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Venetian Glass Trade Beads – A 15-Year Adventure with Rosanna Falabella
August 4 @ 11:00 am - 4:00 pm
Speaker: Rosanna Falabella
Presentation:
In 2009 Rosanna fell in love with Venetian glass beads during a visit to the Picard Trade Bead Museum in Carmel – an event that led to 15 years of studying, researching, collecting, selling, designing and just having fun with these antiques from the “hey-days” of the African trade era.
This presentation will take you through a short history of glass, glass beads, and how Venice became a powerhouse of bead production. She’ll show examples of the colors, designs and shapes of beads made by the Venetians, along with many examples of how she “wears her collection” by composing necklaces of antique Venetian beads.
She’ll conclude with some of the “lessons learned” as she navigated the world of antique and collectible beads, including where she shops, how to access information about antique Venetian beads, and how to connect with other collectors. She’ll also show examples of copies of Venetian beads from around the world and tips on how to tell them from the originals.
Come join us for a special Member’s Day Celebration at the Albany Community Center! We will start the morning with some beading and socializing time from 11:00 to 1:00. At 1:00 we will have the pleasure of a presentation by Rosanna Falabella, bead historian and collector.
Antique Bead Road Show: During the day, Rosanna has agreed to identify members’ mysterious beads! This will happen on a first come, first served basis. Be sure to sign up when you arrive if you have beads you’re curious about. Spaces are limited.
As usual, we will have coffee and tea available. Please bring food to share.
Speaker Bio: Rosanna has been a beaded jewelry hobbyist for 25 years and a bead collector and researcher for 15 years. She mainly collects antique glass Venetian and Czech beads, with a smattering of other ancient and antique beads from around the world. Most of her research has involved the history of faux amber and coral plastic beads made in Europe for the African trade. She fell into the niche area of plastic beads based on her education and career in polymer science, which gave her a good foundation for the study of beads made from the “historical” plastics such as Bakelite and Celluloid.
Rosanna has published 11 articles, mostly on the origins of beads made from synthetic materials and cement. She has given presentations on her work at four different bead societies and a rock club (!), and at the 2019 Mini Bead Symposium at the Sonoran Glass School in Tucson. She served as the editor of The Bead Forum, the newsletter of the Society of Bead Researchers, from 2020 – 2022.
Rosanna holds a B.S. in Chemistry, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering, all from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
DATE: August 4, 11am to 4pm. This is a special BSNC Member Appreciation, come and bead with us at 11am and see Rosanna Falabella speak at 1pm
COST: Free
To prepare, please go to https://zoom.us/ and follow the directions to access Zoom®. Sadly, BSNC can not provide tech support.
Please RSVP to judysinclair@beadsocietyofnorcal.org. She will send out the Zoom meeting information prior to each class/speaker event and follow up with a reminder email. Spaces are limited, so please RSVP early.