Varanasi Glass Beads are a type of handmade glass beads that are traditionally crafted in the city of Varanasi, in Uttar Pradesh. These beads have a rich history and are an integral part of Indian culture and craftsmanship. The glass bead is complete handicraft work in which molten glass is rolled over a thick metal wire/stick of high melting point.
Handmade lamp-worked glass bead is a miniature work of art made of glass. Glass beads making is a handicraft with minimum intervention of hand held tools. The size, shape and design of a glass bead depend upon the specifications of the master glass bead.
However, technically the glass beads can be classified in the following three categories:
- Solid Glass Beads - mostly used in preparing artistic show pieces and ornaments.
- Hollow Glass Beads - used for ornaments, wall hangings, curtains and other such items.
- Fancy Glass Beads - used for embroidery, ornaments and other artistic items.
Varanasi is well-known for many decades for glass beads making. Mostly beads are made of glass but it could be made of anything like metal, stone, ivory, ceramic, hide, bone, horn or even plastic. The glass blocks, rods and tubes and ceramic colours are the main raw materials.
Firozabad, Purdilnagar and Jaipur are the other beads making centres in India. Firozabad and Purdilnagar glass beads are furnace made and therefore the through hole into the beads are quite broader to the Varanasi glass beads where the glass beads through hole is uniform and quite narrow in comparison to other beads.
Lamp-working is a technique applied in the beads glasswork that uses an oil fuel burner/torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and coloured glass. Once in a molten state, the glass beads are made shaping them with a variety of tools and hand movements. It is also known as flame-working or torch-working.
The flames of only hydrocarbon fuel run lamps are used in glass beads making and no furnace is used. The glass beads making is a complete handicraft where the intervention of held tools is minimal. No two glass beads are identical as they are made by hands only but even then have striking similarity
Glass Beads are used as decorative items in garland, hand band, ear rings, finger rings and beads are stitched in decorative manner on garments like jeans, tops, skirts, blouse and frock and to decorate anything like ladies purses, hand bags and other handicraft items and even bangles are made using beads.
GI Tag Registration Date : 10 November 2016
GI Tag Number : 177
Certificate Number : 276
Geographical Area : Uttar Pradesh
Special Cover Release Date : 13 October 2021
Cancellation : Varanasi 221 002
Type : GI Tag Cover
Cover Identification Number : UP/99/2021
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