If you are wanting to upgrade parts of your early period kit, I cannot recommend enough that you consider trying something beyond "absolute" symmetry in your strands of beads for certain times and places. Why? Because often what we see is not a grouping of beads where the left and right sides of the strand can mirror each other identically. Frequently the beads in a single find are a scattering of types and styles.
Celtic finds, Migration Period, Viking Age... so many periods were the beads seem to be valued for their uniqueness, rather than "matching" in a mirroring sort of way. In some collections we see a possibility for balance in the stringing (we often do not know exactly how they were strung during life, and many reconstructions opt for at least balance in the overall look if exact symmetry is not possible), but not that mirroring effect.
I know that my first Viking strands were always painfully symmetrical, and they never really looked "right" to me. I was definitely over engineering. I am happier with the things that I make now, where I let different beads speak to me and get included for what each one brings to my mind.
Below are some examples of extant groupings of beads that show off balance (with out absolute symmetry) and and some collections that really are a delightfully chaotic mix of things that seem to speak more to me of the people and places from which these items came.
Many museums have beads online and its sometimes worth it to just spend hours surfing until inspiration hits (unimus.no, National Museum of Denmark, Saxon beads are also easy to track down... heck, this is the one time I am actually going to recommend surfing the hated Pinterest for inspiration).
Honestly? I would LOVE to see more of this type of work, these things that make the piece unique, in the modern world as well.
Celtic finds, Migration Period, Viking Age... so many periods were the beads seem to be valued for their uniqueness, rather than "matching" in a mirroring sort of way. In some collections we see a possibility for balance in the stringing (we often do not know exactly how they were strung during life, and many reconstructions opt for at least balance in the overall look if exact symmetry is not possible), but not that mirroring effect.
I know that my first Viking strands were always painfully symmetrical, and they never really looked "right" to me. I was definitely over engineering. I am happier with the things that I make now, where I let different beads speak to me and get included for what each one brings to my mind.
Below are some examples of extant groupings of beads that show off balance (with out absolute symmetry) and and some collections that really are a delightfully chaotic mix of things that seem to speak more to me of the people and places from which these items came.
Many museums have beads online and its sometimes worth it to just spend hours surfing until inspiration hits (unimus.no, National Museum of Denmark, Saxon beads are also easy to track down... heck, this is the one time I am actually going to recommend surfing the hated Pinterest for inspiration).
Honestly? I would LOVE to see more of this type of work, these things that make the piece unique, in the modern world as well.
Birka 971... definitely balance was sought after here, but the beads themselves do not show absolute symmetry in size or type from left to right. Also, this one does something else I love, which a large grouping of a single color of bead and a few in the center that really are shown well because of the arrangment.
Eidem, Norway. Again, we have attempts at balance in that the largest are in the center and similar shapes go up the sides, but absolute symmetry is lacking. I find that this type of necklace invites me in to a try to learn more about it.
12th Century Novgorod - I love this. LOVE this. This could well have been a valued collection where each piece perhaps represented a milestone or precious gift to the wearer. The is beautiful as it is, even with its colorful chaos.
Pagal Lady of Peel necklace - Viking Age. This one is very famous and is absolutely not symmetrical. There is everything to love about it.
Anglo Saxon beads from Sarre - there is symmetry in terms of shape attempted in some of these, but others are just glorious representations of lives lived. Several have balance in the arrangement, but a couple are just wonderfully random.
This is a necklace I made for myself that is comprised of early Celtic types of beads. I did not attempt symmetry and honestly, could not love this more than I already do. It is completely unique.
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