Monday, September 29, 2014

Halloween Jewelry

Of all those scads of Halloween Cupcakes I made a while back, as well as the majority this year's Halloween focals were sold to ONE person. She helps run a Halloween Haunted Castle fundraiser so I think she wanted lots of options for all those endless planning meetings beforehand. She had me turn them into pendants and I thought I would show them off.

Below are the Jack Skellington Cupcake and the Spidey Focal:


Here is the Calaveras and a Dracula Bead (custom for my client):


Next we have the Cauldron Cupcake and the Rasta Pumpkin:


And finally, the Pumpkin Witch Hat and Frankie:



A fair number of the cupcakes are still left and I've moved them to ebay. Take a l@@k and I can wrap one up for your fright-fest!

Monday, September 22, 2014

Fresh Glass 9.22

I made a couple more punkin witch hats the other day. One for a Halloween Swap and one for a request by a friend. Still hoping to make myself one but it was just too hot the day I made these!

I truly hate that Vetrofond is not making rods for beadmakers any more. There are so many fabulous colors that no one makes! Their ivory rocks... and turns flips over Effetre's IMO! Yellow Ice is to die for. And... tangerine sparkle... I'm gonna miss it so!

I'm a bit under the weather so instead of working in the stamp shop on that ginormous order I need to press, I'm going to move all the Halloween cupcake beads to ebay. Come check them out....

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Fresh Glass 9.18.14

The focal was a color combo suggested but a Facebook customer. Didn't think I would like it...but I love it! I'll be revisiting this as the focal is already sold.
All the spacers were an experiment with a silver glass frit... hate them all. I won't be revisiting those! LOL!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Homeless Beads Placed!

I'm still trying to move on from my non-paying customer. I've sold all but two of the beads she bought. . I've heard from even more artisans Teresa Baze has ripped off and owes way more money to than me... I guess I'm lucky! She does this on ebay too and my advice is to block her!

But it occurred to me I have forgotten to catalog all the pretties that have been finding homes!






















 Places I sell:

And if you are a lampwork fan and on Facebook, be sure to check out:
Lampwork Bead Auctions https://www.facebook.com/groups/LampworkBeadAuctions/members/?order=default




Artisan Lampwork Beads for Sale https://www.facebook.com/groups/artisanlampworkbeadsforsale/




Lampwork Bead Market https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkbeadmarket/




Lampwork Beads and Jewelry Carousel Auctions (Made to Order) https://www.facebook.com/groups/LBJCAuctions/





Perfectly Flawed Glass Beads

Gone to Pieces - Budget Lampwork

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/perfectlyflawedglassbeads/


https://www.facebook.com/groups/gonetopiecesbeads/





Lampwork Auctions https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkauctions/




Glass Pendants and Wire Wraps for Sale https://www.facebook.com/groups/gpwwfs/



And, I usually have links on my fan page!

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

When Customers Don't Pay - An a-BAZE-ing Sale!

If there is one downside to selling on Facebook, it's is when customers don't pay! I can't tell you why they don't as I've heard many simply never reply to your emails.

I personally have not had too much of an issue with this...but I have had friends that have had horrible luck with non payers! But recently, one customer, Teresa, got herself into some hot water...bidding and bidding and bidding...from MANY of us. We often started chatting two by two... "How much does she owe you?" "I heard she owes _____ about a hundred too!"  And then it turned into a massive chat with a bunch of sellers griping and she got wind of it and blocked us all.

All these items remain unpaid for by my customer and will be the focus of my Facebook sales this week.

I'm not proud of having participated in that chat...but this is after her being weeks late owing me - and many other at least $100 each. She owed one $200. (And I have no issue using her name here...she's messed with my income and when you do that, I have no problem embarrassing you!)

She had gotten banned from three sites when I first met her. I campaigned to an owner I'm friends with to please let her back in..."she says it was all an misunderstanding"... She bought from me repeatedly and I was happy with her business. Until she just kept adding and adding and kept pushing her pay-by deadline.

I really don't mind running a tab for regulars. I sell more and they save on shipping; I save on Paypal fees... win / win!  But most have a comfort zone of when they pay. For some it's $50; others $100. But when she stopped communicating and cut off contact... I was done.

OTHER Blocks...

One part of the problem is that some people have their privacy settings so that  strangers can't contact them on Facebook and our emails often go to the OTHER mailbox. Facebook literally has a mail box called "other!" How lame is that???

I cannot tell you how many sellers and customers alike have NO IDEA there is the "other" mailbox! When you click on your mailbox icon on Facebook, next to the word inbox is the word other... check it! You may have some mail that is years old!

The forever lame "other" mail box. Gee, thanks Facebook!

And then you get into people who block... when you block someone on Facebook, not only can they not contact you, both of you cannot see what the other posts. You could be commenting in the same thread... bidding on the same bead and you cannot see it! Bottom line, if you want to buy on Facebook, you shouldn't block people. 


The Artist's Way...
As an artist, we are often mentally paying our bills as we sell. For those of you with real jobs, this may not make sense. But as someone who has always worked freelance, I never know when the money is going to come. It's often feast or famine! Boom or bust!

When someone commits to buying a bead, I'm mentally paying down a credit card, or knowing I can run my dog to the vet, or buy that new tool I've been dreaming of for a year! YOUR commitment to buy MEANS something to me! A hundred bucks may not mean much to Teresa, or anyone else...but to me it does!


Teresa Baze is a liar and not a friend of artists. She commits to purchase things she has no intention of paying for. Is she cares to pay me the $98 she owes me plus shipping and taxes, I'll be happy to remove this note!


Monday, September 1, 2014

Dichro Mystery Glass

I got in the habit long ago of digging in the dichroic scrap box whenever I would visit my giant glass supplier. It was an affordable way to have some shiny, sparkly dichro for my students.

When the glass guild I belong to goes down to CBS Dichroic, the manufacturers of the amazing dreamy glass, I would pick up sample bags there. Since I work in all COEs of glass, I'm pretty strict about keeping things separated in the the studio.

A few weeks back, I found this lovely piece of silver and I was just in the mood for silver and black. It was in a bag of 104 from CBS. I made a wonderful bead... and it was in pieces on the floor of the kiln!

I started to question myself... where did the glass come from? Could it have been placed in the wrong bag?? So I made a 90 COE bead and... same thing!

It was now a joke and a mystery to solve. So I made the above 96 bead (using the last of that annoying silver!) and it was not in pieces when I took it out of the kiln! But pieces of it crumbled off when I removed it from the mandrel!

Knowing full well I've never bought any 33 dicrho...do they even make that??... I just wrote it off to experience with no bead to show. I do wish I had a piece of silver dichro that would actually work though...