Gerdan

Gerdan is one of the most fun items I worked with involving seed beads. It’s like you beading but with the LOOM!

However, loom weaving is an adaption of the ancient technique beading technique that was actually used to make the necklaces-amulets.

Gerdan is a Turk word from a nation living in the southern region of Ukraine. Gerdan is essentially a rope, or a necklace, made from seed beads and beads put on the string or horse hair. The theory is that it was sewn to the warrior’s clothes for protection, and only later in the centuries was this amulet transformed into traditional women’s necklaces. In addition, some tribes called gardens something embroidered on the shirt around the neckline to the chest, commonly used as a protection in pagan and pagan-like cultures. The ornament generally is geometric and symmetrical.
Before the middle of the XV century, Eastern Slavs mainly purchased their seed beads from Byzantine along with anything having seed beads on it, like jewelry, trims, and clothes; however, the masters were able to develop their style and developed the skill set and guilds to work with seed beads pretty fast even without various production options available to them. In addition, they used pearls and semiprecious stones in their crafts for religious and decorative purposes.
Interestingly, the beads’ most desired color was green, as Slvs believed that this color represented wealth.
Below is the video on how I make my Gerdans. This way is modernized, as I use the loom, which is not traditional. Traditionally that would be a square stitch.

References:

G. L. Ganina. “Seed Beads in Ukranian costume: Tradition and modern times.” 2018.

G. L. Ganina. “Seed Beads as Objects in museum collections.” 2020.

Ukranian Language Dictionary. Science. 2010-2022

Rus beads. 2023. https://mednolit.com/busy-na-rusi