BRASS FROM ASHANTI

As part of my stash I collect a lot of Ashanti brass for my works. They are very unique when incorporated in designs and bring out the authenticity of the rich Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana.

Most of these ancient symbols (Adinkra)  have meanings and are proverbial of the clans in the Ashanti Kingdom.

Some cast objects from brass “ancient lost wax” has been modernized by making other fun looking accessories. Enjoy these artifacts taken at the bead festival in Cape Coast with our brass friends from Kumasi.

BEAD FESTIVAL AT THE CAPE COAST CASTLE 2015

This was born out of my passion to create a bead village for all of us bead lovers in Ghana and beyond. The whole aim is to have a one stop event centre for us to meet every year with all our beautiful collections. It took a lot of researching and planning to put the festival together at the most appropriate location which was the famous Cape Coast Castle. This location was most idle because of its rich historical background and we had enough space to use as well.

The festival attracted a lot of our bead friends from Koforidua and Dodowa in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Two days of history, trendy colourful textures of all kinds of stones and bead jewellery.

I hope this will begin the yearly festival of beads to celebrate our rich culture and unique bead making skills of recycled glass which are hand painted.

The performance by the Dipo group from Ago Menya was very interesting giving a fun rhythm of culture to the event. Dipo is a puberty rite festival which ushers teenage girls into womanhood. They are adorned with lovely beads to accentuate their curves.

The final day of Bead Festival in Cape Coast was a fun filled time with whooping discounts by our bead friends from all over Ghana. 

THE RED COLLECTION

Red is a colour I love working in any day, anytime without stopping. These are some red bead accessories I have worked on as part of our collection over the years. 

CHARM BRACELETS

I have concluded that charm bracelets can most describe the sort of person I am which is very interesting. These are one of my favourite pieces to design and make for INKA Accessories and they work well with just about any outfit all the time.

I have learned to value a lot of things and nothing goes to waste, not one lose bead and this is very helpful in making use of all kinds of beads that I have in stock.

Another way to make your charm bracelets apart from hooking them on the chain is to make a memory wire bracelet and hook a few charms on them, not too heavy. This has become one of our show stoppers for a lot of teenagers as well.

We keep exploring new methods and creative charm bracelets for our Christmas collection this year. 

CROCHET BEAD WORK

I learnt to crochet and knit from my mum and over the years I have thought of how to incorporate it into my bead work. After much research and prancing about I have carved a niche for INKA’s collection of beaded jewellery using the crochet method mostly using seed beads.

It is one of the methods I like working with most even though it can be time consuming sometimes. What makes it fun is the rhythm of work. Depending on the design to be made, there is a mix of colours of seed beads and the right tone of twine to match it. The most important is this aspect of colour blending. Even though you can hardly go wrong with colours crochet necklaces either make or unmake your outfit.

The best part of working with the crochet method is the ease at which you can vary your stitches and quantity of beads as well as sizes depending on the balance you want.

It is fun to make and no matter how chunky you want your necklace I must confess that it is always light to wear and a great match for any occasion all day long. I love love to work with crochet and make it has become a number one on the client list. 

FASHION and CAREER MENTORING

As part of our business methods I place priority in mentoring and using every opportunity to nurture talents ideas especially in the fashion and creative arts. I have had wonderful opportunities to represent INKA Accessories on different platforms from grade 9 all the way through graduate school and to business entrepreneurs.

Each category comes with its own great reward and experience unlike the other.

The passion of growing the entrepreneurial attitude right from high school is an ongoing career guidance project which we continue to explore and seek expert and support from all interested to partner with us.

TASSEL EARRINGS

One of my friends has a thing for earrings and some of my clients are heavier on earrings 

than they are on necklaces. I have made a lot of different varieties over the years but 

one of my favourites is the tassel earring. 

The variation of hot colours and lengths gives a lot of options and you can always have it 

short or long. Tassels are always in fashion and can be beaded as well and capped with 

beautiful stones.