Art Glass My ^$$

While I was actually in a retail store over the holidays, I stumbled on these bottle stoppers. Art glass for a whopping $4.99! Yeah, right! Pick them up and they have hardly any heft. I seriously think they are plastic! And yet I'm sure people fall for this... I saw one gifted to a friend. ICK!

Nothing like the serious beauties I made for the holidays!

 

It just makes me sick that people fall for this stuff! 

Chinese Glass Beads - You Really Do Get What You Pay For

It's happened time and again at shows and online. "Real" glass bead artisans find themselves next to a poser. Someone pretending to be an artisan but she really imports the beads from China and sells those glass beads for pennies on the dollar. You sit there in your booth, hoping just to break even while the fake "artisan" is selling hand over fist. People really don't understand the vast differences in price between artisan beads and Chinese. And they more frequently than not will opt for savings.

So... let's take a look at what you get for your hard earned pennies when you go for cheaper Chinese glass beads. I ordered the beads below from a Chinese reseller on Ebay over 15 years ago before I knew what quality in a glass bead was. I just wanted something with a pink ribbon on it for my sister.  Upon first glance, they seem ok. But not really... see that while line in the middle of the bead? That's bead release that has not been properly removed. These are dirty beads...

When I took a needle nose tweezer to them, look at all the release I scraped out with very little effort:

When you make jewelry with dirty beads, the beading cord rubs against the bead release and soon, the whole piece looks nasty. Over time, the dirt breaks down the beading cord cutting years off the wear of the piece.

But that's not the only problem. Chinese beads are never annealed. Glass must be returned to room temp from a liquid state in very specific and controlled stages. This takes time and costs money! Digital kilns are not cheap and are often the most expensive tool in the artisan's possession. When you don't take the time to do this, the beads can break easily, often right along the hole.

I am a klutz and you know I make big beads. I have often dropped one of my big honkers on my tile kitchen floor and.... NOTHING happened to it! It did not break because annealing made it strong!

But I dropped one of these on my tile floor just to see what would happen. Being a small bead, I thought it might not break... but it did!

Jewelry makers have to realize that their reputation can depend on the beads they choose for their work. Are you happy getting quick sale or do you want to be known as an artisan of quality pieces? Which one is likely to create repeat business? Is the money saved on these crap beads really a value or simply wasted??

You have to take responsibility when shopping. Grace, Austin Hamilton and their ilk import Chinese crap and try to pass it off as artisan glass, when it is dirty, not annealed and made in a factory for pennies.

When shopping in person, if you see someone selling glass beads much cheaper than other booths at a show, ask them who makes their beads. Is it one person or many??? Do they have boxes and boxes of the same bead? That's a dead giveaway. Most true artisans make 3 -5 of a similar bead but opt for greater choice at a show.

Online, know that even spacer beads should cost at least a buck a piece. If you are buy six or seven beads for $7 including shipping, you are getting Chinese beads. You most certainly won't even receive the beads in the photo.

Photos that show many sets in the same style are another giveaway. So is seeing the same exact item (often using the same photo from the manufacturer) for sale in different shops.

Narrow your search functions be searching for specific glass artists you know of or using the term sra. Be a responsible shopping and you'll find quality glass beads that allow you to create lifetime treasures!

Win for the Not so Little Guy

Almost every type of designer in this country has felt the pressure imposed by someone copying their work - namely by Chinese manufacturers who can make "the same*" product for less. Just this week alone, I have been beseeched by Chinese manufacturers via my Artfire shop to allow them to make beads for my shop!

DO MY BEADS LOOK LIKE CHINESE CRAP???  Yes, I know, I've always been a bead snob. I can spot cheap Chinese fakes a mile off! And I've always had an eye for genuine Swarovski crystals. I can tell the difference between Swarkies and Czech! And most certainly Swarovskis and Chinese knockoffs!

Interestingly enough, Swarovski has fought hard to protect it's image and product over the years, getting patents on certain cuts and even developing their gross packs to not be resealable (Thieves were stealing the packages from jewelry stores that legally sell in smaller quantities, filling the packs with Chinese knockoffs and reselling as genuine!) . And they recently took it to court against a Chinese company violating their Intellectual Property! [The bold red italics below is mine. I LOVE THAT PART!]

From the Swarovski Elements site:

An infringement recently occurred in China: the company namely Yiwu Yongyang Ornaments Co., Ltd. stood accused of producing and distributing flat-back stones imitating SWAROVSKI’s patented XILION cut design. A civil litigation was filed by SWAROVSKI and lead to a settlement in which the defendant admitted engaging in an act of plagiarism that constituted infringement of SWAROVSKI’s registered design patent. The perpetrator was obliged to destroy the goods in question in the witness of the plaintiff; pay a substantial monetary compensation; and issue a public apology that included a statement of intent never again to infringe SWAROVSKI’s design rights.SWAROVSKI’s pursuit of justice was wholly based on the unfairness of plagiarism. SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS take years of costly research and development to produce innovations. Protecting SWAROVSKI’s business partners worldwide from the knock-on effect of such acts of theft is a key motivator for prosecution.

Win one for the not so little guy! More companies need to do this!!

*You all most certainly know that Chinese lampwork is NOT the same as true artisan lampwork right??? It's not cleaned, not annealed and breaks easily. Remember, with art glass, you get what you PAY for! And thanks to the Chinese, you are paying less and less and real ARTISTS are struggling to survive! 

Eyeing the Mystery

I hope as bead and jewelry designers, you subscribe to newsletters created by your favorite vendors. Yes??? Good! I love the Fire Mountain Gems newsletters. They keep me up on trends, have patterns and ideas and sometimes are about the history of a particular bead or jewelry style.

Eye Bead by Holly's Folly

Their recent article on eye beads fascinated me. I admit, I've always had a fascination with them probably because my two closest friends are from  European cultures. I also live near a huge Armenian community - yet another culture that believes in the power of the protective eye.

I've had people / customers from our Western culture say to me point blank, "Eye beads are creepy."  I do my best to inform them of the history and the power that many cultures place on eye beads. From the belief that eye beads offer protection to the wearer... a steady, non-blinking source reflecting evil back on ill-wishers to the idea that you can deflect your own negativity by simply wearing an eye bead. These beads have been around for generations.

But what surprised me even more is the dots and bumps that are so common in glass beadmaking are also believed to add protection to the wearer. The implication is the dots confuse the evil and send it packing. And...dots really are just one more take on creating eyes.

Silvered glass dots focal by Gia Pet

I've heard different tales over the years as to the number of eyes that is desirable. A friend told me to never have two...that they cancel one another out. Yet the article pointed out that two eyes on a bead actually means protection for a love / marriage / relationship. 

The other magic number of eyes to wear is nine. But if your beadmaker is oh so talented with balancing lots of murini on a big bead... why stop there? Check out this 25 eye bead made my by friend Janel of Janel Dudley Beads (shop closed until she moves in April) 

I urge you to read the Fire Mountain Gems article to know more but I want to leave you with a question. This next photo is what is typically thought of as a common eye bead:

Made in China, most certainly not cleaned or annealed and available for around 50 cents. Please tell me, do you see the difference in of these mass made beads and the beads I and my fellow Fire Divas make? 

The Desire for Junk

I was all a flutter yesterday when the most well known importer of Chinese crap lampwork glass beads decided to follow me on twitter. HUH??? WTH? As usual, I over analyze EVERYTHING!

Why are they following me? I don't sell enough to be considered a well-known beadmaker and I don't make enough to be considered prolific. Hmmm... Maybe they just want to steal ideas!!!!!! How DARE THEY! Well of course they dare...that's how they became the giant monolith of a vendor they are! (For those of you who are wondering, I'm referring to "that Texas sounding place;" First name is the capitol of Texas, last name Hamilton).

As I went to their twitter site to block them from reading my tweets, my heart sank as I realized they have twice as many followers as I do. It would seem there is an endless supply of people who want to buy cheap crappy beads instead of tasteful, well-made, properly cleaned and annealed art glass beads.  And I wonder why I can't make a living a this!  It's like educating the ocean, one drop at a time.

It's so odd that we all want lower prices, but we all want to be well paid for our time. I have always supported artists and hope and pray that one day, I find customers who feel the same way about me and my work.

My Love Affair with Lampwork

I thought I first became aware of lampwork beads while working as a producer on The Carol Duvall Show. But, when I look back over the years, I've always had a fascination with a good piece of glass. I'll delve into that later. Let's deal with more recent history.

I started working on Carol's show in January 1999. The field producer (bits shot outside on location) was working on a piece about a lampwork artist. I was fascinated.

In the meantime, I was an avid rubber stamper and starting stalking becoming friends with Bindy Lambell and her young eight-year-old daughter, Lacey. Bindy was a demo artist with Sunday International Rubber Stamps and when she would leave the booth at a trade show, Lacey would take over and demo! She was awesome!!!

I started pitching Lacey as a guest to Carol. The network didn't want kids on the show...afraid of doing too many "kid projects." Little did they realize, Lacey was NOT a kid project kinda gal. Her stuff was classy. It would take me a year of begging before Lacey got an official invite. I finally convinced them by simply showing a project and not telling them a kid made it!

Little did I know this friendship would change the direction of my life....

But yet another guest on Carol's Show would have an impact on my glass fanaticism. Orna Willis, a designer specializing in needlepoint, was one of my guests. Orna would show up dripping in lampwork beads. I was mesmerized! I would stare at her chest or grab her wrist and pick apart each bead with my eyes! She would even have a long strand of glass beads dangling from her scissors to make them easier to find.

It was Orna who told me about ebay...OY! (This was well before the Chinese influx of crap beads on the market!) I simply loved when Orna came to town. I couldn't wait to see what she would be wearing.

Now, back to Bindy. With each show that Lacey did, Bindy and I became closer friends. She was an avid beader and had had many of her designs grace the covers of magazines. She too had a fascination with lampwork beads.

When I knew it was time to leave Carol in 2001 (I was in desperate need of foot surgery and headed to a wheelchair!), Bindy begged me to take a class with her at San Gabriel Bead Company. After totaling up the tally for the class, I declined, not knowing how long it would be before I was gainfully employed again.

Two months later, Bindy quit her job and made a living selling her beads full time!

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