Strings of recycled glass

Round Powder Glass Beads or Tears from Ghana (Koforidua, Ghana)

A while ago a little girl of no more than five years old came in, stood in front of the panel where we display the coloured beads and, after a long silence, looked at us and said: "They look like tears...". We thought that was so beautiful that since then we have called the round coloured beads that Ghanaians make from recycled glass Tears.
The glassmaker starts by recovering bottles that will be ground in mortars until they become powder. Then they will mix the glass powder with oxides to give them colour (iron for yellow, chromium for green, cobalt for blue, etc.), before including the amalgam in an ad hoc mould that will be placed in the oven.
When the glass becomes a malleable mass, the glassmaker will take out the mould and, with the help of a punch, make the hole and shape each bead. All that remains is to thread them onto a raffia or cotton cord to create a teardrop necklace.