How time flies …

Published: Tuesday, 09 February 2016 11:02

Significant birthday for a bead worker from Vysoké nad Jizerou

Seed beads have been a significant part of this region in the foothills of the Jizera Mountains since time immemorial. Mrs Milada Bažantová, who has been loyal to Vysoké nad Jizerou all her life, is celebrating her ninetieth birthday today and colleagues from Preciosa Ornela went to wish her well. After all, this vivacious lady has dedicated a quarter of a century to stringing seed beads.

The stringing machine which she has used every day is one hundred years old. She was introduced to this work by her mother, who also strung seed beads. She later taught sewing and cooking at a specialist girls’ school for 23 years. Nowadays, not many people are able to string seed beads using twelve needles at once, but Mrs Bažantová is still able to do this despite her venerable age. Until the end of last year, she even used to go and pick up the seed beads herself and carry them home in her backpack. Now, her grandson gets them for her. She still works, albeit only part-time. She goes through twenty five kilograms of seed beads in just two weeks.