Beads are an important part of a woman's attire in Nepal. Hindu women in Kathmandu go to a small alley in Indrachowk called the pote bazaar. Pote, pronounced potay, are worn by married women. A wedding pote might be very long, worn like a sash that hangs to one's hip.
A golden tilauri bead in the middle of a pote necklace is a symbol very much like the gold wedding ring in the west. It is always a spiky bead, but it does vary a little in length and design. Below is a sterling silver tilauri bead that we sell on our web site aworldofgood.com
Surprisingly, although Muslims don't wear pote, most of the shopkeepers selling them in the pote bazaar are Kashmiri Muslims. When necklaces are almost finished, the bead stringer will have several threads between his toes and something that looks like a little drop spindle in his hand. So quickly that my eye can not comprehend, he winds a thread around the several threads between his toes and finishes the necklace making a button hole loop on one end and attaching a brass button carved with a lotus on the other end.
I brought Tania here because they make beautiful woven bracelets for a fraction of what they would cost to produce in the USA and because it was on the way to Kathmandu Durbar Square. I will show you that square next time.
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| The pote bazaar at Indrachowk |
What beautiful beads here! Are they all hand-made?
ReplyDeleteHi Lakeviewer! The glass beads are machine made in India, China and Japan. The Kashmiri vendors bring them into Nepal. The Japanese glass beads are the most uniform in shape and color and are about 10 times the price of the beads made in other places. The already stranded beads are made into necklaces by hand. Also, the Tilauri bead is usually handmade by one of the many goldsmiths on the next street over from Pote Bazaar. The pote vendors do not make the tilauri beads but the do add them to the pote necklace.
ReplyDeleteOoo..neat blue beads. Nice work and photos! I see that smile below:))
ReplyDeleteA lot of beads! And so beautiful! It must be boggeling to have to make a choice. But I'll bet shopping is half the fun.
ReplyDeleteI could easily spend hours there!
ReplyDeletebutternut there are times when i wish i was a girl in another culture just so i could wear the beautiful pieces they make!!! steven
ReplyDeleteThis was facinating. Is it okay to touch the beads? It would be hard for me to not. Did you purchase any of the lotus buttons you talked about?
ReplyDeleteHi Lori,
ReplyDeleteNo problem touching the beads. I did purchase the lotus buttons and then I had a silver smith make them in sterling and I also had them made into little post earrings. But these days, the price of silver is so high that no one wants to pay $12 for a sterling silver button. I will still have them made for people if they ask.
I should say that most people don't want to pay that much. About a year ago I sold 3 giant sterling silver dragon buttons that were $150 each. He originally wanted them in gold!
ReplyDelete