Hand Crafted Sterling Silver Glass Bead Bracelet.

Made in South Africa.

This bracelet is hand crafted, made up of silver and red and blue African glass beads, mixed with small sterling silver beads. Each cross bar is hand made and then strung with the glass and silver beads. This bracelet is made up of silver links with San art carved into them, and links made up of strung beads. The bracelet closes with a watch clasp.

About African Beadwork.

Beadwork is one of the most compelling art traditions in Africa. Artists must carefully consider the materials, colors, textures, shapes, and sizes of the beads to choose those that compliment or contrast with one another. A single-colored or multi-colored bead of fine workmanship may have as great a visual impact as many beads strung together or embroidered on a cloth.

About the Bushmen.

When 4000 years ago nomads came into contact with the much longer established hunter-gatherers of Southern Africa, they called them San meaning food gatherers. In the 17th century the Dutch colonized the Cape of Good Hope and called the hunter-gatherers of the plains “Boschjemannen” which translates to Bushmen. Bushmen are the longest surviving tribe of Southern Africa they are descendents of the Stone Age people.

About Rock Art.

The Europeans who first saw the Rock Art were fascinated but dismissive of their importance. Now days the true value and meaning of their art is being deciphered and appreciated., their art not only shows actual events that happened but are messages full of intricate and complex nuances in the symbols, metaphors and religious meaning.

About the Giraffe.

The Giraffe is native to Sub Saharan Africa, and is the worlds tallest land animal. This egg has been painted with concentric layers of brown/green and orange, and then decorated with Giraffes using decoupage. Decoupage is the art of cutting and pasting cutouts to simulate paintings on a wood, metal, glass or in this case egg surface. Each egg takes 27 days to decorate, with several coats of lacquer applied to acquire the high gloss finish. First the background is painted once it is dried a few coats of lacquer are applied with a light sanding between each layer, then the decoupage images are applied, several more layers of lacquer are applied with a light sanding between each, the egg is finished with some gold accents. By applying the art to the egg in this way it gives the egg a multi-dimensional appearance instead of a flat appearance.