Every bead has a story. At Grandma’s Attic, 125 Welch Ave., Christy Radach is the storyteller.

Grandma’s Attic sells almost everything, from incense to sculptures and vintage jewelry, but a large part of the inventory consists of beads of every shape and color.

Not only does Radach sell the beads and teach customers how to make them into jewelry, but she takes joy in talking to customers about where the beads come from.

“I love to tell people… what story goes into it, how it was made,” Radach said.

In many cases, it’s quite a story.

Radach said much of her inventory comes from Africa, and ends up at her store by way of traveling vendors.

“There’s a whole society of people who you’d have to call peddlers,” Radach said.

Once or twice per year, she said, “they pull up outside my door in this battered red van. Most people have no idea that there’s still this wandering group.”

These vendors spend half their time selling and half their time buying overseas.

As such, many of the beads have long and complex histories. Radach said she knows them all.

First, there’s lapis lazuli, a bright blue precious stone found in King Tut’s tomb.

“I buy lapis jewelry today that comes from the same place that King Tut did,” Radach said.

Then there’s iolite, which helped ancient mariners find the sun on cloudy days.

“Vikings used a thin slice of it to navigate. When the light comes through it from different directions, it changes color,” she said.

And then there’s amethyst, a purple crystal steeped in Greek legend.

According to mythology, Amethystos was a beautiful maiden whom the gods transformed into a white stone to save her for the god of wine, Dionysus. Humbled, Dionysus poured his wine over the stone, giving it its deep purple hue.

“Supposedly, amethyst alleviates over-indulgence,” she said.

Others don’t have the legend, but are created with techniques that are several thousand years old.

“There’s some beads up there that they make out of ostrich egg shells — 7000 B.C. they were making the same beads,” she said.

But if the history of the beads is fascinating, the economic effects of their production may be even more so.

For example, the store carries glass beads, many of which were forged in makeshift furnaces by entrepreneurs in Africa.

“A lot of times two, three, four families work together to do this sort of thing,” Radach said.

To explain, Radach pulled out a set of photographs that a customer brought to the store from her own travels.

“[They] powderize the glass and put it in these molds, and heat it up in this furnace,” Radach said.

Oftentimes, the workers will melt down empty bottles for their beads. Clearly visible in one photograph is a transparent bottle, stickered with the brand of a popular distilled spirit.

The bottles are melted down into beads, which are bought by travelers who spread them worldwide.

Out of what was once trash, becomes a viable source of money in an impoverished area.

To Radach, that’s about as fair as trade gets.

“These people are getting income in a place where there is no income,” she said.

Beginnings

“I never really planned that I was going to open my own business,” Radach said. “About 25 years ago a friend of mine gave me a box of embroidery floss.”

After making a few bracelets, she fell into the business.

“I went to a rock concert one time and came back with more money than I left with.”

She went to work for Grandma’s Jewelry Box, formerly on Lincoln Way, and then bought it from the original owner.

“There was just this huge loyal clientele. It seemed like the thing to do,” she said.

Although she didn’t set out for this business, Radach couldn’t be happier.

“I find this stuff just so fascinating. And it’s a rare privilege to do something you’re passionate about,” she said.