Quick Specs
- Type: Wall hanging with an eye bead and a red cord
- Size: 6 by 2 1/2 inches
- Eye bead: Flat round disc in deep blue with a white ring, light blue center and black pupil
- Cord: Glossy red cord worked into a looped, flower-shaped knot, with a doubled strand for hanging
- Colors: Deep blue, white, light blue, black and red
One Blue Eye on a Red Knot
A single bead carries the whole piece. It’s a flat, round disc of glossy deep blue, with a white eye in the lower half, a light blue iris and a black pupil at its center. A small hole near the top edge holds the red cord, which loops through the bead and is worked above it into a flower-shaped knot. At the center of the knot the cord is packed into a tight woven button, and loops fan out from it in every direction like petals. Two strands rise from the knot as a doubled cord that forms the hanging loop. The red is vivid and the blue is deep, so two strong colors meet with nothing else competing. At 6 by 2 1/2 inches the hanging is small enough for a doorknob, a hook or a narrow stretch of wall, and the cord’s satin sheen gives the knot a light of its own when it catches a lamp. With one bead and one cord, the design hangs as a single clean vertical line.
The bead follows the nazar, the eye bead of Turkey. The evil eye is a belief in a curse brought about by a malevolent glare, usually inspired by envy, and a museum catalogue lists glass eye beads among the commonest amulets against it, found especially around the Mediterranean, Central Asia and the Middle East. In Turkey the bead is called nazar boncuğu, and its typical colors are dark blue, white, light blue and black, the colors on this one. A bead on a cord is also the simplest way to carry the amulet, since the same catalogue says such amulets are worn or carried. The cord adds a second color to the pairing, and the knot at the top gives the piece a decorative head above the bead, with its rounded loops echoing the round disc below. The eye is the focus: the white and light blue circles draw the gaze straight to the black pupil.
Small Ways to Hang It
The doubled cord slips over a doorknob, a cabinet pull, a window latch or a small hook, so it fits places where a larger hanging would crowd the space. At 6 inches it sits well beside a bedroom door, over a desk lamp, on the end of a bookshelf or on a narrow wall between two frames. A group of small pieces on one wall also works, with the red knot repeating from one to the next. Give it clear space below so the bead can hang without knocking against a shelf or a window frame. It also makes a small gift for a housewarming. For more things to hang, see my wall hangings collection.
How to Hang and Care for the Red Cord Hanging
Three steps cover choosing a hook, looping the cord and wiping the bead.
- Choose a Hook
Pick a hook, a nail or a doorknob where the bead can hang free. The hanging is 6 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide, so a spot with a few inches of clear space on each side keeps the bead from knocking against a wall edge, a shelf or a window frame.
- Loop the Cord
Slip the doubled cord over your hook so the knot sits at the top and the bead hangs below it. Let the hanging settle and look at the bead. The eye should face straight out, with the white ring at the lower half of the disc. If the bead turns to one side, give the cord a quarter turn the other way.
- Wipe the Bead
Wipe fingerprints and dust from the bead with a soft dry cloth, and brush dust from the loops of the knot with a dry brush every few weeks. Take the hanging down before you paint or clean the wall around it, and put it back once the wall is dry.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I stock this hanging as a small, simple version of the eye bead: one bead and one red cord, 6 by 2 1/2 inches, made for a hook or a doorknob. The evil eye belief is a living folk custom in Turkey, Greece and many other places, and the red string has its own protective customs among the people who keep it. This hanging is a decorative reference to them, never a substitute for the customs of the people who hold them. If the nazar is part of your family’s tradition, you already know how it’s gifted and hung. If it’s new to you, learn those customs before you decide what the eye means in your home. See my evil eye collection for more pieces that carry the eye.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Wikipedia describes wearing a red string as a Jewish folk custom to ward off misfortune attributed to the evil eye, and an article on the red string says some ancient Jews tied red strings around their fingers for the same purpose. A Jewish learning site says red and blue are both said to thwart the evil eye, and Wikipedia adds that in South America a red ribbon is attached to a baby, an animal or an object to draw the gaze away.
Wikipedia and a university page on the nazar agree that a traditional nazar is handmade glass with concentric circles or teardrop shapes. Both describe the glass as a mixture of molten glass, iron, copper, water and salt, materials believed to shield people from evil.
In Turkey it is called nazar boncuğu, where boncuk means bead in Turkic, according to Wikipedia, and a university page on the nazar uses the same name. Wikipedia adds that the Greek word for the amulet is mati, which means eye.
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