Liz and my last excursion together. We stayed at this amazing guest house in Accra run by a missionary couple who are affiliated with a church in Minnesota! We met this lady, Barbara, who has been to Ghana many times and knew the area well. She brought us to Tet’s Glass Bead Making Factory!
It was a Sunday so they weren’t open, but this nice bead maker showed us around and explained to use how everything works.
So first they take these molds that have several holes in them the shape of the bead. They take a stick and cut it the length of each hole in the mold. This is so the bead has a hole in it when it is finished.
So then they take the glass that they have already pounded to fine powder. They use used bottles like beer bottles or soda bottles. Some of them are already colored. Ones that aren’t, they add powdered dye (which they get from the US!) to get the desired color and mix the glass powder with the dye. They then fill the molds.
After, the beads are ready to enter the furnace. They only take a couple minutes to melt. And then the beads are set out to dry a bit.
The final product are these amazing glass beads that are sold all over Ghana!
Tet has a store where you can look at all the beads and of course buy some for very reasonable prices.
He had been traveling the day before we got there so all of his beads needed to be put back on their proper hooks. So we helped him! And spent about an hour sorting through and oogling over all the beautiful beads!
This little boy Wisdom helped us too. He was very fun to be around and was telling us which ones he liked.
Then of course we all bought some! It was a very fun time and so great to buy something that someone worked to make…and getting the privilege to actually meet them!
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