New Year's decorations made of beads in the Czech Republic are handmade
As Radio Prague writes, the village of Poniklá in the Krkonoše Mountains is the only place on the planet where blown glass Christmas tree ornaments are born, each created by the hands of local craftsmen. Under the hands of masters and craftswomen, beads turn into angels, Christmas stars, figures of people and animals – it is impossible to list everything, because experts in their field can make more than 20 thousand types of Christmas ornaments from beads and bugles.
"First, beads are blown in a tube. These continuous ribbons are silvered, painted, then cut into individual beads. Some are additionally painted to later form decorations strung on wire," explains Marek Kulhavý, owner of the company Rautis, whose history dates back to the beginning of the 20th century, when in 1902 local entrepreneur Stanislav Horna opened his glass bead workshop in Poniklá.
Anyone who visits the factory in Poniklá can try their hand at this craft. For example, make a Christmas star with their own hands. "This is a simple star. It is made according to the pattern you see before you. First, choose eight small beads from the box, then take 16 small glass bugle beads. Now prepare tubes of three balls – you also need 16 of them. First, string 8 small beads onto the wire," says Soňa Václavíková, helping visitors to the factory feel like real masters of the glass "toy business."
More than one generation of Poniklá residents has been engaged in making unique Christmas decorations, and over the last hundred years the technology has hardly changed. Previously, such "beadwork" was done by entire families – from children to grandparents. Today, about thirty residents of the village make Christmas ornaments, half of them working from home – this is true handwork.
Dozens of boxes, in which Christmas beads jingle, are sent from the Krkonoše to fairs in Prague, Brno, České Budějovice. But ornaments from Poniklá are not only there – they fly literally all over the world: "To Germany, America, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Russia," Marek Kulhavý lists with pride.
This craft deserves a place on the UNESCO World Heritage list, believe the Turnov Museum and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, which intend to fight for this honorable right. Why is this so important? "It will allow us to get sufficient support and develop further, and it will help protect the technology from significant changes," explains the director of the Turnov Museum, Vladimíra Jakouběová. Whether this unique Czech Christmas craft will be included in the prestigious UNESCO list will become clear in the first months of next year.
Initially, blown glass beads and bugles were made for costume jewelry, beads were used to embroider clothing, and only at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, with the emergence of the tradition of decorating a coniferous tree for Christmas in these places, it turned out that beads look great on a Christmas tree, and such decorations became incredibly popular.
A glass tube was heated over a fire, the glassblower blew air into it, and a bubble-bead appeared. A good master was able to blow 200-300 dozen beads a day. "It takes at least six months to learn how to blow glass, and the flame temperature must be at least 750 degrees," reminds Soňa Václavíková.
The year 1876 was fateful for the craft, when a machine with a mold for making beads was invented, also by forcing air into the glass. In one cycle, 2 to 8 beads could be made simultaneously in the mold, and when the heating process was improved, the number of beads increased to 36. Air was no longer supplied by mouth, but with the help of bellows. In addition, this made it possible to make beads of the same size, which simplified the process of their further use in the product.
Today, the production process of glass beads remains the same as more than a century ago – the same glass blowing machine and mold. Only the burners have changed – instead of kerosene, they run on gas. However, the result of the work, as a hundred years ago, entirely depends on the talent of the master.