Shining under the lights of Austin Public Library, panels of colorful beaded glass twist and flatten to reveal a patchwork of ...

a ship's captain in the slave trade from Liverpool.These decorative glass beads were used to ease the passage of traders mainly across Africa. Similar beads are also found in the United States and ...

while similar creations are still made by San hunter-gatherers in Southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert today. The beads are often the last of many incarnations of an ostrich egg, explains Brian Stewart, ...