Some eye candy

Lovely choices, I enjoyed looking at them.

Although I was surprised to see that the second seller sells to Australasia.

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

I can't believe these didn't sell, with an opening bid of $9.00 and no reserve!

I might bid on them myself. The prices on ALL his work are low!

-Kalera

-snip-

He has some great beads for that price.

Then again... I'm confused... WHO makes these? I can't seem to find out for sure... they're "designed" by local Vancouver artists, it says... but something seems a little unclear. If they're imports I'm impressed, because they're quite nice, but I like to know before I bid.

-Kalera

Yep. I'm on a bidding diet, although Miss Starlia made me break the diet the other day! I think his work is great, Oddly enough he has the cube lime swirl listed twice. They remind me of really good dill pickles or something you should drop into a tall glass of gin and tonic.

-Su

-Su

I don't see any place where he says he makes these beads. He says they're handmade, and he refers to them as his (which they would be if he bought them too).

Other beads on his site, flower beads, look imported. From Czech, I would guess.

Tina

In his "About Me" it says that all his lampwork is "designed by" local Vancouver artists.

I think it's imported. Nice for imported, but I wish he'd be more straightforward about it.

-Kalera

OK, so I asked him, and he says his partner/artist Austin actually makes them himself in BC.

I do find it mildly astonishing that he produces so many identical sets, but whatever floats your boat. It's AWFULLY cheap for artisan-made!

-Kalera

LOL - this cracks me up, because about a year ago, I made a few small sets of cubes in exactly the same manner - black with pea green scrolls, some with random trans. green bumps. Not necessarily unique - but when I clicked on these they sure looked familiar! The other beads in his store look imported. Here are mine:

Darnit, I couldn't get the page to open!

I think I vaguely remember yours, actually. That's so funny! And a little odd, but then it's not such an off-the-wall design that more than one person couldn't come up with it. I just don't quite get how anyone could make a profit selling that set for $15, if they made it thmselves... I can't make it add up in my head. You would have to make the beads at a rate of one per minute, to even make $10/hr after all overhead is compensated for and non-creative labor factored in.

-Kalera

Oh, dear. I'm starting to feel a bit mocked. Not as an individual, but as a member of an industry. :(

-Kalera

-Su

I agree. And he always has the same sets, week after week...

..Stephanie..

search RCB

LOL I know - I thought it was pretty interesting. I charged $20 for the set of four - and did that set several times before I stopped doing custom orders. It just made me laugh when I saw this.

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!!

Oh, wait. OMG. Not only is this auction a load of crap, but this person copied my description for lampwork word for word from my web page. OK - that's it.

Look at their description under "What Is Lampwork Beads" (nice grammar by the way) and then go here and read the very first paragraph:

Uh oh! Got get 'em, Kandice!

I also really wonder about his sterling silver. How the heck can he make any kind of profit for the prices he's getting? I'm really dubious about this seller all the way around.

I emailed him and asked who makes the lampwork he sells, and he said his business partner "Austin Hamilton" does. I wonder if Austin Hamilton is the name of a company that has beads made overseas?

They really are handmade lampwork, and they appear to be quite nicely made... and if he anneals and cleans them, he's doing a service to the buyer, but there's a difference between artisan lampwork and imported production line lampwork, and it should be advertised for what it is. I don't think honesty would hurt his prices, either... it's just shady that he chooses to misrepresent his products.

-Kalera