Going to Zanzibar?

We always stay at the Mtoni Marine Center.

This hotel is the closest resort to Stone Town that is on the beach - about 6 kilometers. The staff is very accomodating and the location is extremely convenient if you want to do sightseeing and shopping in Stone Town. The rates at Mtoni are excellent and their restaurant menus have a good selection - you can stay put at the Mtoni Marine Center.

They also have a pool, massage therapy, a dhow that can be contracted all on site. The staff has always been great about scheduling other activities for us when we stay there, as well.

We have never traveled to Zanzibar with our children, but the Mtoni is absolutely family friendly.

You can reach them at mtoni@zanzibar.cc. Telephone 255-24-2250-140

Going to Kenya? We loved the service we received from...

We have found that African Sermon Safaris are the people to use to coordinate your trip to Kenya. www.africansermonsafaris.com

You can reach them at info@africansermonsafaris.com or africansermonsafaris@yahoo.com.

As a Company they are wonderfully accommodating and their rates are very competitive.

Ask for Daniel.

Portuguese bridge, Debre Libanos, Ethiopia

View of the Blue Nile Gorge and our driver, Seyoum. Near Portuguese Bridge.



View of the Blue Nile Gorge, from near Portuguese Bridge.




View below the Portuguese Bridge, one series of waterfalls.

Portuguese Bridge, near Debre Libanos, Ethiopia

Shola Children's Library in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Here is a picture of children listening to a story at the Shola Children's Library in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This library is the only free children's library in Ethiopia and is run by an organization dear to the SilverChicks, EBCEF. For more information visit www.ebcef.org.

Kazuri Beads

We have this link on each Kazuri bead page on our website, but thought we would post it here, too. This is a very informative article about the Kazuri project that was posted by the BBC. Kazuri, as a company has changed a lot since this article was written, with massive backorders as Kazuri UK and Kazuri America create huge demands. But, it is fabulous to see them continue to grow and change to meet the demands of today's marketplace.
Kazuri Beads

Maria Theresa Thaler Pendant

Victorian Era Ear Cleaner/Pick from Ethiopia

Telsum

Hand Beads

Trade Bead Bracelet - For Inspiration

Books we Keep on Hand for Research

We have found these books to be very helpful in our bead research. Soon, we will list all of the websites we use as resources, as well.


Beads, An Exploration of Bead Traditions Around the World, by Janet Coles and Robert Budwig
The History of Beads, by Lois Sherr Dobin
Beads of the World, By Peter Francis, Jr.
Millefiori Beads - Any edition by Picard
A Universal Aesthetic, Collectible Beads, by Robert K. Liu
Africa Adorned, by Angela Fisher
African Ark, by Angela Fisher
African Ceremonies, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher

SilverChicks and the African Trade Beads

Many, many of you know the story of how SilverChicks.com became entangled in the web of Trade Beads, but for those of you who do not, I thought that I would share.

Let me start with the SilverChicks story....

Valissa and I went on vacation together during the summer of 2002. We had been long time friends at that point and we had both just moved to new homes, and we had just developed the beading bug... We both liked to make jewelry, but everytime we went to a retail store to buy beading supplies we had severe sticker shock and put our heads together to figure out how to buy beads for a better price, quality sterling silver and fancy findings.

So, we did the research, figured out how and where to buy beads to make our jewelry with - and then needed to figure out what to do with the extra beads (we were buying bulk). And that is how SilverChicks made their debut on eBay in August 2002. We would literally buy sterling silver beads and real gemstone beads, make a piece of jewelry and then post the extra beads. What shocked us was the positive response, it encouraged us to keep going, and by December 2002 we were pulling our hair out trying to make it all work and keep up with the holiday eBay purchases. The tricky part for us, has always been, that we have been running our business from two different geographical locations. At that time, one of us was in Monterey, California and the other Houston, Texas.

In January 2003 we launched our website. It was small, but oh so beautiful. Our friend and brilliant artist, Chris Cart developed our site. We continued to be shocked by our success. Here we were, two terribly busy mommies, running a successful website and providing our families with some serious fun money. Who would have guessed?

In July 2003, I left for Africa, wished Valissa luck with the website and continuing to grow our business. She kept on trucking, developing relationships with hoity toity boutiques and creating a massive and loyal following.

I landed in Ethiopia, and literally the same week started looking for beads. What a change from the sterile bead markets Valissa and I have visited. The beads were DIRTY, the prices weren't set, and according to every bead dealer they were all as precious as diamonds. When I realized none were actually .925 sterling and all of the bead dealers told me that they were all hundreds of years old, I thought, "Not interested.".

Within a month, I went on a shopping trip with a number of other ex-pats, and remember now to my chagrin, saying to one lovely, willing to mentor, true bead collector, "Those are NOT silver", when she was looking at telsum. I was just not feeling the love.

Then, I met CHEVRONS. I had been seeing eye beads and feather beads, annulars, and vaseline beads almost everywhere that I went, copal/amber/plastic - you name it, but I hadn't seen any marvelous chevrons. When I did, I was a convert. I went crazy on bead research, most of it painfully done on dial-up internet connections that easily timed out. I started going to the bead shops with a notebook and writing down what the dealers told me, I learned to haggle, and I learned to dig in and get dirty and scrounge, literally, for beads. I was a BELIEVER!

And, that is how we came to be converts to African Bead people. Once I developed a taste for it, I spent hours and hours in bead shops, looking at them, taking my bead books in and cataloging them, thinking about them....

That is the story behind our love affair with Trade Beads.

River Friendly River Wild, by Jane Kurtz

Author Jane Kurtz Donates Book, River Friendly River Wild

Award winning children's author, Jane Kurtz, donates book, River Friendly River Wild, proceeds of sales go to the Ethiopian Books for Children and Education Foundation.

(PRWEB) September 6, 2005 -- In April of 1997--on her birthday--award-winning children’s book author Jane Kurtz had to evacuate her house in Grand Forks, North Dakota, because water from the Red River was spilling over nearby dikes in what would turn into a “five hundred year flood,” something that had never before happened.
She and her family took one small suitcase each, assuming they would be back within days. Instead, they didn’t get to see their house for six weeks. “In some ways,” she says, “we were among the lucky ones. The water in our house hadn’t covered the second floor. And neighbors had helped us move some things from the garden basement level before we left.” She adds, though, that in those weeks spent in the muck and grime of cleanup, she almost wished her house, like those of her neighbors, had been destroyed. She learned about survivor guilt and endurance in the years it took Grand Forks to recover. She also learned about how a community can pull together and cling to stories, memories, and hope.
All of her feelings and experiences, she poured into a picture book that was published by Simon & Schuster in 2000, River Friendly River Wild.”“During my author visits around the country in the past few years,” Kurtz says, “teachers and librarians have told me they cried as they read River Friendly River Wild aloud to students. That’s what books do. They bridge the gaps in human experiences and help us understand a little of what another person has gone through.” From her own experiences, she knows that classrooms and libraries everywhere will be discussing the flooding in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana--and the flood of refugees who had to leave their cities and homes--during the fall. She hopes that her book will be part of those discussions.
Kurtz has donated copies of River Friendly River Wild to a project she’s now deeply involved with, EBCEF, (www.ethiopiareads.org) in the simplest of terms, EBCEF is attempting to put books into the hands of Ethiopian children. Buying one of these copies of River Friendly River Wild, available at www.silverchicks.com, she says, will do “double duty. It will provide operating money for the Ethiopian book project and also give teachers, parents, grandparents, or librarians a way to help children know there’s always hope.”
Since Jane grew up as a reader and a writer in the country of Ethiopia, she knows how important books can be for planting vision and hope.
For more information about EBCEF, please visit their website www.ethiopiareads.org. EBCEF is a 501 c (3) non-profit organization established for the purpose of promoting children's book publishing, reading, literacy and the development of education in Ethiopia. The funds for EBCEF come from private donations, from grants and fund raising activities. Your contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law. For more information about Jane Kurtz, please visit www.janekurtz.com.
For more information about EBCEF and it's projects or SilverChicks.com, please contact Catie Dupont at ethiopaireads@aol.com.

African Metal Beads - General Questions - Do you have the answer?

The SilverChicks and Friends are having a hard time finding information on some of the East African metal and organic pendants and amulets. We would love to know if anyone has info, stories, history, or info on how to find out significance of some of our finds. We have a bunch of old stuff that we cannot specifically identify from our books. We are looking for a source that would be able to provide knowledge regarding tribal affiliation, region, method of manufacture, clues to dating.

Anyone know where we should look for these answers? We have found great resources for the metals of West Africa - but now we need one for East - other than the fabulous picture books by Angela Fisher.

Antique Chevron Bracelet with Bali Beads

Antique Chevron Bracelet with Bali Beads
Originally uploaded by silverchicks.

How did we make this? This bracelet is composed of the following beads and components:
Antique Venetian Chevron beads
Bali Daisy Dangles stacked together,
Gorgeous large Bali barrel & tube beads,
finished with a beautiful sterling silver toggle.

What are Millefiori Beads?

Millefiori Is an Italian word meaning " a thousand flowers". Although these beads are know as Millefiori in the U.S., in Venice (and more specifically in Murano where they are made) they are mainly known by the name Mosaic. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica the word millefiori actually refers to a type of glassware with flowerlike patterns. The millefiori bead took its name in the U.S. from this type of glassware that utilizes the same basic design - the millefiori chip or murrina as it is called in Italian.

The making of a millefiori bead is actually a two step process involving two completely different craftspeople. The first process is the making of the mosaic cane, which is done in the glass factory. This is the more difficult of the two processes. The mosaic slices or chips of this cane are sold to the beadmaker by weight. The word in Italian for this millefiori chip or slice of cane is the murrina. (However, the word is most often used in its plural form - murrine.)

The second part of the beadmaking process is the actual making of the bead. Utilizing the murrine, the beadmaker places the chips onto a wound glass core at his discretion. The designs and color combinations of the murrine are extremely varied.

Stay tuned to more information about Millefiori - they have been made for 600 years.

(This information came from "Millefiori Beads from the West African Trade, Volume VI, Picard)

So, you are going to Ethiopia?

So, you are going to Ethiopia?

Here are some suggestions of things to do - places to visit, etc.,.

Addis Ababa:

A must do, early on in your visit to Ethiopia is a trip to the Ethnographic Museum which is on the grounds of Addis Ababa University. I often referred to this museum as the "Smithsonian" of Ethiopia. They have a nice representation of Ethiopian culture - and the placards are posted in English as well as Amharic. This is a great way to start your visit.

What is EBCEF?

EBCEF (ee-bee-sef) is a grassroots non profit/non government organization geared toward bringing literacy and literacy related resources to Ethiopia.

The mission of ETHIOPIAN BOOKS FOR CHILDREN AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION (EBCEF) is to develop a reading culture in Ethiopia by connecting children with books.
EBCEF will advance, promote, and encourage children's book publishing, reading, and literacy in Ethiopia.

Immediate goals are to:
a) Keep the doors open of the first free children's library in Addis Ababa (this costs $83.00 per day).
b) Coordinate Book Week Celebration in Ethiopia in April of each year.
c) Publish books in Ethiopian languages, based on Ethiopian culture and history, for Ethiopian children in Ethiopia and those born outside of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a country with a strong tradition in oral story telling and an ancient history and written language, components that inspire a literate book loving culture. However, the literacy rate in Ethiopia is extremely low and the number of Amharic books available, especially for children, is devastatingly small. EBCEF believes that no child should need to do without the resources and joy that books bring.

EBCEF is working in both the United States and Addis Ababa to accumulate the necessary resources to realize this dream. EBCEF is an on going project that can always use support and volunteers! Please feel free to browse through the web page to learn more about our organization. Sign our guest book to let us know you're interested! And contact us for more information on what you can do to help. www.ethiopiareads.org

EBCEF is a 501 c (3) non-profit organization established for the purpose of promoting children's book publishing, reading, literacy and the development of education in Ethiopia.

The funds for EBCEF comes from private donations, from grants and fund raising activities. Your contributions are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

SilverChicks.com is a proud supporter of EBCEF. We currently have three books for sale on our website that are being sold to directly benefit EBCEF. All monies go this great organization.

What are white heart beads?

What are white hearts?

This definition is taken from the Collectible Bead book.

White heart beads are cased glass. They are also called overlay or layered beads. One color, often bold opaque and white or a pale color, is surrounded by a different color, frequently in brilliant transparent hues. The most common are Cornaline d’Aleppo beads, featuring transparent red over white glasses. Beads with a white core but exteriors that are not red are called white hearts. These beads were widely traded in the Americas and in Africa.

The beads we offer for sale are from the African trade. In the America’s they were also referred to as Hudson Bay trade beads.

What is a Chevron Bead?

What is a Chevron Bead?

This definition comes directly from the Collectible Beads Book:
Chevrons: Venetians invented these important glass beads about 500 years ago, and continue to make them today. The Italian name is rosetta and refers to the pattern in the cross section of the bead, resembling a flower or twelve pointed star, derived from a molding process.

Colors for the different layers tend to be blue, white and red, but many combinations have been made. The name refers to the ends of these complex canes that have been faceted or rounded by grinding , revealing the inner structure of the zig-zag of chevron lines.

These beads were also manufactured in Holland in the seventeenth century by expatriate Venetian glass beadmakers and are indistinguishable from Venetian beads.

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