I fell in love with these Czech glass beads, called tablecut rectangles. Rather than sparkly like crystals, these beads attract me with their paint-like hues and opaque colors. There are variations from bead to bead; some have subtle streaks and swirls; others are swirled with milky and opalescent effects. The edges have brown or grey streaks to give a stone or mottled effect. It’s these flat tiles of color that inspired my “Tierra, Sol y Mar beadwork designs and kits.
At least one these (I think it’s the light purple) are from a factory that has now closed. I have been mourning the scarcity of my favorites ever since. It looked like it was time to get over my infatuation and move on to beads still in production. But over the weekend I discovered that Kahn-Fagan, one of the oldest and best vendors at the Culver City Bead Bazaar, still had these beads, as well as quite a few other colors! So over the next few months I’ll be featuring the tablecuts in the Tierra designs and some variations, including rings and earrings and a pendant or two.
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