Chevron beads are special glass beads, originally made by glassmakers in Italy beginning in the 13th century. The may also be referred to as Rosetti, or star beads. They are composed of many consecutive layers of colored glass which are then cut to show the resulting chevron pattern. Thses beads were particularly in demand for trade in African slaves, gold, ivory, palm oil and other tropical products, as well as for the North American fur trade.

Chevron beads are composed of many consecutive layers of colored glass. The initial core is formed from a molten ball of glass (called a "gather") removed from a furnace on the end of a blowpipe. If the glassworker is making beads, a bubble is inserted into the center of the gather via the blowpipe. (If the glassmaker is making solid multilayered cane for production of millefiori beads, the glass is worked without inserting a bubble in the center.) The gather with a bubble in the center is plunged into a star-shaped mold, which can have anywhere between five and fifteen points. Several layers of glass can be applied, returning to the mold as desired, to create either a star-shaped or smooth effect for each layer. After all layers have been applied, metal plates are affixed to the still-hot glass, which is "drawn" or stretched out into a long rod, called a "cane". The bubble at the center of the gather stretches with the cane and forms the hole in the bead. The diameter of the cane, and therefore of the resulting beads, is a function of the amount of glass in the original gather and how far the glass is drawn out. The cooled glass cane is then cut to show the resulting star pattern in cross-section, and may be beveled or ground to further reveal the characteristic chevrons. Chevron beads made for the African and North American trade are traditionally red, blue, and white. A smaller number of chevron beads were produced in other colors like green and yellow. Modern glassworkers are rediscovering the techniques for making star beads, which can now be found in any color combination.

Beadwork | Glass art