Ignorance is............

Can be bliss, but in this case it's losing money! I finally made myself sit down the other night and do a comparison of glass prices. I knew where sterling silver had been going. It was hard to miss that. But I hadn't really been paying attention to the rising cost of glass. I bought when I needed it, tried to get things on sale when ever possible, but recently a couple different sources referenced the rising price of pink glass. This caused me to actually sit down and look at what I had paid for these colors in the past. Let me just say I about fell over! One glass, which thankfully I haven't used a lot, but I do like and would like to use in the future has gone from $30.00 a pound to $85.00 a pound!

If you buy glass, you'll know that the expensive, silver laden glass can run between $85.00-100.00 per pound. The glass that just went up to $85.00 is just a soft pink, semi-opaque color, that doesn't do anything special!  Needless to say, in the future, if it is pink, it's going to be priced a wee bit higher than other beads. I also just ordered more sterling silver tubing for coring my Pandora style beads and that is about 50% more than it was a year ago. I have been making more sets of beads unlined and they seem to be getting a good response. I am still going to core some of the beads, but may just stick to doing so on larger focal's and single beads.

I have been listing beads at least once a week in my Etsy shop, some times twice. I think I have found a pretty good rhythm that works for me and allows me the time to fit in other things and doesn't wear me out. I have decided to stop previewing my beads on Facebook. I am trying to fine tune things down to only doing that which is a profitable use of my time. While I really do enjoy giving my Facebook customers the opportunity to see things in advance, this was only creating twice the work for me, so I need to cut out what isn't helping me. I'd rather have more time to do the creative part of this endeavor, and be more efficient with the necessary,  but much less fun parts like photos, editing and listing!

I am working on getting more jewelry pieces listed consistently. This seems to be the thorn in my side right now! For some reason, I just can't seem to get all my ducks in a row on this one for more than a week or two at a time! I will just keep trying. Thanks for stopping by and listening to me ramble!

You Get What You Pay For...

I have been seeing an increasing amount of cheap imported lampwork beads flooding the listings on Etsy lately and am becoming quite annoyed and concerned with this trend. I am used to seeing this on Ebay, but Etsy in the past has been fairly good about weeding out the stuff that isn't really handmade.

How do you tell the difference, price is usually a good starting point. A "handmade" lampwork bead being offered for $2.99 with a sterling silver core, isn't handmade by the person offering it, nor is it likely to have a sterling silver core. Some sellers have a habit of presenting core that is plated with silver as sterling, but this is only known as silver plate, and should not be stamped with the .925 that signifies true sterling silver. Not only are these beads not made by the seller as it is usually stated, but they usually are not annealed. Annealing is a cooling process that takes place in a kiln, which slowly reduces the temperature of the bead at a controlled rate, this can take up to 8 hours. With a very inexpensive bead this step is almost always skipped since it takes time and time is money! Non-annealed beads are unsafe for use in jewelry as they can break at anytime, it could be weeks, months or days after you receive them. These are glass, would you want that to break while being worn on your wrist?

The photos you see in listings are often stock photos, so the beads you get are probably not going to be the ones in the picture. If you are getting 3 beads for $ 2.99, run for your life. It is a good bet that if the seller originates in China or India, you may not be getting quality lampwork beads. You are getting cheap beads.

Most reputable lampwork artist selling on Etsy, Ebay or websites will have acquired a self representing artist designation, as well as a membership with the International Society of Glass Beadmakers. They will tell you in their listings what types of glass they use and how they anneal and clean their beads. I have run across an Ebay seller how had all the right verbiage on her listings, but did not have the self representing artist logo or number to back up her claim of possessing such a designation. When I looked at her listings, I could quickly recognize them as cheap Chinese imports. The best bet is to get to know your seller and ask questions, even ask other sellers you trust, most will be honest with you about whether or not this person is selling handmade beads. After awhile you learn to spot them, not to mention within the lampworking community word travels fairly quickly when someone is misrepresenting their work.

This is an age old art form and the people who do it, love it and take pride in their work. It is important to continue to educate people as to the differences in bead quality so they can at least make an informed decision about what they are buying. I certainly don't believe in price gouging, but if it seems too good to be true, price wise, it probably is...