Although my initial starting point to get involved with glass has shifted from beads to other methods of working with warm glass, I have kept an interest in beads, as I can see their use in combination with other glass techniques.
I've also had an interest towards sustainabitity and was (and still am) always looking for projects that could be developed into community based job creation projects.
On one of my many researches into sustainability and ecological responsiblility I started getting various information about beads made from recycled glass.
Although there are many websites that sell the recycled glass beads, one of the most informative sites was the eshopafrica where they actually take you step by step through the process how various sorts of recycled glass beads are made in the typical West Africa tradition.
In Swaziland, South African, a glassblowing hotshop Ngwenya Glass (the Siswati name for "crocodile") uses only recycled glass to create their enchanting glass animals.
My husband and I saw a similar set up on the Island of Mauritius, where glass blowers were also making a variety of products using only broken coke bottles. I couldn't resist the glass dodo's!
For the people in these communities, the hot shops are the lifeblood and offer not only job creation and skills training , but also focus seriously on preserving the environment and creating a sustainabille industry for the future generations.
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