FormFire Glassworks

It’s been a rough couple of weeks on the lampworking end of things. On the 15th, because the kids were out of school, I dropped them off with their grandfather so that I could torch for a couple hours. I did end up with 4 Pandora beads that I was really proud of, but everything else was a bit iffy. I was trying to play with silver glass again, and got 1 bead that was really great, but the others all had 1 tiny thing wrong with each of them. Only part of the bead would strike to a color, and the rest would stay dark, or one little speck of glass would overstrike while the rest was perfect, ruining a great bead. Really frustrating.

Not nearly as frustrating as this Friday’s work. 2 hours of torching with an end result of 5 bad beads. 2 of these were new techniques/tools that will work out fine with some more practice - a new T-shaped mandrel that I learned requires a different glass application to keep the bubbles out (especially the one in the elbow that I could never pop, and showed through when it was annealed) and working with shards (beautiful shards from Janet’s Glass - I had 2 shards work perfectly, and then I got cocky, and I put 3 on too hot, and my bead release broke, so my ends weren’t what I would have liked either). I tried 2 more Pandoras that 1) got too big as I was attempting a faux boro squat barrel and the encasing was heftier than I had anticipated, 2) the colors weren’t what I had hoped, and 3) although the clear had looked really good going on, had slight scumming that showed through the sides. Aaargh! It’s really hard to try to produce work and practice at the same time with a limited time frame. I’m really happy with the T-bead, and will be trying that again on Friday, and I’ll probably make an attempt at the shards, but it’s rough when some days you come out with 5-10 good beads and then you work and end up with zilch. 

So I need to psyche myself up for torching this Friday. I’m going to have a plan and see where it takes me.

On a happier note, I had a chance last week to meet with Krista from Tulip Glass. She was coming to town for another occasion and we got together for a 2 hour visit that turned into over 3. We had  great time discussing the bead business, sharing beads - she’s been doing some electroforming work, something I’ve never done - and I showed her my Jim Moore bead press and how easy it is to core beads with it. We discussed issues of originality, pitfalls and triumphs of selling on Etsy and Ebay, and the best ways to market a business. She has been torching part-time for 6 years now, so she had lots of great information to impart - a real learning experience! We had a lot of fun, and hope to get together to torch next time she’s in town. 

I am currently surfing an avalanche of Pandora-style beady goodness.    

Not only did I just sell 2 of my first Pandora-style silver-cored beads on Etsy, been making and photographing more beads and bead sets, but I have been organizing a Pandora-style bead exchange on Lampwork Etc. We already have 20 registrants - we are each going to put together groups of 5 beads (some are sending in 10), and then I will be mixing them up and sending them back out to all our participants. It has given a chance for some of us newer to the lampworking scene to get involved with people who have been at this for a while. And we have a few members who will be trying this for the first time and have been sucking up all the info available on mandrel size, tubing size (if they want to silver core) and basic overall sizing of this type of bead. I am excited, because not only do I get to have beads from these other artists, but I get to put my grubby little hands all over all of them before they go back out. What a deal!   

Here’s my set up for sale today:  

Except for the times I’ve taken a 2-day weekend class, I have never had more that 4 hours just sitting and torching during a week. I try to go once a week, every week, but this week I hit the JACKPOT! Wednesday night we had Brea Bead Works’ Flame and Fuse/BYOP night, and I got a chance to torch for 4 hours with some of my buddies. We played with some of my new tools -  actually they played and I got re-inspired (I hadn’t been able to get it to work how I wanted). Then I got to come back and torch another 3 hours on Friday. Woo hoo! 

I had a chance to make beads for Sheila’s earrings (which I will send out on Monday), a bead for a pendant for my mother to give as a gift, long beads, a bicone, and lots of Pandora-style beads, which I silver-cored last night. I am going to take pictures today, and will have a new group up on Flickr tomorrow. 

I put these up on Etsy last week, along with a few others. I was able to snag a showcase spot for Saturday, and I got at least 150 new hits from that - no sales, but at least I had people visiting the shop. People came in clicking on the Aqua Pandora, so that went up dramatically, but I noticed that the Rainbow Star 8 jumped pretty high in that one day. I don’t know if they actually like it, it catches the eye because it is brighter than the rest of my items, or if there is some reaction to it just from its color palette.  Wish I knew!  

Sheryan(at)cableone.net! I will be contacting you by email to get your particulars, and will be asking you a few questions to determine what I will make to send you. Didn’t let you guys know that this was in fact a custom set! I was really excited about this giveaway, and I hope my winner will be as well. 

Got some new photos up on Flickr, and listed a new Pandora-style bead in my shop on Etsy. Yes, I did finally manage to get silver tubing that is the right size for the European bracelets, and they look great!  My wonderful husband has been taking all my photos and getting them ready for public viewing, which in the case of yesterday, took a little over 3 hours. He has been so super with all of this stuff, and I promised that I would begin putting a limit on how much we would do. It’s wearing on him, and he didn’t feel great yesterday to begin with. I’m having some difficulty with one of my twins who basically doesn’t want me to list anything for sale that she likes, which is at least half of the ones I have already listed. She was actually in tears - mind you, she’s 10 - she just gets attached to some of the work I do. 

Here’s the new one on Etsy:

 Have a great day! 

As I get into this business, I find that I try to anticipate what people will be interested in. When you post to Flickr, you start to get an idea by how many views you have. Same on Etsy. I keep checking to see how many views there are in a certain amount of time. The ones that keep increasing steadily must at least have some interest, and there are a few where the numbers stay pretty low. Last week I listed a bead on Etsy that I really love, but it was neither complex nor cored or made into a component or piece of jewelry. It was just a tube bead, and to be honest, a color that you either love or hate - orange. Personally, I am a great fan of orange (I’ve even had an orange sofa and an orange wall), but I figured I’d list it to put up something with a lower price point and to have a new listing to bring people in to look. 

It sold this morning to a wonderful Etsy buyer, but I’ll be honest, it was a surprise. I hope she loves it, and I’d love to see what she ends up doing with it. But it just goes to show that no matter what you anticipate, even based on statistics, that buying beads and jewelry is truly a matter of whether or not something hits you just right. So with that in mind, I’m just going to continue making what interests me, and hope it will interest at least one of you too.

I will be giving away a pair of handmade earrings to someone drawn from the comment section on this post - #781 of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival 

Be sure to leave me your email address if you are not logged in! I will be drawing a name this weekend (Sunday night) - Good Luck! I will contact the winner, and will need a reply within 4 days, or the prize will be given to another commenter. 

Well, I got my beads out of the kiln after Friday’s torching session, and although I did have fun using some new tools, I didn’t really end up with anything usable. My husband gently reminded me that this is not a production line, and that I should take my time, especially with new tools. The puffy mandrels were hard to get used to, but I think that they will be great as I get better at keeping an even heat.  I made the mistake of using CIM Leaky Pen, which has to be the stiffest transparent I’ve ever used. It bubbles if you use a high heat, but does NOT like to melt down easily. I had a hard time melting in all the bumps, and more heat just made the bead harder to control - my gentle puff ended up a bit lopsided. I actually like the shape I ended up with - kind of a teardrop bubble, but the finish needs work. Here it is:

So I will focus on technique this week, and not worry as much about product. On the sales end of things, I did sell one bead on Ebay, so at least the first experience with that whole system has been okay for me so far. I decided not to go the $.99 listing route, because I didn’t really see the point of selling something for less than the cost of the materials that went into it. At that point, I think I’d rather just use them for gifts or just let them sit around a while. I put up a few more items on Etsy - a copper capped and cored bead, a silver cored bead, and a 3-bead pendant. I’m getting lots of views, but no bites. Doesn’t help that the news keeps discussing a possible recession - maybe not the best time to start a business, but I figure that I’m making the darn things anyhow, so why not? I’ll wait a little while to see how the 3-bead pendant does, and if it doesn’t sell, I have another idea on how to modify it.  I have so many design ideas that I’m having a hard time letting the PPP (Practice, practice, practice) catch up!

The kids have minimum day this Friday, so I am going to have to take them with me to torch. Not my favorite, because my attention is always divided. Even though they are old enough to keep themselves occupied, they 1) get loud, 2) argue, and 3) come over to ask me things when I’m trying to focus. I’m looking forward to next week’s Flame and Fuse night at BBW (Brea Bead Works), because that will give me 4 hours of time. Can’t wait! 

Unfortunately for me, between the day job, the house and the kids, not only do I have little time for sleep, I also have little time to torch.  I average about 2-4 hours a week, because at the moment I am renting studio space at a local bead shop (thank you Brea Bead Works!).  I hope to have a full studio set up at my house by the end of 2008, but for the time being, it’s what I can do.  So it goes without saying that I feel I need to make my time count, that is, actually come out of there with something - if not saleable, then at least an expansion on something I’ve been working on, or a new idea or theme.  Last weeks work was abysmal - 1 broken, 2 full of bubbles, 1 with bad ends, 1 that would have been good except for one tiny mistake, and 1 that I had tried something new, and I actually learned something.  But all in all, bupkus. 

I did finally get my larger silver tubing, and I cored a few rounds that I had made on a 3/16″ mandrel - my plan was to put these up for sale on Etsy as compatible with the main European bracelets - Pandora, Troll, Biagi, etc.  The pictures turned out pretty good.  All of a sudden, I had a panic attack - what if they actually don’t fit?  I had used the proper size mandrel, but I didn’t want to sell one to someone and have them return it because it wasn’t as advertised! So I made the trip to the mall, bought a bracelet, came home, and… it doesn’t fit! Thank goodness I checked it out - remember, measure twice, cut once! So I modified my description, included a disclaimer that it would not fit on one of these bracelets, and got online to order some tubing one step larger. I figure if I have to, I will open up the hole with my Beadreamer.I am looking forward to seeing what comes out of the kiln tomorrow - I worked with some hollows (tried out my new puffy mandrels from JeriBeads  - they rock, but even though I read the warning on the instruction sheet, I did give myself a circular cut on my finger), tried a new marver from Arrow Springs, and attempted to put together something that resembles a set - we’ll have to wait and see. 

On the business end - I got my resale license this afternoon, which really would have come in handy at the Pasadena Bead Show last weekend, so now it means going back to register my Fictitious Business Name, then get a local business license.  Who knew that there was so much paperwork involved in all of this? Of course, that just less sleep for me…sigh!

Sold my first bead today on Etsy - within a hour of listing it. (Actually the second, but the first was to a friend who was already buying it). I’m so excited - need to work hard on packaging and including my info. I am starting a mailing list, so I hope to be able to put together a special sale or members-only listing. Here it is: 

Welcome to my new bead blog. My plan is to let you know both about new items that I have created as well as information about my foray into the world of lampwork and e-commerce. 

Please visit my Etsy page for  available items while I get my website up and running: Etsy