Metal Gourd Passage Bead Cross-through Spacer Bead

The cord runs through the bead sideways, so the bead can slide along it: that is a lulutong, an “every road open” bead. The name is as literal as it sounds. It is more mobile than a spacer fixed in place, and it shifts with the movement of the wrist. Some people find the sliding irritating; the sliding is the entire point. Note also that a horizontal hole and a vertical hole are different things. Only the horizontal one slides. A vertical one is a spacer and nothing else.

Put a gourd on a slider and the waist has to be exact. Too pinched and there is nowhere to drill; too slack and it stops reading as a gourd. The hole goes through the waist, at the narrowest point, and the mouth of the hole should be rounded so the cord runs clean. The band at the waist is the bone of the shape; without it you have a fat bead. The rim should close round — a square rim makes a jar, not a gourd. And if the hole is half a hair off centre, the gourd hangs crooked on the strand, which looks wrong every time you notice it.

Metal comes bright, and the polished curves pick up the colours around them. Worn long, it oxidizes darker, and a silver cloth brings it back. The waist groove is where dust settles; the black ring in it looks like dirt but is oxide, and it will not pick out, only rub away slowly with a cloth. Do not scrape at it with a blade, which leaves a bright line that nothing will hide. Metal also dislikes sweat: a day on a damp hand and it goes dull, so wipe it dry when you get home and save yourself the work.

In a strand, sliders belong between the main beads as the live element. A strand of fixed beads hangs stiff; one bead that can move loosens the whole hand. Do not put it directly under the Buddha head, where what is wanted is stability rather than movement. Two facing each other also works, one on each side, so they answer each other as the wrist turns. The slider can also take up tension: pull the cord tight and the bead locks in place.

Sold singly, though people often take several at once to fit out a strand. Measure the cord first — a hole smaller than the cord will not pass, and one much larger will rattle. These are not expensive pieces; the cost is in the matching, and a well-matched set of small components can look better than a strand of costly beads. If the hole is wrong, enlarge it where you can, otherwise change the cord, but never force it. Buy three: two to use and one in reserve, and the next restringing will not catch you short.