Congrats, Kalera!

That is awesome, thanks Kalera!

cheryl

L> Just picked up the latest issue of BeadStyle and our own Kalera has a letter

Absolutely! Now if only the other magazines would listen too!

-Su

I saw that too! YEY! And they allowed the mention of Austin Hamilton's company name, which should really help a lot.

Way to go, Kalera!

I'll add another Yay! to the chorus.

Ingrid

I'm only just getting back to eBay after a two year absence. I discovered Austin Hamilton and thought "wow, what a prolific bead maker". The more I looked, the more it didn't seem possible that one person was making all these beads (549 auctions out there as of my current count). So I looked around on the different lampwork sites and found out the skinny on this company.

Good for you Kalera, for taking the time to "get it out there" so that people know what they are dealing with.

Jill

So, any news on magazines that do not have AH adverts?

-Su

No new news! However, I think the tide is changing. Your idea for the full-page ad is wonderful... I hope that does pan out.

One suggestion I have is to place the ad in Beadwork, because we (artisan beadmakers) have pretty much been snubbed by Kalmbach Publishing and having a FULL PAGE ad in their competitor is money right out of their pocket... money they lose because of their stance in refusing to give credibility to the evidence of wrongdoing on the part of one advertiser.

Last, I th> Kalera wrote:

I wrote a formal cancellation of future adverts to both Beadwork and B&B this week, on the 20th. Yes, I know it's close to the holidays but not so close that they couldn't have written and said 'We got your letter, thanks, we're definitely giving it some consideration'. Not a jot, not a peep. Nada.

I am most inclined to put the ad in the one magazine that listened and cancelled the giveaway, it's a decent chunk of cash and giving it to a magazine that ignores us seems a bit painful. It's something that will take a while to think through, but surely the publications must be seeing that it is a situation that matters to the beading community. I would prefer a letter-writing campaign but those are harder to get moving oddly enough than something like this ad.

Yup. The thing now is what sort of domain name would it be? I think these are vital issues and they will last long past the point of AH/M*nek acutally doing the legal and ethical thing. I hope to show them that it's not true that any publicity is good publicity.

-Su

Su,

I had some thoughts in mind when I was distracted (happens a lot) by the domain name thing. I checked a couple of likely candidates and the one that was available is: artistmadebeads.com -- I snagged it for the use of whoever does the website, if you want to use it. I got it for two years and the cost is on me; just let me know where to point it.

I read about the ad, maybe on LE, and I'll sign up there. It's a great idea--very proactive. I just hope that the focus is about how great artist-made beads are, not just what junk AH might be selling.

The kiln is hot, so I gotta go do what I do ... hope I've been of some help to the movement.

Nolly

Cool. Sounds like a great name. I get distracted too, mostly by shiny things which is a problem if you live with a beadmaker.

The focus is going to be on honesty in advertising. I hope to simply present the information and the issues. Chinese beads are what they are. Not telling people you're selling beads made in China has a lot of ramifications. The seller is cheating the buyer by not allowing them to make an informed decision on the purchase, the seller is misleading the buying public about the nature of the beads, the reason is simply this... people will pay more for 'artisan' beads than beads made in China therefore telling people the beads are 'artisan' beads and not beads made in China means more money in the pocket of the seller. And no concern at all about the ethics of it all.

Absolutely!

The more sites up with the information on there the stronger the collective voice anyway. I'm hoping to find time tonight to write up my thoughts. As many sites as possible who want to echo what I present are welcome to and add their own to it.

To me at least, the vital issue is ethics and honesty. Tell the truth, Austin Hamilton beads are made in China. It's become a mantra for me, almost. And once they start telling people the beads are made in China then they'll be on the same level playing field as everyone else who sells beads made in China, and that's what matters.

Beads made in China aren't necessarily bad or crappy or even worthless. But lying about them is bad and crappy and unethical. And it's time to get it stopped.

-Su