Beads have played an important role in society.  They were one of the earliest forms of personal adornment, dating back some 40,000 years.  Beads have been used not only as adornment or decoration, but they have also been used throughout history as talismans, status symbols, religious artefacts, and as a form of barter.

Ghana has a rich bead history.  The country was well endowed with gold and it was an important trade hub for Europe and northern Africa, where beads were traded for all sorts of commodities (including slaves).  Ghana was also an important hub for glass beads, which were introduced by traders before the Christian era.

Krobo Beads

The Krobo region in Ghana is still an important bead-making area and the main region in which glass beads are made.  There are five main types of Krobo beads today – powdered glass beads, painted glass beads, translucent beads, seed beads, and bodum beads.  Seed beads are made in the same way as powdered glass beads but are much much smaller. 

Powdered Glass Beads

The production process:

• Glass from broken bottles is crushed into a fine powder and sifted to ensure that no large pieces of glass are left.
• Once the glass is reduced to a powder, a ceramic dye is added to create the colour of the bead.
• The mould is coated in kaolin clay – a white clay that coats the mould and acts as a release so the bead can be removed from the mould.
• A cassava stalk is inserted into the middle of the mould to create the hole in the bead.  When the bead is fired the cassava stalk will burn away leaving a hole. 
• The coloured powder is poured into clay moulds around the cassava stick.  The shape of the mould determines the shape of the bead.  Pouring the powder into the moulds is the creative part of the process because the bead maker can create the bead pattern by using different coloured glass powder.
• The moulds are fired in a mud kiln.  The best type of mud is a termite mound. The temperature of the kiln does not need to be very hot because the powder fuses together rather then melting together.

The beads are polished by rubbing them over a stone using sand and water.  This removes any rough edges and remaining kaolin.

Painted Glass Beads

Painted glass beads are made in the same way as the powdered glass beads, but with a few extra steps at the end of the process:

• Once the beads have cooled down they are ready to be painted with ceramic designs.  A mixture of plain glass powder and ceramic dyes is used to make a coloured glaze.
• The bead designer then decorates the bead with different coloured patterns, using the glazes and a small pin or needle.
• The designs are left to dry and then placed back into the kaolin coated moulds to be re-fired in the kiln until the design melts and sticks to the bead.

Once the beads have been removed from the kiln for the second time they are cooled and then polished.

Translucent Beads

The production process:

• Glass is broken into small pieces and filled into clay moulds.
• The moulds are then fired in the mud kiln.
• Translucent beads are fired at a very high temperature (800-1,000°), which is too high for a cassava stick to be used to make the hole in the centre of the bead.  The hole is made by hand after the beads have been fired using a metal spindle.
• When the beads are removed from the kiln they are shaped before the glass cools.
• The beads are polished by rubbing them on a stone and washed with water.
  
  
• Click here to see Sankofa's recycled beads
  

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