Ancient Egyptian Clothing Part 7 – Jewelry
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Beginning as long ago as the Pre-Dynastic period, jewelry was an important part of an ancient Egyptian’s costume. It was never seen as simply decoration, but as talismans to be worn in honor of the gods and to protect the wearer of the jewelry. Symbols were carved out of different materials and made into necklaces, bracelets, anklets, arm-bands, and headbands (http://www.egyptmonth.com). Powerful symbols were worn to infuse the wearer with the power of certain gods or goddesses. Some of the symbols used include the scarab for rebirth, the ankh for life, the nefer for beauty, and the eye of Horus for protection. These symbols were often combined into one piece of jewelry, imparting the magic of each symbol to the wearer (http://jewelry.lovetoknow.com).
It was not only the symbols of the gods and goddesses that were important to the ancient Egyptians. The materials were just as important as the symbols themselves. Each material was like a symbol in its own right. Materials were associated with deities, emotions and certain states of being. For example, the ancient Egyptian name for lapis lazuli, the deep blue stone so often used in ancient Egyptian jewelry, was the same word for “joy.” Thus wearing lapis lazuli would imbue the wearer with joy. The same thought process goes for a material associated with a god or goddess. Gold was associated with the solar deity, be he Atum, Amun-Ra, Aten, or Ra. Gold would sway the deity to protect the wearer of the gold jewelry (http://www.egyptmonth.com).
The Egyptians often used materials deemed in today’s culture to be semi-precious. Today’s culture considers a material to be precious or semi-precious based on its scarcity. The more precious a material is, the rarer it is. The ancient Egyptians did not hold these views on the materials they used. Each material was precious to them due to their magical powers. The same ideology was used in accordance to glass beads. Bead making had been around through much of the New Kingdom, but it was not until the 18th Dynasty (1550-1291 BC) that bead making became an art form
(http://www.mnsu.edu). 
Glass was not used to make containers, vases or bottles. Instead, glass was used as a substitute for the stones used in jewelry-making. While the actual stones may have been unattainable, due to rarity or expense, the use of glass beads did not cheapen the jewelry in the sense of its power. Indeed, the ancient Egyptians went to great lengths to make the glass look like the stone it was substituting. Some of their most precious materials, such as gold, were used to create the desired color. Gold, in this case, was used to create red-colored glass beads (http://www.egyptmonth.com).
The creation of glass beads became an important position that even pharaohs found appealing. Tutmosis III is even said to have labored in a glass factory by choice. Furthermore, glass beads became a highly sought after trade piece, some ancient Egyptian beads having been found as far away as China (http://www.egyptmonth.com).
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