then
IMPROVISE!!!
Cookie aka Beadmonster on AOL
-I know this isn't much, but this is what Britannica On-line
has to say about beading in the Middle Ages.
During the Middle Ages, when embroidery was an important
art form, beads sometimes were used in the finest
embroidery work. The magnificent Butler-Bowden cope, a long
ecclesiastical vestment (English, c. 1330; Victoria and
Albert Museum, London), was elaborately embellished with
seed pearls and green beads. Examples of beadwork of a
purely pictorial, rather than decorative, nature also
survive from this period. A series of small portraits of
apostles executed entirely with coloured beads stitched to
a vellum backing are believed to have come from the
Halberstadt (Germany) cathedral and may have been inspired
by small contemporary Byzantine mosaics.
