Wear it as it is – or -put your imagination into overdrive and let your creative juices do the talking – and start to create a Vintage inspired piece of jewellery with these beautiful cinnabar barrel beads.
Be it a necklace, a bracelet or a pair of eye-catching earrings – these blood red beads work well with silver, turquoise and black colours. Other colours too.
Although they are referred to as beads made from the cinnabar crystal - they’re actually not cinnabar at all – they’re lacquered resin. (See below for the Cinnabar story).
The wear-anytime 18x25mm collection of carved Siam Red coloured cinnabar beads allow for optimum creativity and will temper exciting jewellery prospects – ethnic-style or plain Jane.
Combine them with your growing hoard of beads you have in your jewellery-making bead box!!
They work well on a key ring too. The beads work out to be $1.50 each, plus postage.
Regardless, these cinnabar beads – which weigh in at 91 grams will provide the astute beader and artisan a challenge and the perfect opportunity to create on an unparalleled scale.
The accompanying photos illustrate exactly what to expect in your order.
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The Cinnabar Story – and a little bit more ...
Genuine cinnabar is actually a blood-red mineral stone which has been prized for its rich Siam red pigment ever since the 10th millennium BC.
It was later capitalised by the Romans who, who like the Chinese, used the powdered cinnabar pigment in pottery glazes and art, while the women of the day preferred to use the rich red substance as a cosmetic – becoming a form of lipstick.
However, over time, the people of the day began to realise this beautiful stone also contained high levels of toxicity due to its high mercury content.
It became dangerous for those who mined, processed and used the pigment; inhaling the poisonous mercury fumes affected the neurological functions of the body which, in many cases, led to a premature death, or at the very least, a shortened life expectancy.
With those days long gone, it was the Chinese who perfected the manufacturing of cinnabar beads and pendants, which have become so popular today.
Initially, they would apply a special coloured lacquer – the sap from a tree - layer upon layer to specially carved pieces of wood.
Today – the process is slightly different. Hot coloured resin (instead of the tree sap) is poured into carefully carved design molds and allowed to set; the process is repeated again and again, until the desired thickness and texture is reached.
Although the process and material used has changed in modern times, the cinnabar namesake has remained intact.