This month’s ‘POSTSCRIPT’ is a special edition, which I’ve made available for all subscribers. To receive access to all past and future ‘POSTSCRIPT’ mailouts, upgrade to a paid subscription.
PSA: Apologies for the repeated content in yesterday’s mailout, the uploading system sometimes catches me out 🤦🏾♀️. The corrected version can be found via this link: almazohene.substack.com/p/aug-2021
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Across Africa, indigenous people have fashioned beads from a variety of materials that have served both decorative and social functions for tens of thousands of years. Ghanaian beads are made from recycled glass that has been ground into powder. This powder is melted into liquid form with intense heat and then moulded into beads of varied textures, designs and sizes, which are then decorated by hand.
TK Beads, located on the Amrahia Dodowa Road, is a family-run cottage industry, founded by Florence Asare in 1986. All of the beads on sale are handcrafted and personally designed by Florence and her team.
First, the glass is soured by collecting old wine and beer bottles, or any other type of glass that’s been thrown away. Next, they crush the glass and dye is added to colour the beads. The liquid is then poured into hand-made clay moulds to shape them into beads. They are fired in an oven for roughly 45 minutes and then decorated with hand-painted designs.
The Africa Report made a short feature about Florence’s business in 2010. Watch here.
Here are some pics of the beads for sale in the showroom.
Bracelets
[Image description: Hundreds of bundles of colourful glass bead bracelets]
Necklaces
[Image description: Hundreds of strings of colourful glass bead necklaces]
Waist beads
[Image description: Hundreds of strings of colourful glass beads for tying about the waist and hips]
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I’m Almaz Ohene, a Creative Copywriter, Freelance Journalist and Accidental Sexpert. If you would like to support the writing I share here, please consider becoming a paid subscriber of ‘She Dares to Say’. If you would prefer to make a one-off donation, you can also send a contribution via PayPal.
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