Fresh Glass 7.10.14

Update on Selling Venues on Facebook

With the creation of all these selling pages on Facebook, it's actually becoming possible to make some decent income! No more letting good beads go to die on Etsy! In fact, I spent the holiday weekend cleaning out beads from my expired Etsy listings and actually selling them on Facebook.

I have been in a listing funk since Mabel died. Part of us was that I was listing while she was trying to tell me how sick she was. It took a dear friend pointing out that listing beads was how I took care of Mabel to make me want to get over it! But the other part was...there are so many groups to keep up with, and different rules in each one, my brain was about to explode!

July 4 Listings Ending July 6

I did what I always when I feel overwhelmed... I made a spread sheet... tut will follow later in the week! But suddenly when I could see it on "paper" - it all made sense and my listing fog was over! I've had so much fun this weekend... some things sold while I was working on other listings. I had sales in under five minutes! OMG!

So I thought I would update you on where I was selling and some of the rules highlights for you glassers out there:

Name	Main link	Listings	NUTSHELL
Lampwork Bead Auctions	https://www.facebook.com/groups/LampworkBeadAuctions/members/?order=default	2
Artisan Lampwork Beads for Sale	https://www.facebook.com/groups/artisanlampworkbeadsforsale/	4
Lampwork Bead Market	https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkbeadmarket/	2
Lampwork Beads and Jewelry Carosel Auctions	https://www.facebook.com/groups/LBJCAuctions/	??	Juried group; secret group section for sellers only. Must be willing to remake / take orders MUST APPLY
Gone to Pieces - Budget Lampwork	https://www.facebook.com/groups/gonetopiecesbeads/	2 ??	Max BIN is $25 MAX bid is $5… orphans and cheaper beads… non handmade allowed on destash weekends. More than two but unsure of total listing numbers
Lampwork Auctions	https://www.facebook.com/groups/lampworkauctions/	6
Glass Pendants and Wire Wraps for Sale	https://www.facebook.com/groups/gpwwfs/		off mandrel
Lampwork Beads for Sale	https://www.facebook.com/home.php	1	NO logos, real names, no spacers, nothing in photo not sold with the bead.. LAST RESORT	Banned - run by crazy people!
JEWELRY
Lampwork Beads in Action	https://www.facebook.com/groups/730565123643878/
Artisan Deisgners Jewelry Buy Sell	https://www.facebook.com/groups/1429539487289238/
Jewelry Designers Open market	https://www.facebook.com/groups/JDTSG/		Indiviual trunk shows for jewelry artists
The Jewelry Box	https://www.facebook.com/groups/JewelryBoxTrunkShows/		Indiviual trunk shows for jewelry artists

Remember: These groups are ALL private! You must join to shop!

There are A LOT of places to sell and you will have to find the one that works for you! There are some I haven't mentioned...because they don't work for me. Some have too many rules and too much stricture. Some have rules that change daily. Some have admins that openly mistreat members. Don't sell there! Sell where it is fun and profitable for you! Promote your sales and it will work for you! And buy where your favorite sellers are!!!

July 5 Listings Ending July 6th

Breast Cancer Goddess Wrapped

I just finished this custom order for a wrapped Breast Cancer Goddess. She's heading to Australia!

I really love how she came out!

I will still have some orphan beads for clearance on the various Facebook sites over the holiday weekend. Remember to check my fan page for details.

Fresh Glass / Listing Again!

I made these in JC Herrell's class at The Mandrel. My favorite... the starry night bead...I'm keeping. And the long skinny has been sold. It was such a fun class and JC's tips for practicing stringer work were worth the price of admission!

 My other personal fave is in the lower right... Two enamel colors perfectly blended... so simple but I can't stop staring at it!

Here's a better shot of the long skinny:

That was an experiment in boiling enamels.

I'm listing beads again... trying to clean out some of my one offs and orphans this week. These are from yesterday and the blue flower has sold. 

As always, I post a collage on the fan page with current links!

Thanks for @@king and your support during this difficult time.

Vet Relief Trunk Show!

I incurred a huge vet bill the day Mabel got sick. More than I make in TWO months! And I've been so deep in grief, I haven't been making beads or listing.

One my pet blogger friends decided to host an auction on my behalf and gathered donations from blogville and that goes live tomorrow. There are lots of pet themed items there! The auction is HERE.

That got me in gear... I make stuff... I should donate to my own benefit, right??? Well, as my luck goes, my favorite sales venue for in person sales burned to the ground on Mother's Day! And as I'm not teaching as much anymore... no students and they lay you off! I've decided to liquidate my show stock to pay off the vet!

The show is LIVE NOW!  Categories and links are as follows:

***BEADS*** are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290258861149023/

***NECKLACES*** are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290266157814960/

***EARRINGS*** are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290281161146793/

***BRACELETS***are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290285367813039/
 
***ORPHAN BEADS AND WEIRDOS*** are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290289374479305/

***GIFTS*** are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/290028454505397/permalink/290494811125428/

Come shop and help with the vet bill if you can!!! 

Memorial Bead - Charlie

I was asked some time ago to work on a Memorial Glass Bead for Charlie. Charlie was a therapy dog and his mom is a repeat customer who places my Memorial Beads among her Chihuly's! (I'm BEYOND flattered!). As always, I like to know about the dog or person to be memorialized in glass:

Charlie was not the smartest dog on the planet, but definitely the sweetest.  He had the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen, and was the best snuggler ever.  Charlie loved children, and was a therapy dog.  He worked at a not-for-profit literacy organization in downtown Detroit, where kids who were reading-challenged would sit and read to him.  He also worked at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, most often in the burn unit.  He had an uncanny ability to sense what each child needed and brought so much comfort to them.  And he loved to sleep, preferably in the softest chair he could find – always with pillows for his head.  His favorite toy was a very large soft fleece ball.  And I mean very large – 18” in diameter.  He would carry it around and look like a giant bullfrog.  When he lay down, he would put it under his chin as a pillow.  Mostly, he just loved to be loved.  

 

Charlie

 About Charlie's Bead

Charlie's mom wanted a blue bead to represent Charlie's calming presence. She originally wanted twisting ribbons which I do in my off mandrel work but as this was a display bead that needed a hole, that would be problematic. I did make a few attempts at getting it to work... to no avail! The bead release broke. Then we tried a few examples of paw prints on the blue to see what Charlie's mom liked best.  These are the prototypes:

 

 

She really had her heart set on cobalt and subtle paws as she didn't want to take away from the ashes showing in the glass. The color tests above where to show how different background reflect the light differently.

And here is the first shot of the Charlie bead right out of the kiln.

And here it is all cleaned up and ready to go. I love how the cremains swirl and reflect the light... and how they popped through right above the paw.

 

 

I failed to realize as I was shooting this photo that my own pup, Mabel has walked up and was reflected in the bead. The next memorial beads I made were hers. I'll tell you about those really soon.

Even though this large bead is a really straightforward design and far less complicated that most of the memorial beads I make, I just love it. Simple and elegant! These are always my favorite beads to work on....they touch my soul in such a deep way! 

Glass Beads Finding Good Homes!!

NOTE: This post was composed just before Mabel Lou passed away. I thought I would add a few more pics to it, but I have not had the ability to list since then. I was listing beads when she was trying to tell me how sick she was.... A dear glasser friend pointed out to me that I list beads to take care of Mabel and I and that forgiveness is in order. I'm working on it...

I am doing my level best to get used to my new normal. I've been working a lot...for which I'm so grateful. Income and being busy and not in my suddenly very empty home are all good things! But I made beads yesterday... Memorial beads with Mabel's cremains. I had her pics all around me and I truly felt her there. It was a nice way to say goodbye. My girl's funeral is today and all the important people and dogs in her life will be there.

I'll have more posts for you this week and I will be listing again within the week. Thanks for your patience!
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More glass bead placements to report! YAY! (Note: these were all the beads that sold the week Mabel passed... I just forgot to publish!)

No Muse; No Update

I haven't posted here in a while and felt I should. My muse, my co-worker, my love is gone. My beloved pup, Mabel Lou, passed away last week. My heart is broken. 

 She was always at my side as I made beads. Mabel had two beds in the studio, one beside the torch and one in front to the left (no flying hot glass there!) It hasn't felt right to be there - or anywhere - without her!

Add in that one of her favorite restaurants burned to the ground right after she passed...our neighborhood hangout... and it just feels like too much loss!

I took a job teaching grade school as a sub to guarantee I would have an income and yet not be gone til all hours like my work in the film industry. I just wanted to make sure I got my girl to her creek every single day while still keeping a roof over our heads. I hate this job and now, I'm free to look for something else.

But I've been getting calls almost daily...which I'm grateful for. I spent a fortune trying to save Mabel, then have her cremated. And had some car issues this week...all not cheap. Just very happy, I will have a little pay toward bills. And so very happy to not be home much!

In my efforts to avoid home, I'm also taking some glass classes this weekend. Very thrilled to get some skills from a master, see some glassy friends and get away from our 100+ temps!

So that's where I've been and what's going on... Keep me in your prayers if you will. I know some big changes are coming and it's all a bit much to contemplate!

Yet Another Reason Etsy Just Doesn't Get It!

The other day, I was searching for a cover bead for the  next day's issue of Glass Beads Daily. I do my best to feature all the "regulars" at least once a month.  This often involves me checking to see which of a particular artist's beads I've featured in the past few months. My fear is that I will love something so much and that it hasn't sold and I will feature it twice.

It was my real life friend's Donna's turn to be cover girl. Her studio is Prima Donna Beads. As I perused her last few features on the blog, I clicked on one of the featured beads as a quick way to get to her Etsy shop.  And this is what I found:

I can't tell you how angry this made me! Think about this from a seller's perspective: I leave links to MY work around the web;  I do the promoting of my shop; Someone clicks and if that item is sold out, there is NOT ONE photo of MY work but there are one DOZEN pics from the competition??? WTF ETSY???

Let me clearly state I have NOTHING against the artists who happen to be listed here. In fact, I "know" all of them through Glass Beads Daily as they all share their work over there. I deeply admire all of them and their mad skills. I guess kudos go to Etsy for not randomly choosing some of those mass produced Chinese glass beads and using actual artisan links.

But really, would it kill you to stuff a few pics from the artisan that brought the customer to the website. I knew Etsy was doing this if there was nothing in the shop that the customer clicked on. But Donna's shop had several dozen items... they could have filled that page with her beads and hers alone! Wouldn't that be the fair thing to do??? After all it was her link that got the customer to Etsy!

Between Etsy's policy of allowing contract work - which I read as "Bring your Chinese crap beads and sell them here! We don't care if they are mass produced garbage that's not annealed and likely to break as long as we (Etsy) make money!" Now this... I'm so done.

BTW, the artists listed in the pic are genuine handmade glass bead artists one and all and they all make lovely beads too! They're shops are: 

Beads by Stephanie | Heather Behrendt | Debbie of All My Beads | Lampwork by Amy

As so many of us are migrating to an interactive customer experience, if you truly enjoy artisan glass beads and quality lampwork, here are a few private Facebook pages to join:

Lampwork Beads for Sale
Lampwork Bead Market
Artisan Lampwork Beads for Sale

These are just a few... There are also groups specializing in wire wraps and pendants, lampwork jewelry, etc... Come join the fun!! It's a great place to hang out, be inspired, interact with other artists and...people who "get it!"

Auction Experiment

While I have been singing the praises of the sales groups springing up on Facebook, there are some things left to be desired.

All of the groups are ultra private... so there are NO share buttons on the auctions. You have to really WORK to share your listings... Copy the link, sign into your fan page, paste the link and upload the pic, sign in as yourself, go to your fan page and share. OY! I "think" this is fear of spam but how hard is it to just block and ban but allow the group to be seen??

And... the other downside is... I've seen some terrible hurt feelings when bidding gets heated. Additionally, portable devices can only view 20 listings and sometimes you get a notification that someone has commented (a bid!) but you can't SEE the comment. That is because the Facebook app SUCKS!  I always recommend people ditch the app and just surf over on an actual web browser.  And that app leads to bids not appearing fast enough and well, people get upset.

There HAS to be an easier way... so I've been searching. And searching. I stumbled upon the Buddy Bid App on Facebook. It's genuine auction software! It does ask you for a bit of info before allowing you to bid...but it only takes seconds and you can bid on an item!

So, I'm running an experiment on my glass bead fan page and listing an auction there. There is a low start on this silver laden heart glass bead focal. I hope you'll take a look and maybe even bid. Is this the future of Facebook??? Can we kill off FeeBay once and for all???