27th November 2020
When you love beads, it’s easy to buy more than you need. Plus, it’s always helfpul to buy more just in case, especially with handmade beads where they aren’t all perfectly uniform. The result can be quite a lot of unused beads of a […]
2nd October 2020
Just before I started to write this a customer left this very pleasing review for me: “Really lovely beads!! Great communication! Happy customer. Shop small business ” I also read part of an ILO report about the impact of the virus on labour around […]
8th September 2020
Sometimes I get asked the care instructions for the batik fabrics I sell. Because they haven’t come from a big factory, there is soem uncertainty about how they will hold up when laundered. They makers don’t supply any but from using Ghanaian cotton batik […]
22nd August 2020
Why Do I Write on This Topic? While there are many experienced beaders out there, every now and then I get a customer who is new to beading and needs advice on getting started. A beaded bracelet is one of the simplest, inexpensive beading […]
22nd July 2020
Search for “African beads” online and the list of shops is endless, as are the colours, shapes and sizes of beads. The variety beads available is so huge that a visit to the bead-maker’s, bead market or well-stocked online shop is sure to cost […]
12th June 2020
Ghana’s recycled glass beads are well-known around the world and their making dates back many centuries. Broadly, there are three types of glass bead (although, each time I get a new order in I notice something new – exciting!) derived mainly from how they […]
12th June 2020
As a retailer I am over the moon when stock sells well. And then when I want to re-stock I often find to my horror beadmaker doesn’t have and won’t make any more! Puzzling, right? Apparently, the reason for the growth of the Ghana […]
5th March 2020
How do the beadmakers even achieve that? You’d expect every tube bead in the same batch to be the same width all along its length, wouldn’t you? But no, it doesn’t always happen with the Ghana recycled glass beads. And yet they are so […]
2nd March 2020
Handmade African beads are beautiful and one is spoilt for choice at the bead-makers’ or market. When re-stocking I am like a kid in a sweet shop and always spend more than planned. True. But, the beads aren’t perfect and sometimes I have a […]