How did natives make their beads?
It is a question we often hear from visitors to the museum. The beads featured are made of clay, one of the easiest materials to use for bead making.
Each tribe had access to different types of clay, so the particulars of the process varied.
Fine quality clay that could be found in the Southwest could be made into delicate,detailed beads and survive a higher temperature firing process, making them strong. Clay in the Outer Banks, however, contains so much salt that beads would have to be large to survive the lowest temperature firing process.
Once the clay was harvested and processed for use, the beads were formed around a thin, clean twig.
If the clay was of fine quality, the beads could be removed from the twig after being air-dried. Lower qualities of clay were left on the twig as they went into the firing; the twig would burn away and leave the bead behind.
