Gorgeous Glass Beads Made in Placencia, Belize For Jewelry & For Dread Locks

A few weeks ago, someone sent me a facebook link for someone making pretty PRETTY glass beads in Placencia, Belize along with this picture.  Veda’s Beads.

A little brown string with gorgeous hearts.

il_570xN.553611391_59b5Veda (which I later found is Jessica’s middle name) has a bead selling business on the American based website Etsy.  A site that helps craftspeople and artists distribute their wares worldwide.  (Here is the Etsy “shop” for Veda’s Beads.)  The cool thing is that they are also based in Placencia, Belize.

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With this nugget in the back of my mind and with a trip to Placencia in my future, I contacted Jessica, the artist, to meet her, to see her beads and, of course to tell her all my ideas.  It’s really one of my more annoying qualities.  When I meet someone and I am excited about THEIR business, I can’t stop talking “have you thought of this?”…”Oh my god, do you totally know what you should do?”.  Like they never thought of it.

I would KILL someone if they did that to me about Belize blogging.

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But anyway…I made an appointment to meet Jessica, see her work area and beads and maybe try making one.  How freaking awesome!

I arrived and starting looking at every single bead.  I love so many of them.  Some for jewelry, some that I just want to have and love and…some for dread locks.  Who knew?

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More dread beads.

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These beauties that are tumbled with sand to look like sea glass.  They make me dream of being crafty.

IMG_3236And beads with designs like these gorgeous flowers.  And this odd “12” bead.  Jessica is from Washington State and this has something to do with the Superbowl.  As soon as I heard the word “football”, I blanked out.

IMG_3239And much more ornate beads.  I don’t care if you have no interest in beads.  LOOK HOW PRETTY THESE ARE.

IMG_3194 IMG_3208And she started making them all about 10 years ago from a hobby kit that her husband bought her.  Now it’s a serious operation…and a full time business.  We went into the back into her shed/studio.

Cool glass rods.

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And then these dipping rods with a non-stick cover for shaping, molding and then unsticking the bead.  (There were more techincal terms…I forgot them all.)  IMG_3212I wanted to see a heart, my favorite design.  Jessica got to work.  Light up the torch!  She actually brought this kiln down on the plane.  With careful writing on the outside of the box to identify a kiln, NOT A BOMB.

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Hot, hot glass twirled around the stick and then it can be pressed in a mold.

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The heart is a combination of two colors shaped, cut, twisted and pulled.  A strip of silver foil is used in the center.IMG_3232Do I want to try?  Ummmm…no.  Especially not after you showed me your burns and scars.  I have a fear I consider natural.  A fear of open flames and molten substances that can stick to my skin and rip it right off.

I sat for a moment with the safety glasses on but soon retreated.  Let’s leave this to the experts.

Jessica told me about me shapes and ideas from whale sharks and lobsters…to different colors and shapes.  Isn’t it amazing when a person can make a hobby and something that they love doing into a business?  I think so.

I bought two strings of the beautiful pink hearts above with no plans on what to do with them.  Simple brown leather cord?  I got a length of the hemp twine that she display them on to make a necklace…I think I’m going to go simple but I might bring them to Mr. Dimas in San Pedro to see what he thinks.

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Contact Jessica though Facebook or through her Etsy page (both links above) to get some of these pretty pretty beads.  They can even be used on those Pandora kind of bracelets.  If you are in Belize and are getting them shipped locally, mention SanPedroScoop, I bet you can get yourself a discount.

I heart my beads and will most definitely be in Placencia for the 2014 Sidewalk Arts Fair (check them out on Facebook).  In fact, I’ve already booked my guest house.

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