Wai Wai necklace. Local name: Quali. Purchased from the Amerindian shop in Georgetown. These are 'typical' Wai Wai necklaces made from the seeds of a fruit known as calaquo. The coloured patterns are made using dyed seeds. The dye is acquired from the bark of a tree known as sasha. The ornaments were made by women and are worn by both sexes. Made in Cashew Island, New River Area, Southern Guyana.
A necklace with a string and a pendant - a disc made of small flat circular seeds sewn together. The string or chain is made of a repeating pattern of loops of seeds - two brown loops with blue seeds at the joining point, then two blue loops with red seeds at the joining point. Attached firmly to the string is a disc: on one side of the disc there is a blue dot or circle in the centre a red cruciform design around it, on a brown background; on the other side is a blue cruciform design. Around the edges of the circumference of the disc is a line of red and blue seeds. At the bottom of the disc are six short hanging strand of seeds, brown at the top and the bottom, with blue seeds in the middle of each strand. On each side of the disc is a tuft of red feathers.
