Friday morning we finally made a visit to the TK Beads factory just outside of Accra. It only took 20 months to find a time to visit a very popular tourist attraction. We had time to be away from the office since the Area Presidency is in Salt Lake for General Conference. TK Beads produces more than 70 styles of predesigned handmade glass beads. They have distributors in the US, Europe, South America and, of course, across Africa according to their brochure. They even have a website www.tkbeadsgh.com. TK Beads is about 1 hour drive northeast of Accra and we were fortunate to have Sister Empey with us who had just returned from a visit on Monday and who knew the way to the factory. Since she had not purchased all the beads she wanted she was glad to go and show us the way there.
When we first arrived we were met by a member of the staff who asked if we wanted a tour of the facility which we did. These first pictures show the stacks of bottles that are collected to be used to make the beads. The area is walled in for security, as many places are. The entry gate is shown below.
The bottles are crushed using a iron rod that looks like a drive axle into a powder.
This powder is then mixed with a dye to achieve the desired color and then put into various bead molds of various sizes made of clay.
The hole in the bead is created by placing a stick in the center of the glass powder which is burned out during the melting process.
The molds are then placed in a Clay Oven for 45 minutes until it is molten. Once they have cooled the beads are lifted from the mold and placed in bowls for painting.
This is painstaking work. Billions of dots make up the designs.
The paint is loaded into the long tubes they paint with.
Once the beads have been painted they are fired one more time to bake the paint on the beads. The paint is also made from the glass powder which can stand the firing process . The finished beads are then moved to the distribution centers for purchase. Besides the 70 styles of predesigned beads TK Beads can produce thousands of custom patterns upon the buyer’s request.
Bead maker’s heaven. Hard to pick out what to buy, but we came away with some loot, and a good time.
The work areas and shop are part of a courtyard that includes the owner’s home.
The business is owned by a man and wife who employ many workers. Most were gone to a funeral on the day we visited. Apparently the mother of the owners had died. Couldn’t resist taking a picture with these cute little boys who belong to one of the workers. They spoke very little English, but were willing to stand there as the adults looked on.
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