After spending some time the past few weeks re-visiting sites of interest to my historic bead work, such as the Roman forts along Hadrian's Wall and a few museums, it has inspired me to expand the types of beads I make and also to look back at the beads I've made. For the past two years I've worked as much on understanding how the beads were created as actually making them, it's been a very worthwhile effort and one I will always be glad that I did. Taking several years to really have a feel for the beads and spending so much time looking at examples both in publications and in museums has given me the sense of how important they were to their original owners. Not only as decoration or statements of importance, status, power but also as expressions of admiration, affection, respect or love for the recipients of the beads.
Each bead I have looked at is unique, every one created by a beadmaker somewhere and somewhen in the past. Some of the beadmakers were skilled, some of them were very average and some of them, quite frankly, were terrible but every one of them made beads which were treasured by the owner. It is such an enjoyable experience to look at these ancient beads and then have the pleasure of re-creating them again as they most likely appeared when they were new.
Another aspect that I have been enjoying lately is the expansion from the general to the specific, making beads from particular finds rather than general beads of various types. I have ranged across the centuries from early Iron Age beads on through the late Viking-era beads and occasionally stepped past that in date too. There is a world of beads out there as yet untapped and un-made by me, this year is the one that is the start of that expansion into specific finds. As I make them, I think of the connection with the past, the person who owned that particular bead and the person who will own my version of it. Will it be found in a thousand years?
I hope so.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Form first, technique first
Brad Pearson says it so well.
http://pearsonglass.blogspot.com/
Before taking those huge, silver-glass-laden, dichroic steps, make sure the bead you're applying all that glitz to is a good bead.
http://pearsonglass.blogspot.com/
Before taking those huge, silver-glass-laden, dichroic steps, make sure the bead you're applying all that glitz to is a good bead.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Culture clash or simple ethics
In the past month or so we have been trying to track down the people responsible for stealing images of handmade beads from our website, marking them up with prices and sending them out in emails along with a number of other bead images, purporting to sell the beads for the prices on the images, sometimes for amounts around $25/kilo!
While trying to track down the people responsible we've found something that is not just sad but disgusting. No one in India seems to care. One person who had answered an email from us about the issue said essentially that it is 'normal practice' for the company in question to steal images. and that other companies routinely download other images and then pass them off as theirs for sale. The old chestnut of watermarking images was brought up, but why? Every image of a one-of-a-kind bead set would be slashed with messages, so the people who want to buy the sets from us would struggle to see the actual sets. Should we punish our customers because of thieves elsewhere?
We were told that there is nothing we can do. We can approach the British Embassy in India but we doubt that they're going to bother a large Indian company at the behest of an individual artist. A bit of the David and Goliath about it, yes? Imagine the Embassy giving a quick call to the company:
Embassy: Hello, yes, I'm contacting you about some images you stole from a website in the UK. Yes, we're not happy with it.
Them: Shove off. Tell them if they don't stop complaining we'll ruin them.
Succinct, and to the point. Bless them!
Watermarking. Why? Might as well take a photo, put a big blot on it and say 'Here you go, there are beads under there somewhere but we're afraid some thief in India or Russia or wherever is going to nick these images and pass my work off as their own so could you please base your purchases on the little edges of the beads you can see around the watermarks? Thanks ever so much.' Might as well start putting copyright notices across everything to stop the unethical. There goes the art world.....
No. Thieves are thieves. We're not going to blot our landscape for them. If they steal, it's their problem, if we find out about it we'll tell everyone but we refuse to ruin the work we present to the world because they can't be honourable, ethical or frankly just nice.
Oh, yes. Is it a culture clash? No. People are either honest or not. There's no license to steal in Russia or India, ethics don't change based on location. Thieves are thieves no matter where they stand. We refuse to believe that location creates OR excuses such actions. That would be an insult to the people who live honestly.
While trying to track down the people responsible we've found something that is not just sad but disgusting. No one in India seems to care. One person who had answered an email from us about the issue said essentially that it is 'normal practice' for the company in question to steal images. and that other companies routinely download other images and then pass them off as theirs for sale. The old chestnut of watermarking images was brought up, but why? Every image of a one-of-a-kind bead set would be slashed with messages, so the people who want to buy the sets from us would struggle to see the actual sets. Should we punish our customers because of thieves elsewhere?
We were told that there is nothing we can do. We can approach the British Embassy in India but we doubt that they're going to bother a large Indian company at the behest of an individual artist. A bit of the David and Goliath about it, yes? Imagine the Embassy giving a quick call to the company:
Embassy: Hello, yes, I'm contacting you about some images you stole from a website in the UK. Yes, we're not happy with it.
Them: Shove off. Tell them if they don't stop complaining we'll ruin them.
Succinct, and to the point. Bless them!
Watermarking. Why? Might as well take a photo, put a big blot on it and say 'Here you go, there are beads under there somewhere but we're afraid some thief in India or Russia or wherever is going to nick these images and pass my work off as their own so could you please base your purchases on the little edges of the beads you can see around the watermarks? Thanks ever so much.' Might as well start putting copyright notices across everything to stop the unethical. There goes the art world.....
No. Thieves are thieves. We're not going to blot our landscape for them. If they steal, it's their problem, if we find out about it we'll tell everyone but we refuse to ruin the work we present to the world because they can't be honourable, ethical or frankly just nice.
Oh, yes. Is it a culture clash? No. People are either honest or not. There's no license to steal in Russia or India, ethics don't change based on location. Thieves are thieves no matter where they stand. We refuse to believe that location creates OR excuses such actions. That would be an insult to the people who live honestly.
Friday, July 17, 2009
How many?
How many artists does it take to make a show? How many traders does it take to make a bead fair?
As the year progresses, we've been doing a lot of thinking (ouch!) and looking at the aspects of being reliant on bead fairs for part of our sales each year. The main thing we've noticed is the growing number of fairs and also the growing number of beadmakers at the fairs.
Great? Maybe. Um... not really?
It's funny how the same people who use lampwork in their jewellery and try to sell at various venues may find that the limit on jewellery artists in a fair is a problem that they aren't happy about, yet may not feel that the same should apply to shows where supplies are sold, such as bead fairs. The more the merrier for them, a bigger selection and all that.
Is that how it really works? Not in the UK, for a few reasons. One is that there are far fewer beadmakers in the UK than in the US, which lessens the pool of artists who trade and competition is lower for places at fairs because organisers are not being selective about artists. If there were proportionately the same number of beadmakers in the UK as the US, there would be several thousand people vying for places at fairs, rather than several dozen.
Beadmakers are a special section of any fair, they aren't there selling bought-in items where pricing is pretty much set by the pressures of the market forces in action, because ten traders selling crystal bicones or Czech glass beads or semi-precious stones are paying approximately the same wholesale prices and the quality and styles are fairly well the same across the board. So, the shopper can spend time comparing strands of carnelian 8mm beads, find the best price which probably varies within a pound a strand for them, they're made to a certain size, standard and don't want variation or technique applied to make them individual or unique. A show with a certain number of sellers will find that the competition is stiff but at least it's fairly even based on the items being sold.
Not the same for beadmakers.
Lampwork beads are individually created, and the level of skill, the technical quality of the beads and the ability of the artist to produce beads of any value at all varies widely, sometimes even wildly. There is little to compare between an artist who takes time to create unique and original works and offers them with an assurance of several of the most basic things and a beadmaker who sells beads that should be considered 'practice' beads.
Good holes, cleaned, annealed.
You'd think those were a given but it's not always true. People sell unannealed beads or claim that certain shapes mean that there is no way to NOT have sharp edges or any of a large number of other things that make us go 'huh?' a lot. And yet, because they're huddled under the overly large canopy of the 'handmade lampwork' category, there is a feeling from the general buyer that all beads are created equal.
The plain fact is that some beads are more equal than others, and they are not made with the expectation of being sold simply to buy more glass to make more beads. It's not the chicken/egg here, because there is another factor, and that's pricing.
Some artists actually work at the whole beadmaking thing hard enough to try and make it a business that will and occasionally does support the artist. When they sell at bead fairs where people are selling at hobbyist prices it does one of two things. It undervalues or devalues the entire 'handmade by artists' concept of beadmaking and it undercuts people whose work should receive significantly higher prices but cannot because they are competing with people who price their handmade beads at the same level as cheap imported lampwork.
Not everyone who makes beads is concerned about the market. Nor are they concerned about other artists, or frankly anything other than just funding their hobby. And because the bead fairs are allowing more and more hobbyist beadmakers to book, beadmakers who expect to sell beads for 'art' prices are finding that they spend a lot of their time explaining why their bead sets are five to ten times the cost of someone else's when they're both selling 'handmade lampwork beads'. Yes, everyone has to start somewhere, but people who get out there to sell should spend some time taking a look at their market and also their fellow beadmakers and learn to price their work like an artist and not like a hobbyist.
We've reached this point and have spent a lot of time looking at the bead fairs for this year and 2010. In addition to the spate of new shows being planned for next year, we've decided to be a bit drastic about it and are cutting out all shows where we feel that the balance of beadmakers to other traders is not even. A show with 40 traders with 12 of them being beadmakers means a disproportionate balance of traders, and that is unfair to the traders. No craft fair would allow a 25% balance of jewellery makers, in fact it's now very difficult to get into a top-quality craft fair if you do make jewellery. Why it should be different for beadmakers in bead fairs is beyond us, and we're doing the only thing we can, which is voting with our feet.
So, if you go to a bead fair and we're not there, take a head count of the beadmakers and give it some thought because quantity doesn't always guarantee anything at all but lots of tables booked for the show organisers. We have brought this subject up with several organisers, who have taken note of the points we presented; some organisers already make it a practice to keep a balance of types of traders anyway and didn't need to have this simple concept pointed out. The end result is that some shows will have an overload of beadmakers and some will balance the blend of traders. Just like craft fairs who vet their traders and keep a balance, which benefits the traders, the buyers and the organisers.
As the year progresses, we've been doing a lot of thinking (ouch!) and looking at the aspects of being reliant on bead fairs for part of our sales each year. The main thing we've noticed is the growing number of fairs and also the growing number of beadmakers at the fairs.
Great? Maybe. Um... not really?
It's funny how the same people who use lampwork in their jewellery and try to sell at various venues may find that the limit on jewellery artists in a fair is a problem that they aren't happy about, yet may not feel that the same should apply to shows where supplies are sold, such as bead fairs. The more the merrier for them, a bigger selection and all that.
Is that how it really works? Not in the UK, for a few reasons. One is that there are far fewer beadmakers in the UK than in the US, which lessens the pool of artists who trade and competition is lower for places at fairs because organisers are not being selective about artists. If there were proportionately the same number of beadmakers in the UK as the US, there would be several thousand people vying for places at fairs, rather than several dozen.
Beadmakers are a special section of any fair, they aren't there selling bought-in items where pricing is pretty much set by the pressures of the market forces in action, because ten traders selling crystal bicones or Czech glass beads or semi-precious stones are paying approximately the same wholesale prices and the quality and styles are fairly well the same across the board. So, the shopper can spend time comparing strands of carnelian 8mm beads, find the best price which probably varies within a pound a strand for them, they're made to a certain size, standard and don't want variation or technique applied to make them individual or unique. A show with a certain number of sellers will find that the competition is stiff but at least it's fairly even based on the items being sold.
Not the same for beadmakers.
Lampwork beads are individually created, and the level of skill, the technical quality of the beads and the ability of the artist to produce beads of any value at all varies widely, sometimes even wildly. There is little to compare between an artist who takes time to create unique and original works and offers them with an assurance of several of the most basic things and a beadmaker who sells beads that should be considered 'practice' beads.
Good holes, cleaned, annealed.
You'd think those were a given but it's not always true. People sell unannealed beads or claim that certain shapes mean that there is no way to NOT have sharp edges or any of a large number of other things that make us go 'huh?' a lot. And yet, because they're huddled under the overly large canopy of the 'handmade lampwork' category, there is a feeling from the general buyer that all beads are created equal.
The plain fact is that some beads are more equal than others, and they are not made with the expectation of being sold simply to buy more glass to make more beads. It's not the chicken/egg here, because there is another factor, and that's pricing.
Some artists actually work at the whole beadmaking thing hard enough to try and make it a business that will and occasionally does support the artist. When they sell at bead fairs where people are selling at hobbyist prices it does one of two things. It undervalues or devalues the entire 'handmade by artists' concept of beadmaking and it undercuts people whose work should receive significantly higher prices but cannot because they are competing with people who price their handmade beads at the same level as cheap imported lampwork.
Not everyone who makes beads is concerned about the market. Nor are they concerned about other artists, or frankly anything other than just funding their hobby. And because the bead fairs are allowing more and more hobbyist beadmakers to book, beadmakers who expect to sell beads for 'art' prices are finding that they spend a lot of their time explaining why their bead sets are five to ten times the cost of someone else's when they're both selling 'handmade lampwork beads'. Yes, everyone has to start somewhere, but people who get out there to sell should spend some time taking a look at their market and also their fellow beadmakers and learn to price their work like an artist and not like a hobbyist.
We've reached this point and have spent a lot of time looking at the bead fairs for this year and 2010. In addition to the spate of new shows being planned for next year, we've decided to be a bit drastic about it and are cutting out all shows where we feel that the balance of beadmakers to other traders is not even. A show with 40 traders with 12 of them being beadmakers means a disproportionate balance of traders, and that is unfair to the traders. No craft fair would allow a 25% balance of jewellery makers, in fact it's now very difficult to get into a top-quality craft fair if you do make jewellery. Why it should be different for beadmakers in bead fairs is beyond us, and we're doing the only thing we can, which is voting with our feet.
So, if you go to a bead fair and we're not there, take a head count of the beadmakers and give it some thought because quantity doesn't always guarantee anything at all but lots of tables booked for the show organisers. We have brought this subject up with several organisers, who have taken note of the points we presented; some organisers already make it a practice to keep a balance of types of traders anyway and didn't need to have this simple concept pointed out. The end result is that some shows will have an overload of beadmakers and some will balance the blend of traders. Just like craft fairs who vet their traders and keep a balance, which benefits the traders, the buyers and the organisers.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Cloaking devices and visibility online
It's an eternal issue, how do I get myself seen online? It may be a vanity thing, you have a blog and want people to read your words of deep thoughts and high goals. You may simply want to have people see a story of your life, your work, your family or your predilection for wearing odd clothing or driving unusual vehicles.
There's the blog, like this. It's an easy way, if you're good with words. You can post photos, some blogs are almost like a small marketplace, you can drive for sales from it or you can simply post those handy Paypal 'buy this, you'll love it' sort of button things on it and voila, money for stuff!
There are websites, there are online sales venues, there are auctions and forums and social networking sites and tweeting and ... when do you have time to actually MAKE anything, much less photograph it, list it, describe it, name it, give it some loving cuddles before sending it out into the big bad world?
Well, there's a way to create a systematic approach. It's not perfect and it only works if you work at it. Is it your job? Then treat it that way. If you had a boss and a time clock to punch, you'd regulate how things go. Make a list of things to do, then work them into a useable schedule.
Mondays: an hour of Facebook, chatting about wanting desperately to get on the torch, upload photos and natter. An hour of reading bead forums for hints on how to make beads, a half-hour to have a drink (tea, coffee, Hawaiian Fruit Punch are possibilities) and plot how to take over the glassy world with your stunning new techniques. Two hours of torching then, if you manage to tear yourself away from the computer. If that's proving the stopping block, where you can't progress along your schedule and Tuesday seems like a month away, get a timer for your computer, that turns the internet off after half an hour.
Tuesday: have we reached that point yet? Twitter first, check for sales on Etsy, ArtFire, Crafts'r'us etc ad infinitum. Write up descriptions for the beads you did actually make, anneal and clean, and photograph after the computer shut down via the timer you installed yesterday. Check your Paypal account for enough money for more glass and frit. Check your Facebook... and there goes the internet. Get on the torch!
Wednesday: beads cleaned, photographed and ready to go before you even thought to twitter, facebook, surf, blog or get on the forum! Go on, get that timer, make a list of the things to do weekly and DO them.
Thursday: even less time online, with a frantic eye on the timer, you're amazed at how much you got done in such a short........
There's the blog, like this. It's an easy way, if you're good with words. You can post photos, some blogs are almost like a small marketplace, you can drive for sales from it or you can simply post those handy Paypal 'buy this, you'll love it' sort of button things on it and voila, money for stuff!
There are websites, there are online sales venues, there are auctions and forums and social networking sites and tweeting and ... when do you have time to actually MAKE anything, much less photograph it, list it, describe it, name it, give it some loving cuddles before sending it out into the big bad world?
Well, there's a way to create a systematic approach. It's not perfect and it only works if you work at it. Is it your job? Then treat it that way. If you had a boss and a time clock to punch, you'd regulate how things go. Make a list of things to do, then work them into a useable schedule.
Mondays: an hour of Facebook, chatting about wanting desperately to get on the torch, upload photos and natter. An hour of reading bead forums for hints on how to make beads, a half-hour to have a drink (tea, coffee, Hawaiian Fruit Punch are possibilities) and plot how to take over the glassy world with your stunning new techniques. Two hours of torching then, if you manage to tear yourself away from the computer. If that's proving the stopping block, where you can't progress along your schedule and Tuesday seems like a month away, get a timer for your computer, that turns the internet off after half an hour.
Tuesday: have we reached that point yet? Twitter first, check for sales on Etsy, ArtFire, Crafts'r'us etc ad infinitum. Write up descriptions for the beads you did actually make, anneal and clean, and photograph after the computer shut down via the timer you installed yesterday. Check your Paypal account for enough money for more glass and frit. Check your Facebook... and there goes the internet. Get on the torch!
Wednesday: beads cleaned, photographed and ready to go before you even thought to twitter, facebook, surf, blog or get on the forum! Go on, get that timer, make a list of the things to do weekly and DO them.
Thursday: even less time online, with a frantic eye on the timer, you're amazed at how much you got done in such a short........
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Teaching beadmaking and what to know about selecting a teacher
It's a growth industry here in the UK now, and with the rise in people who now own torches and have decided that after three weeks melting glass they're ready to teach, there is a need for some thought on the subject. Making beads is a very relaxing way to spend time, it has several great results. You chill out at the torch, you have something to show for your time and you can possibly sell your work.
But, once you show someone else your beads they say 'WOW' and the next thing you know they're over at yours and there's glass melting going on. It's great fun and happens across the world, people sharing their skills.
Hmmm... so what? What does this have to do with teaching and the rest? It's that next step that counts. The thought is this. I can make beads, my friends love them, we've melted glass together and now I think I should make some money off all this because I want to support my hobby.
Is this really the way to go about it? Years ago, when Mike was first making beads, after more than a year of making and selling beads, he decided it was time to take on the next step of teaching beadmaking. This was with not just time at the torch, an average of 5-8 hours a day, almost every day, but also with 30 years of being an art teacher behind him. You would have thought that he was planning to give lessons on the fine art of (fill in your own heinous concept). Despite the fact that he had spent quite a lot of time working on the plan for his lessons, and based his approach on the ISGB lesson recommendations, there were a few folk who thought that it was a Very Bad Idea, to the point that someone somewhere took it on themselves to write a personal LETTER to Mike, this individual castigating Mike in no uncertain terms for his temerity in taking the step of teaching beadmaking to the masses. No, really, it happened. With luck you'll never get a letter implying you're being mercenary and only teaching for the money without the skill required.
So, what does this have to do with teaching?
Everything, really. Someone, somewhere will decide if you're not suitable to teach. Usually it's a student or a prospective student. They will want to know if you're worth the money they're going to pay for the pleasure of learning how to make beads. And if you are, that's great.
How do they know?
The ISGB has a great guide to teaching beadmaking. They have spent a long time and a lot of thought on the topic, working to help people by preparing guidelines for both teacher and student.
It is important to cover so many aspects of beadmaking, not just 'here's a torch, light it and don't burn yourselves' and yet this happens. Before you take the step of teaching someone in your home, studio or elsewhere it is vital that you prepare yourself as much as the students. And, this is a very important and... can you make a bead? Not just melt glass, but make a bead. A consistent bead, properly constructed. Do you know what to look for in a bead? Is your technique sound? Do you understand the important basics, not just the fancy aspects of the latest popular glass colour but the sound principles behind beadmaking? If not, then perhaps you need a bit more time at the torch before you teach others?
Read the guidelines. If you're a student, ask your prospective teacher the questions they suggest. If you plan to teach, then ask yourself if you can say yes to the criteria as set out by the ISGB.
The link to the guidelines: http://www.isgb.org/education/standards.shtml
They're the best guide you could possibly ask for.
But, once you show someone else your beads they say 'WOW' and the next thing you know they're over at yours and there's glass melting going on. It's great fun and happens across the world, people sharing their skills.
Hmmm... so what? What does this have to do with teaching and the rest? It's that next step that counts. The thought is this. I can make beads, my friends love them, we've melted glass together and now I think I should make some money off all this because I want to support my hobby.
Is this really the way to go about it? Years ago, when Mike was first making beads, after more than a year of making and selling beads, he decided it was time to take on the next step of teaching beadmaking. This was with not just time at the torch, an average of 5-8 hours a day, almost every day, but also with 30 years of being an art teacher behind him. You would have thought that he was planning to give lessons on the fine art of (fill in your own heinous concept). Despite the fact that he had spent quite a lot of time working on the plan for his lessons, and based his approach on the ISGB lesson recommendations, there were a few folk who thought that it was a Very Bad Idea, to the point that someone somewhere took it on themselves to write a personal LETTER to Mike, this individual castigating Mike in no uncertain terms for his temerity in taking the step of teaching beadmaking to the masses. No, really, it happened. With luck you'll never get a letter implying you're being mercenary and only teaching for the money without the skill required.
So, what does this have to do with teaching?
Everything, really. Someone, somewhere will decide if you're not suitable to teach. Usually it's a student or a prospective student. They will want to know if you're worth the money they're going to pay for the pleasure of learning how to make beads. And if you are, that's great.
How do they know?
The ISGB has a great guide to teaching beadmaking. They have spent a long time and a lot of thought on the topic, working to help people by preparing guidelines for both teacher and student.
It is important to cover so many aspects of beadmaking, not just 'here's a torch, light it and don't burn yourselves' and yet this happens. Before you take the step of teaching someone in your home, studio or elsewhere it is vital that you prepare yourself as much as the students. And, this is a very important and... can you make a bead? Not just melt glass, but make a bead. A consistent bead, properly constructed. Do you know what to look for in a bead? Is your technique sound? Do you understand the important basics, not just the fancy aspects of the latest popular glass colour but the sound principles behind beadmaking? If not, then perhaps you need a bit more time at the torch before you teach others?
Read the guidelines. If you're a student, ask your prospective teacher the questions they suggest. If you plan to teach, then ask yourself if you can say yes to the criteria as set out by the ISGB.
The link to the guidelines: http://www.isgb.org/education/standards.shtml
They're the best guide you could possibly ask for.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Honey or vinegar
It's easy to say thank you, yet so few people do. It's easy to admit fault, yet sometimes people get into squabbles over something that is just Not Important.
Customer service, it's the lifeblood of a company. It costs nothing to be nice, it pays huge rewards in both the cosmic, karmic dividends of internal happiness but it also makes someone else feel valued. You made the effort to do something for them therefore you show them they're worth doing something for. You listen and do not immediately deny responsibility. You listen and understand what is being said and accept that it has value. You do something about a situation where your customer is not happy, and work to help turn a negative into something that is a positive result for both you and your customer.
What can we do to make you happy? What can we do to make you a customer that wants to come back? I'm sorry, I was wrong, how can I make it right?
Aren't these the things that keep a business going?
Catch more with honey than vinegar, as someone used to say.
Customer service, it's the lifeblood of a company. It costs nothing to be nice, it pays huge rewards in both the cosmic, karmic dividends of internal happiness but it also makes someone else feel valued. You made the effort to do something for them therefore you show them they're worth doing something for. You listen and do not immediately deny responsibility. You listen and understand what is being said and accept that it has value. You do something about a situation where your customer is not happy, and work to help turn a negative into something that is a positive result for both you and your customer.
What can we do to make you happy? What can we do to make you a customer that wants to come back? I'm sorry, I was wrong, how can I make it right?
Aren't these the things that keep a business going?
Catch more with honey than vinegar, as someone used to say.
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