By Sandra J. Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler®

Picture a candy cane and you can picture a beading cane.  Different rods of glass are laid out together, the canes are pulled, cut and shaped.  In the picture to the right, the cane has been twisted so the colors swirl.

The original bead producing canes were made of glass. The simplest form is the white heart bead where a solid color is laid over a white center.

Cane beads became prominent in the 15th century with chevron and millifiori beads.  These two types of beads were made in Italy and exported for trade.  They were traded to the Africans for gold, other raw materials and slaves.  They were also traded to the Native Americans in exchange for pelts. 

The chevrons are probably the most famous trade beads.  They are composed of layers of different colored glass.  Typically, there were 7 layers of color in each bead.   Today's Indian chevrons are a poor substitute for the rich Italian chevron canes previously produced.

While today's chevrons may pale in comparison to those of the past, our furnace glass cane beads are superlative.

Today, beading cane is not exclusively made of glass.  Polymer clay artists also employ the cane technique to create everything from the plebian smiley faced beads to extremely sophisticated stained glass window designs.

I am talented in many ways, but glass working is not one of them.  Still, I wondered what it would he like to create a cane.  I bought 4 colors of polymer cane and created my own cane.  I patiently rolled my colors together and stretched them.  It was amazing to see the colors swirl together as the cane compressed with the pulling.  I then cut my cane, poked a hole in it and voila, cane beads appeared before my wondering eyes!