Peking glass, also known as Beijing glass, is a type of handcrafted glass that originated in China. Starting in the 18th century, it is made from a unique ‘lamp working’ technique.

I discovered them when I collected vintage sewing baskets. (what don’t I collect?) The ones from China always had a few of these beads attached to the middle of the lid with tassels for good measure.. They were often made as a substitute for gemstones.

Making the bead.

You take a metal tube, cut it to the length you want the bead to be….introduce it to a flame then heat the end of a glass rod and wrap that around the tube. Then reintroduce it back to the flame, rotating it until the glass spreads to both ends of the tube. It was one of the first things I did in my jewelry history. It takes some skill. I succeeded 1 out of 5 times to get a single bead so they are labor intensive.

Apatite and Amethyst stones hug the bead making it compact. A decent amount of bang for the buck.

Measures approximately 1.5” long from the top of the 14 karat gold fill ear wire.