The most ancient method for manufacturing glass beads considered pulling. This procedure consists of extracting from the crucible heated filament mass and wrap it on the wire, the diameter of which corresponds to the size of the openings of the future beads. Cooled beads subjected to manual polishing. In this way, most likely, was manufactured discovered not far from Thebes glass bead, whose age is little more than five thousand years. Later began to blow from the beads drops heated mass by means of the tube, cut the resulting preform into pieces and grind them in a barrel with an abrasive mix. To further smooth the surface of the beads and the mixture was heated sand in rotating drums, after which the beads were washed and treated with polishing powder. With the advent of the second half of the XIX century, machines for making beads of its production process much simpler.
It is known that beads made in ancient Egypt, Rome, the Middle Ages became widespread beads made by Venetian masters. In the XVII century, became popular Czech beads, made of hard glass and crystal. Since the mid XX century, fame gets beads in Japan.