Phoenician Glass Head Bead Reproduction by Jhan A. Knebel

Phoenician Head Bead Recreation
A photograph of the original piece I used as my inspiration can be seen on page 48 in The History of Beads by Lois Sherr Durbin.

Pendant Bead
Phoenician Glass Head Bead
450-300 BC

About the Piece

I made this bead as a personal challenge. Phoenician Head Beads are some of the most difficult beads to reproduce. These beads are very detailed, and require careful work in the flame to avoid melting the features too far into the glass. This bead is my first attempt at creating a Phoenician Head bead. The head beads could have been seen as an advanced eye bead, carrying more power by recreating the entire head, rather than just the eyes. (Dubin, 48)

Production Method

This style of bead is produced by using a hot-head torch and MAPP gas. The light blue opaque glass is heated in the flame until molten and applied to a stainless steel mandrel coated in bead release (slip) to create the pendant loop. To this loop a large dot of light blue opaque glass is added and flatten with the marvering paddle to form the turban.

Next, the base of the face is created using an olive skin toned opaque glass. I then added his beard by adding opaque black glass to the base of the face. The black glass was then flattened with the marver and the lines suggesting hair were pressed into the bead.

I created the recessed areas for the eyes next by pressing a raking tool into the face. I then layered the eyes with opaque black, opaque white and opaque black again using the same technique used for eye beads.

Next I added the moustache in black and the mouth in olive skin toned glass. I then added the nose, eyebrows and forehead dot. I added his hair next, and the ears were added last.

The beads are placed in a fiber blanket for cooling. They will be annealed once I either purchase or gain access to a kiln. I am happy with the results, however some of the hair around the turban cracked off during the cooling process. Also, I did not notice the white earrings on the original piece until after I had completed my reproduction. I look forward to creating more of this style bead, however I will wait until I have access to a kiln to do so.

In period, this bead was created on a core of sand and clay. Once completed and cooled, the sand and clay core was scraped out of the bead. I did not use this technique for this bead, as I have not determined how the sand and clay core would have been attached to the mandrel. Also, a kiln powered by a wood fire and bellows was used. However, I have not had the location available to build a period kiln.

Resources

Dubin, Lois Sherr. The History of Beads. New York: Harry N Abrams; 1987