A few weeks ago, some of us went to TK Beads to see how they make the beads. These beads are exported to other places in the world. But they do not come from a factory. Everything here is hand done. They make two kinds of beads, hand painted and translucent. The processes are similar but slightly different.
All the beads are made from recycled glass. They collect glass bottles in all colors. The bottles are then sorted by color, washed and labels removed. Many of the pictures and videos are quite dark because they work under a shaded canopy. It doesn't make for good photography, but keeps the workers much cooler.
The glass is broken into pieces and then crushed into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle (see above).
The next steps are for the hand painted beads. A man cuts the stem of a plant and places it in the molds. This makes the hole in the bead. Another man places the glass powder into the molds over the stems. The molds are then placed into a fiery furnace to bake for about an hour. They are then taken out, cooled and pried from the molds as seen below.
After they have cooled, they are placed on something that looks like a shishkabob stick and painted. Each color must dry completely before they add another color. No one was painting while we were there.
After the painting is complete, they are fired again in the kiln for another 30 minutes. They are then cooled and the bead is complete.
The process is almost the same for the translucent beads. They do not not have to be crushed but can be broken into small pieces and then melted in the kiln. The hole is placed in the beads after firing but before they are cool. The molds come in many sizes and shapes.
After the beads are cooled, they have a white residue on them. They are then washed with sand in an indentation of a rock. At that point, they are complete.
The beads are then sorted and strung. Some are sold on location and many are exported throughout the world.
These beads are quite heavy to wear. They seem to have a special energy all their own because of all the labor that goes into them. You can't do that in a factory.
And....just for fun...While we were there, this rooster made his presence known so I had to take a video of him.
