Looking for focal lampwork beads

It's probably going to be difficult to find an artist that will be able to do 5 beads that large for only $10 apiece. 35mm is a lot of glass, even if it's a tabular bead. I do wish you luck, though. Have you tried eBay?

I took a peek at your site. So, are you asking for donations? Or are you buying things to sell on your site? Or what? If you're planning on selling things that are upscale, you would be looking at selling things for what? $50 to $100 each? I see that you do some sell things at your site for over $100, so I would guess you are a professional yourself.

Generally people here first respond on the newsgroup. If you ask for something, usually we expect people to be interested enough to check on the newsgroup.

Tina

On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 22:56:51 -0400, Handmaid For The Lord wrote (in message ):

Is this for charity? If it's for your own personal profit, I'd hesitate to ask the artists here to donate beads at less than the cost to make them.

Again, if this is for your own personal profit, I consider your request to be quite a bit over the line. If your finished pieces are going for big money, perhaps you could find a lampwork artist who would work with you for a 50/50 split of the finished price of the piece.

If

I'll email this as well as post it, but it's considered incredibly rude to ask advice on a newsgroup if you don't want to participate in the group.

As for the lampwork beads, I'd give up on the idea of large artist made pieces for such a low price. How about using some abalone shell pendants or the like, which are in your price range? Or you could beadweave a focal, which would be creative and affordable?

Kathy N-V

Thank you Kandice, I've never worked with this kind of artist bead before, just stock from Firemountain and the like. I didn't know what to expect pricewise and since I'm not a glass worker, I don't know what is involved in the bead making process. I didn't mean to under-value an artists work. I hope I didn't offend anyone, although from the looks of the other posts, I think I did. I'm truly sorry. It was recommended that I try this newsgroup, a friend thought that someone here might be able to direct me better. Thank you for the advice to go to ebay. I'll try there.

Peace, Kathleen

I'm not offended, but I am confused. As Kathy also appears to be. By the way, what are sacrifice beads? Never heard of them before.

Tina

Dear Christina,

I tried to email you but it bounced back saying your box was full.

I'm not looking for donations. As I mentioned, I have a budget and I'm looking for pieces to sell at a jewelry party. I thought that someone here might be a reseller for their pieces. This is not part of our online business; a friend of mine asked me to do a non-religious jewelry party for her 'yacht club' friends. Yes, I do have one or 2 pieces on our site that are over 100.00 but that's not the norm. They were created from materials that I received as gifts and were 1-time creations. Our religious business was started to offer teens a low cost alternative to sterling and gold 'religious' jewelry (medals and crucifixes) that are seen everywhere. The biz just grew design-wise over the past 3 years. It was actually a homeschooling highschool project; my 16y/o dd, Julianna, is my biz partner.

As for this project, yes, it is for profit. My dd is going off to college and I'm trying to find a way to pay for it. Is this what you are asking? I'm not sure how to respond. I usually buy pieces from Firemountain and Shipwreck, etc., but they don't have anything large enough. I didn't know where else to turn and a friend from an online list suggested that I try this newsgroup.

I honestly didn't think that my request to email me directly was out of line. It's done all the time on email lists. I would never discuss a business proposal with a supplier in public. Is this done on this newsgroup? I guess I don't know the proper netiquette for newsgroups. I do apologize. Like I said, a friend who is on this group, thought that I would find someone here who is a reseller. I guess I had the wrong group.

RE: Sacrifice beads. This is the tradition from the life of St. Therse of Lisieux. She had a great devotion to Jesus even at a very young age. Her older sister Marie recognized this devotion and Therese's willingness to make sacrifices to Jesus during the day. Maria wanted to help her. So she strung 10 beads on a cord and told Therese, who was about 4y/o, to pull a bead down the cord for every mortification or good deed done in the name of Jesus. This tradition has carried on today; the beads are either called, "Good Deed Beads" or "Sacrifice Beads".

I did find an artist who is graciously working with me on this project. Thank you for being patient with this newbie.

Peace, Kathleen in PA

Hi Kathleen,

This darned virus keeps filling my public address. Sorry you got bounced.

If you're going to be doing jewelry parties, I hope you'll hang out here and learn to get more bang for your buck. Lots of good information here. When will this party be happening? How much time do you have?

What would you like to do with these large beads? I ask because, it's not the size but the quality that makes a difference, and often the addition of a few Swarovski crystals to a smaller bead will give you a better product, than trying to make a well balanced peice with a single large bead.

By they way, the on group thing? Usually people are in need of information even more than they are in need of a product to buy. By staying in the group, you get much more information, and people can network. The effect is synergistic.

It's really cool that your daughter is participating in this enterprise to get her through college. Any thoughts on where? College of the Holy Names maybe? Kathy N-V has lots of good info on kids and jewelry and business. You should check her posts out some time.

You're not likely to find a re-seller of big beautiful glass beads here. But there are quite a few bead makers here.

Two sources for auctions for hand made beads are JustBeads

eBay If you don't mind telling us where you live some one might have a good suggestion for a local supplier for beads. And if you buy more that just a very little bit you might prefer ordering from Rio Grande. Better quality for about the same price, but they usually sell in slightly larger lots.

I hope you'll stick around. Most of us here have improved our work and our business by making use of this group.

Tina

Hey, I don't mind at all. I wasn't offended - I got the idea that you weren't sure about prices and didn't know much about the type of bead, so no problem there. If you don't find what you need at eBay, and want to discuss maybe one or two beads for $50 (if they have to be that large), let me know. I do custom work and would be happy to let you know what's involved. You can get smaller lampwork beads for less money. Basically, the more glass and the more intricate the design, the more expensive the beads are.

Honestly, I didn't think the request to email you was out of line either. I am kind of at a loss myself as to why that was regarded as not right - since I ask people to email me off of the group if they are interested in my work. I think maybe some here were just confused as to what you were asking for. I pretty much thought you were selling your pieces for profit and didn't know as much about lampwork.