(Your shopping cart is empty)

Recycled Glass Used in Beads from Africa and Beyond

Most beads in our recycled glass beads category tend to be powder glass beads, but in reality, much of the glass beads in our store are made from one form of recycled glass or another.

Bead making has been around for thousands of years. People in many countries throughout the world have been making beads for hundreds of years. In Africa's rural areas, it is the main and sole income of most households. We don’t know when the first recycled glass beads were made, but some analysts suggest that it may be up to thousands of years BC.

Venice started exporting beads in the late 1800 to Africa and was mostly traded, not sold according to records. However, there is no proof as to when it was manufactured for the first time. Later years, Africa started exporting these Venetian beads to America, not using the proper name for them as they are known, but as “Trade beads”, as that is how they acquired them. The correct name for recycled glass beads made in Venice is the Millefiori bead.

Ghana manufactures Krobo beads and these recycled glass beads are made from powdered glass. Krobo beads get their name from the fact that in the earliest years of manufacturing it was the Krobo ethnic group that made them. Until today, these beads play a huge role in the traditional Krobo culture. The beautiful beads are used for most of their ceremonies, including weddings and tribal dances. Evidence of bead production in Ghana extends two thousand years. Ghana is also one of the countries with the largest variety of African trade beads, which extends back to over two hundred years ago. Beads in Ghana were a form of currency and used to purchase a large variety of goods including textiles, alcohol, and even slaves.

Czechoslovakia manufactures different kinds of recycled glass beads, but they are world famous for the beautiful Vaseline beads. The beads are manufactured using 1-2% uranium oxide to enrich the recycled glass, thus enhancing the color to cause the recycled glass beads to fluoresce brightly. In 1940, the use of uranium was banned, thus putting a stop to the manufacturing of these glass beads, but they are still available and much sought after beads.

China recycled glass beads were used in the Court costumes for women during the Ching Dynasty from 1644-1911. It was used for trade as well to the hill tribes on the borders of China and America. They are either in single colors to elaborately designed beads using the millefiore technique to create a “star burst” design.

Indonesia manufactures the most beautiful blue recycled glass beads. These beads among a large variety of other glass beads are made by hand. They are irregular round tabular in shape, and imperfections can be expected in these beads. Some of Indonesia's antique recycled glass beads are over a thousand years old and dates back to the Graphite Indonesian dynasty.

Mali is well known for their recycled glass beads, known as wedding beads. They have different other variations in their recycled glass beads that they manufacture besides the wedding bead. The wedding bead stands out because of its unique teardrop and triangle shapes. It is used as a traditional wedding gift, thus the name that stuck through centuries.