A Glass Artist's Journey

Beads are getting more and more popular - it never seems to stop - the manic love of beads! For me that is such a blessing - afterall, that is my business - making beads. Lately the bead world has been under attack of sorts. Just as in any industry some folks have emerged, smelling money and are jumping on the band wagon.

While I always welcome a new lampworker - an artist - someone who makes and designs their own beads into the glass community, I certainly look down on those that order beads from China and market them as true lampwork made by them. The newbies in the design world are usually suckered into buying these mass produced beads - after all the price is low and the pictures look good. Unfortunately, they are not getting a bargain for their money.

Even though these supposed lampworkers claim that their beads are annealed (a process done in a controlled setting which brings the bead to a steady temperature over an extended time and then brings it down to room temperature SLOWLY - this removes all the hidden stress in the glass bead and ensures that it will not crack or break unexpectedly), they are not annealed - which compromises the strength of the bead and worse the final design, be it a necklace or bracelet. The beads will not hold up over time, it could be a few months, weeks and even years - but usually months - little cracks begin to work from the inside out and bamm!!! broken bead.

It is so disheartening to have such a crowd lurking in bead world - taking people's hard earned money for inferior product. I have no problem with the Chinese or any other group making beads - but they need to be marketed for what they are. The Chinese lampworker works in unsafe conditions, no ventalation, no safety guidelines - many are children - working hours for pennies! To add to the frey the beads are not properly cooled so they come to the customer compromised and not really fit to put in many designs. What is a Artisan and Self Representing lampworker to do? All I can do is try to educate people about beads, hope they eventually see the difference and go on from there. Sigh....