...inspired by ancient spirits
Trade Beads with Scrimshaw by Walker Goldsmiths is dear to my Scrimshaw loving heart. Many years ago when we were first starting in this jewelry business I would create Scrimshaw pieces on Ivory that Owen would set in silver or gold. The best material to scrim on is fossil mastodon […] Read more »
Trade Beads …Salish Sea with White Caps, Necklace and Earrings set was a joy to make here at Walker Goldsmiths. Creating this trade bead necklace design had me remembering my childhood chasing around in little speedboats on the Salish Sea. I grew up on the Tulalip Reservation in Port […] Read more »
Trade Bead Elegance, ancient authentic Trade Beads collected and strung by Janet Walker. This beautiful composition was wonderful fun to string up. The center Venetian Red faceted bead is the fantastic centerpiece. The interesting story about these ancient Red Venetian Glass beads, other than individually made and hand faceted by little […] Read more »
Walker Goldsmiths was called upon to make a custom Handcarved Sterling Silver Eagles with Trade Beads Necklace for a friend of our friend, Monica Decker, at Crazy Wolf Gallery in Ketchikan, AK. Monica wanted to know if Owen was willing to carve these 1 inch Sterling Eagles for earrings. and […] Read more »
Walker Goldsmiths created this little Sterling Silver Hummingbird with Cobalt Trade Beads as a gift for someone who loves Hummingbirds. I called it “Summer Memories.” The Trade Beads used are the famous Russian Blues that have such a colorful and rich history. The additional beads are faceted Blue Lace Agates, Cobalt […] Read more »
Walker Goldsmiths has made some Trade Bead Bracelets. We have an extensive collection of antique beads used during the Fur Trade Era in the Pacific Northwest, from Russian Siberia over to Alaska and down into all the North American Continent, that are beautiful and oozing with history. These beads are not […] Read more »
Here at Walker Goldsmiths I love to create Trade Bead Jewelry especially with Prehistoric Artifacts, because Trade Beads are themselves artifacts from bygone eras. That’s not to say that they aren’t collected and sold and traded today, but they are more a beautiful historic curiosity than a currency of sorts. […] Read more »
I display Trade Beads on our Walker Goldsmiths website to introduce the collections that are for sale and to highlight some wonderful history. I can say that each necklace that I’ve created is a collection of authentic antique beads with amazing histories. The posts here on Walker Goldsmiths and on activeartist.net […] Read more »
Both Owen and I at Walker Goldsmiths are nuts about Trade Beads. We’ve been collecting, learning, trading and creating jewelry with trade beads for over 40 yrs. We’ve seriously focused on faceted Cobalt Blue Russians because we love the […] Read more »
More interest about one of my favorite subjects, Trade Beads, is always a treat for me. I’ve received quite a few questions about Trade Beads in the last few months and have determined that we really need a blog post about them on Walker Goldsmiths not just on Active Artists . […] Read more »