Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1911 — Italian Beads. [ARTICLE]

Italian Beads.

A girl who has just come back from Italy wore around her neck over a dark blouse a necklace of rope gold tied loosely at the bust line and finished with two long tassels. ■ Every one who saw this chain spoke of its beauty, thinking it an heirloom. The chain was nothing but a rope of tiny gilt glass beads bought in Venice for about 40 cents. “I am sorry now,” she said, “that I did not get more of them. I brought one for a friend, and we have both had the same experience. Every one thinks it one of the old gold chains of colonial days. Over there they are so plentiful that it cheapened the chain to my/own mind.” The friend.’ who was up in bead work, straightway copied this chain for herself. She strung twelve strands of coarse yellow silk with the tiniest gilt beads to be found in this country, twisted them into a tightly coiled rope and finished the end with a big gold bead, from which bung tassels of the small ones. The effect was not so good as in the Venetian chain, for the same delicate beads could not be found, but a showy and unusual ornament was achieved to brighten a dark blouse.