Ancient Roman Glass

I love working with ancient Roman glass beads. The irregular shapes and the worn milky translucent quality reminds me of natural beach glass. The colors are subtle and uniquely beautiful. It is a really interesting bead for my organic jewelry designs.

Here is a brief summary of its origin;

Ancient Roman glass beads are made from glass vessel fragments that have been recovered from a Roman glass-works rubbish heap along the Silk Road in Afghanistan. At the time of their manufacture, 500 B.C. to 1100 A.D., this was the area known as Bactria. The glass has been carefully reworked into usable jewelry parts and exhibits the interesting opal-like effects of being buried for approximately 2000 years.