Recycled African Glass Powder Beads
£34.95
Handmade African Glass Powder bead necklace – made from recycled glass. Sustainable, ethically sourced and beautiful.
Description
African powder beads are made from recycled glass. The glass is collected and then ground by hand into a very fine powder. This powder is then shaped into a bead by pressing the powder into a clay mould, before it is then fired in an oven. Once cooled they are then hand-painted and decorated with dyes or paints and threaded on natural grass raffia.
Historically beads were used as a form of trade and currency in Africa for centuries…. and consequently they travelled far and wide across the continent and in-fact were said to have first been traded across the Indian Ocean from Sri Lanka to the coast of East Africa and then inland to the citadels such as Great Zimbabwe between the seventh and tenth century A.D.
These ones are no different. I cannot tell you where they originated or who made them – however I can tell you they have sourced by me from local market places across Africa. Buy buying this item your purchase will mark the end of its journey for now but the transaction would continue the tradition and contribute to the finances of many hands and opening the door for another necklace to be made and sold, helping those crafts people who create them wherever in the world they may be!