Javanese Lampwork Beads

 
 

You might ever heard about lampwork beads, or flamework beads. It is a bead making technique using an open flame. Some people call the products also as handmade glass beads.


The technique practically came from europe since 14th century, and now you might find it quite easy to find a nice handmade glass bead, since China is already producing it years ago. So, you might find a very nice and good quality handmade beads made by talented artist but you can also find a quite nice handmade glass bead in a cheaper quality.













 

Javanese Lampwork Beads

But Javanese Lampwork beads are different. The traditional Javanese lampwork technique is using recycled glass as their main supply. The artist made their own glass rod from wounded glass, and use them to create beautiful pieces of glass beads. 

What interest me most when I visited Gudo District in Jombang, East Java, Indonesia, where hundreds of bead artisans live was they do everything in a very old fashion way. Although now  they use LPG gas to produce the flame since about 3 years ago, ( before they were using flames from oil stove) , I wonder how much tanks needed to supply the whole district, since it seems that everyone is doing it.  And other thing, they do not have kiln. They use a big sand-filled pan as a kiln, to maintain the temperature to reduce slowly so it won’t break the glass.

But the reasult is amazing. you can find  from modern style handmade glass beads, with 3 dimensional dot, to replica from the old beads from centuries ago. You can find african style of chevron, or milefiory style from Itali. Or even, you can ask them to make a beautiful flower with silver or gold lining bead, but of course they still have to import the gold paper.:-)