Oh happy days! So glad to find us all here again!

I'm glad you like the beads. I'm practically drowning in them now, since we just got a 142-pound shipment in.

The business cards are on the way. Thanks again for spreading the word!

Mel!

It's a beauty!

Hi Sandi. Aren't they beautiful? This style of bead is specific to a small area in Ghana's Eastern district. Krobo is the name of the tribe that makes the beads. They are made in open-sided, thatch-roofed huts out of recycled glass, which is pounded to a powder by hand with a big mortar and pestle, sifted, placed in homemade clay moulds, and fired in ovens made by each bead maker out of locally available clay. The colors are painted on one at a time after the beads are cooled, washed and dried. Then they go back to be fired again before the process is repeated for the next color, and the next, and so on. It's extremely labor-intensive--I got to watch the whole process when I was there the first time. Then I went to a bead market and saw how little they were selling for, and it broke my heart--and the bead sellers were getting half of that price! Soul of Somanya is, among other things, trying to find a wider market for their beads so that they can sell more of them, and to educate people about what goes into making them so that their true value can be better appreciated. When we can, we buy the beads directly from the bead makers at market price so that they get the full amount. All of the proceeds from our sales go back to fund the project, which is also paying a living wage to the young people who are producing the jewelry (thereby creating a further demand for the beads). Our website is fun to browse. It has a lot of pictures of and stories about the people involved in the project. Come visit! www.soulofsomanya.net

Hi Joni,

I'd love it if you featured our beads on the beadybunch website! In fact, I'd be very grateful. We need all the exposure we can get...and of course all the sale s as well. It's a challenging time to be trying to get a project like this one up and running, given the current economy.

Feel free to lift anything you need off of our website--verbage or images. And let me know if there's anything else I can supply.

Thank you so much, and I'll look forward to seeing the article/feature!

Melody

Hi JStinson. Thanks for the kind words about our findings. I'm soooo proud of the work our young artisans are
doing! The earwires, in particular, take a lot of skill to make. They
are our interpretations of some of Ghana's traditional Adinkra symbols.
From left to right, top to bottom, they mean: "God is Supreme, Bravery
and Valor (which can mean courage in facing life and your own fears),
Friendship and Interdependence, Adaptability and Grace Under Hardship,
and Safety, Security and Love. You can read more about them on our
website at www.soulofsomanya.net. The website also has lots of pictures of and stories about the people involved in the project. Come visit us! Melody

Thanks again, this time for your comment on Krobo Bead Necklace. Krobo is the name of the tribe living in the part of Ghana where Soul of Somanya is situated. They are known for their hand-painted beads, which are made out of recycled glass in clay ovens that the bead makers make themselves after digging the clay up out of the ground at a nearby village. They use homemade clay moulds, too, and fire the beads with firewood. The necklace was a collaboration between me and one of our young jewelry artisans, Ameho Eunice (the beautiful girl in the photo).

Our website has a section on the making of the beads, complete with pictures. I got to watch the whole process--it's very labor intensive and time-consuming. The beads have to be re-fired after each color is painted on, so the more colorful the bead, the longer it took and the harder it was to make. And then the beads get sold at market for shockingly little, and the bead sellers get half of that! It breaks your heart!