Bead Dictionary Letter D

Introduction

In the late 1990s, Penny Diamanti, Joyce Diamanti and Robert K. Liu started working on a Bead Dictionary. Around 2009, after much work by the Diamantis, the Bead Dictionary was posted on the Beadazzled website. Through the years, additions were made by Beadazzled. In the summer of 2018, when the Washington DC Beadazzled store and its website closed, the Bead Dictionary was offered to Ornament. This is a unique resource, especially rich for information on beads of ethnographic and ancient origins. As Ornament has only a staff of three, we are slowly reposting it on our website, updating or expanding some of the entries and are adding search features, links and references as time permits. The Bead Dictionary covers primarily beads and other perforated ornaments, but also tools and materials used by those who make jewelry utilizing beads. Photographs from the Ornament archives are being added, as well as new images taken expressly for the Bead Dictionary and others are being brought up to current standards, as many of these images are almost 30 years old. Original photography was by Robert K. Liu, while Cas Webber did additional photos for Beadazzled, noted in the captions as RKL or CW, after first captions.

This Dictionary of Beads is a labor of love and a work in progress. We welcome your comments and suggestions through the Contact link. To navigate, select from the visual index above to jump to the letter you want in the Dictionary, but give the page a little time to load first. To get back to the top and select another letter use the arrow button. We are continuously adding to the Dictionary, so check back often. 

To search for keywords in Dictionary headings, use your browser's search function; for example in Internet Explorer use Control+F and in Apple Command+F, then type in your keyword. We hope you enjoy this (not-so-tiny) treasure, and learn more about the vast world of Beads.

Dentalium Shell

Dickey, Kay

Dogon Donuts

Don Don Sole

Don Don Sole is a trade name for Czech molded glass beads and pendants that were traded to Africa. Some of the ones shown in the photograph are stylized feline claws.

See also: Fulani Wedding Beads, Bohemian Pressed Glass

Donkey Beads

Faience, the first synthetic silicate, was made almost exclusively for ornaments and amulets. It dates to the 5th millennium BC and is much older then glass, which arose about 1,500 BC. Other than the cylindrical and disk beads that are still made in Qourna, Egypt, possibly the only large faience beads being produced today are made in Qom, Iran. Known primarily to Westerners as “donkey beads,” these large, usually spherical beads are a brilliant blue. They are true faience beads, glazed by the cementation method, whereby the beads are first formed, then covered in the glazing powder and fired. Afterwards, the beads or other articles are broken free of this enveloping material. Their cores may consist of either steatite or quartz granules.

Recent photographs by German researchers have shown how such beads are made. A roll of the faience mixture is placed on a grooved board, then a matching corrugated board is pushed down on the mixture. As this tool is pulled back and forth, spherical beads are formed.

An array of faience amulets is also made by the Qom workshops. All such faience items are considered protection against the “Evil Eye,” and not only are these amulets worn by people, they are also hung on animals and vehicles.

Donut

See: Pi

Dorje

The dorje (Tibetan) or vajra (Sanskcrit) represents a thunderbolt, an important symbol in Buddhism; it is often made as an item of jewelry in metal and strung on necklaces or malas.

Drawn Cable Chain

Chain consisting of links that are oval shaped or almost rectangular, rather than round.

Drawn Glass Beads

Drawn Glass Trade Beads

Many beads in the world-wide trade are made of cane beads, ranging from Indo-Pacific beads made in India to those of European manufacture. You can see how various heat treatments of cane beads can produce a variety of shapes, as seen in image to left.

Druks

Druks are pressed glass beads made by the Czech glass industry.

See Also: Pressed Glass Beads

Dumortierite

Dumortierite most commonly occurs in a midnight blue shade, but can also be violet-blue or red-brown. Brazil, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Canada, Poland, France, Namibia and the United States all produce dumortierite. The dark blue tones are a nice, much less expensive alternative to lapis lazuli in jewelry making.

Dumortierite assists with memory retention. Use this stone if you are a student expected to memorize large amounts of material in a short amount of time.

9/27/2009 : 9/27/2009 modified

Dustin, Kathleen

Dustin, Kathleen

Kathleen Dustin is one of the pioneers of polymer jewelry and a world famous artist, known for her wide range of art. She has now retired from selling her own work at craft shows and is working with Samunnat, a Nepalese collective helping women to earn a living through making polymer jewelry. See Ornament 43(4), 2023: 28-33.

See Also: Warring States Beads—Glass Imitations

dZi Bead Imitations

Dzi beads are a much valued etched stone bead type in the Himalayas, although now sought after in many Asian countries with Buddhist populations. Thus real ones often were very expensive and were in the recent past the subject of financial speculation. Naturally, imitations were made, in stone, glass, plastic and even metal.

See Also: dZi Beads Pumtek Beads Etched Carnelian Beads

dZi Beads