Cedi Beads Showroom

After the bead tour, we were then brought to the showroom. There were some beautiful beads there and at very reasonable prices. Cedi Beads sells only their top quality beads in their own showroom. The ones that they reject are sold to bead sellers who sell them at the Agomanya and Koforidua bead markets. I [...]

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Cedi Beads: Painting and Finishing

Once the beads have cooled, they’re painted.  Each individual bead, individually hand painted. Then they are sent back to the ovens for another firing. After the second firing and cooling, the beads are scrubbed with sand and water for polishing. Then they are rinsed and dried.  Finished! Ready for sorting and threading. Beads are threaded [...]

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Cedi Beads: Firing

The ovens are also built with clay from termite mounds.  This oven shows cracks from the intense heat, even with the termite clay construction. It takes at least a half hour for the glass shards in the molds to melt. The molds are removed from the ovens on a paddle at the end of a [...]

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Cedi Beads: The Beadmaking Process

All the beads are made from glass bottles which would otherwise be thrown in a ditch or field.  There’s no official garbage collection yet in Ghana nor are there any recycling plants. The bottles are pounded down to very small pieces with a metal pipe inside a large plastic bucket. Worker safety is not yet [...]

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Cedi Beads

One of the best areas for bead shopping in Ghana is the Odumase-Krobo area, a string of villages that stretches from Somanya to Kpong in the Eastern Region. Cedi Beads isn’t far from the Agomanya market, maybe 20 minutes away.  Even with the help of the beautifully hand-painted sign, the turnoff is easy to miss [...]

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