Bead And Button Success!

My trip up to Milwaukee for the Bead & Button Show this weekend was a very big success. I was able to get the new tools and supplies that I wanted and then some while still remaining under budget!

How often does that ever happen?

Among my souvenirs are a pair of shades that will snap onto my normal didydium glasses for working with the hard glass, Borosilicate. In conjunction with this purchase, I also got my first rods of boro in several colors for some great new beads that will be coming soon.

I also got my hands on some dichroic glass, new shaping tools, silver foil and some new books to learn even more cool techniques.

Saturday was a very good day, and I can't wait to share with you the new items that I'm planning on creating in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to get any pictures of the market while I was there, so I can't show you anything in pictures. Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking!

I almost didn't get to leave since the show was held open longer due to some severe weather that hit Milwaukee while I was shopping. There were a number of tornadoes around the area and I did see a building that had been blown over or hit with a tornado a few blocks south of the show while I was trying to get back onto the freeway.

Since the building appeared that it might have been abandoned, I can only hope that no one was hurt when the bricks came down.

I hope you all had a very safe and happy weekend!

New Tools Arrived--Bead & Button Weekend!

My new tools arrived today from Scott over at BearFootArt after several weeks of waiting for them to be made. I can't wait to try them out, but it just so happens that this is Bead & Button weekend!

I saw them demoed last year at the Bead & Button Show and I've watched the movies of them in action. There's a number of new techniques that I want to try once I get used the new tools. Keep an eye on my Etsy Shop for some new designs!

Bead & Button Show

I'll be heading up to Milwaukee on Saturday to spend the day looking at all the new toys and glass at the market. If you're in the area, I would really recommend it.

The market is huge and you can see glass beads from artists around the world, new glass vendors for both Boro and soft glass, new tools, suppliers and just about anything else you can imagine in the bead and jewelry market.

Last year I was fortunate to take a class there and spend several days, but that just didn't work out this year. Maybe next year, but I'm not missing the market!

Watch Out For The Breaking Wave

My latest focal bead that I will be adding to Etsy tomorrow is entitled "The Breaking Wave" since the design on the bead at the top looks a lot like a wave on a very deep ocean. Ivory foam of the the wave pours over the side along the surface in a very cool design.

The deep ocean currents are a variety of the deep rich colors in greens and grays, while the upper portion of the bead is dominated with light purples and ivory colors.

This bicone is accented with rich black ends that make the colors really stand out.

Don't forget to stop by My Shop tomorrow and see the new bead. This one will be posted in the mid-morning time.

Sleep Tight!

Welcome To Byzantium!

Today I took two new necklace designs to work to see what they thought of the new chain mail design that I learned at my class a couple weeks back.  I wasn't sure what they would think or how they would react, but I wanted to see if they thought the designs was worth pursuing since they're pretty good at predicting what others will buy.

To say that the necklaces were well received, would be an understatement.  The loved the necklaces! One of my coworkers, who had seen the rings that I made the chain from, said that she had no idea that this was what I was planning on making with the rings.  

This is the first of the two necklaces (the only that is complete at the moment), for your review.  I've entitled this one "Byzantium Twilight" since the chain design is a Byzantine weave.

This chain incorporates copper and aluminum rings in the design with an organic focal bead that I made at Bead and Button last year during class.  A copper toggle completes the chain and makes putting on and taking it off very easy (since I'm such a klutz!).

This necklace is mine, and I cannot wait to see the reaction of others when I wear it.

I'm planning on having several of these types necklaces made up when I go to shows and see what folks think.  The focals can be anything from a large grape or tree bead to a simple organic focal for a more subtle look.

I'm hoping that this particular style will be popular with men as well as women.  

What do you think?  

A Most Productive Weekend

What a difference a week makes.

Unlike last weekend when I was sick and feeling lousy, this weekend I was able to actually accomplish a number of things.

One of the items on my list of accomplishments is this necklace called "Tribal Summer" which consists of 7 lampwork lentil beads in a bright orange and decorated with turquoise scrollwork.  

A sterling silver toggle clasp and black onyx beads complete the design which was a custom order for one of my clients who loved the Tribal Summer set of beads in my shop too much to let anyone else have them.

Usually when I'm on the torch, I like to have a lot of beads made and ready for the week, but his weekend I was in a very different mood.  I decided to think less about quantity, and more about creating something that was beautiful--regardless of how large or small the items were.

I hope you appreciate the results.  Several new focal beads and new hollow set were created out of this endeavor. 

This first focal is entitled "Sherwood Forest" and was created from a rich chocolate brown base bead.  Onto the dark background, dots of banana yellow were arranged all around the bead and melted down a bit. 

For a touch of neon and to give this focal a bit of zing, a layer of transparent emerald green was then placed over the top of the banana dots and fused onto the banana dots with a good dose of heat.

Voila!  One little focal bead that will be showing up in my Etsy shop in the morning along with a lot more pictures!

Tools Of The Trade Part 4: The Price Is Right?

While strategies for pricing a work may not be considered a classic tool used by the artist, the technique of calculating a fair price for a work is an essential tool for any artisan that is in business.  Without an objective method of assessing a price, we run the risk of not being able to afford to continue our artistic pursuits.

As artists, we often struggle with how to price our items since we are creating items from base materials whether they are paint, fabric, stone, or in my case, glass.  Our creations are, hopefully, worth more than the materials we used to create them from, but how much  more?

When I first started out, I had no idea of how to price my work and just kind of did the "Shot In The Dark" method.  I find this tends to be how everyone initially starts pricing their items when they first start out.  At first we're thrilled that anyone would want what we've made.

At my first show that I attended with my lampwork beads, a teenager came up and asked about buying a couple of bead that he wanted.  When he asked the price and I told him, he looked up at me as said, "Why is it so expensive?  It's just sand, isn't it?" 

I didn't know how to respond to him.  I'd just lost a $20 sale and had no idea how to answer him and educate him at the same time.  He'd obviously never been exposed artisan beads and jewelry, and in comparison to the price he could get beads at the craft store, it did seem expensive to him.

After several years of selling my beads and jewelry, I was still guessing at the worth of my work so when I found a class at last year's Bead And Button Show on pricing artist's work, I signed up immediately.   I would highly recommend it for any artists out there who are struggling with pricing there work... and you know who you are!

Finally, someone was going to tell me how much my work was worth  WRONG!  What he did do was give the class a number of factors to consider before pricing our work since everyone in the room worked in a different medium.

The instructor worked in fine jewelry using gold, platinum, diamonds and other expensive materials in the fabrication of his jewelry.  So for him, he needed to really price out how much his material cost was going to be in order to weigh whether or not he would actually complete the work since the materials could end up pricing it right out of the market--no matter how fabulous it would have been.

Fortunately, I work in glass, sterling silver and natural stone instead of gold, platinum and diamonds.  

After spending hours working out formulas, spreadsheets, material pricing, etc., I found that my material costs really didn't impact much of the final price.  The most important factor in pricing my glass work turned out to be my TIME at the torch.

Time turned out to be such a factor, that it is almost the sole basis of pricing my lampwork.  I keep track of the time I work on making the set of beads or a single bead and then multiply it by my hourly wage that I pay myself (pretend you're your own boss), and that's the price of the set.

While lampwork glass can run anywhere from $8 per pound on up past $100 per pound, there really isn't a lot of weight involved in a set of beads. If there is a lot of weight in the beads, such as a large set of tigers, then there is also an equal amount of extra time needed to work and shape that extra glass which can be translated back into time spent in that set.

Well that seems pretty cut and dry and simple doesn't it?  Not so fast.  If I'm working out a new design or trying a technique that I'm not familiar with it may go much slower initially until I get the hang of it.   Is it fair to charge the first few customers of that style twice what it will cost the rest of the customers just because I wasn't as adept at that technique?  Of course not.

If I find that my time is unusually long on a particular bead or set of beads due to technical proficiency, then I examine the finished set and figure out the amount of time it should have taken and price it based upon that instead.

When it comes to pricing my jewelry and gift items that include my beads, then I must include the prices of the silver wire, toggles, findings, stones and other items into the cost of the piece.  Fortunately, I know what those costs are and that is an easy calculation to add them into the formula with the additional time of designing and stringing the items.

I always strive to give all of my customers good value for their money, but at the same time ensure that the prices I charge enable me to continue working in this wonderful medium.

If art was priced solely based upon the materials used, then I could buy a Picaso painting for the few dollars of paint and a canvas that it took to create it.

If I ever get asked again, "It's just sand, isn't it?"  I can guarantee you I'll know how to answer them this time around.

2007 Year In Review (Yes, another one!)

After seeing so many year's in review on TV,  in magazines, newspapers, etc., you were probably thinking, "Not Another One" when you saw the heading.  I know I was when I typed it, but I thought I would be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to recap the year and it's highlights from an artistic/business perspective.  So, please, bear with me.

Here at Burning Scentsations, 2007 has been quite a year, and I hardly know where to begin.  

Diverse Year Of Beads

I've made a lot of different kinds of beads and jewelry throughout this year.  I've done raised florals, grape beads, encased beads, dot designs, frogs, stone-like organics--the list goes on and on.  I like the challenges that glass affords me and gives me lots of room for more improvement and experimentation.

Attending Custer's Last Stand Art Fair

In the beginning of the year, I started researching art fairs and found, that while I missed deadlines for a few of the shows, I was able to enter the Custer's Last Stand art fair in Evanston, IL.  It fell on two of the hottest days of the year, but we persevered in our tent and met lots of great people including our friend Richard who was also selling at the fair.

Bead and Button

In 2007, I took classes at Bead and Button and stayed in Milwaukee for several days and got really enjoy being in a very artistic and creative atmosphere.  The classes helped me add new techniques to my repertoire and interact with beadmakers and jewelry designers from around the world.  It was a fantastic time, and I cannot wait to go again this year.

New Etsy Shop

I opened my new shop on Etsy in July of 2007 after talking with several people about Etsy during Bead and Button.  It's been a terrific experience, and I've met several nice people and made some new customers through this site.

Art Of Beadwork Show

My most successful show came in early November when The Bead Society Of Greater Chicago had their annual Art of Beadwork show.  Although it was only 5 hours long, I met a number of great people and sold quite a bit of jewelry at the same time.  I cannot believe how well it worked out, and I'm looking forward to next years show.

Additional Shows

After that success, I followed it quickly with shows at work after being urged by coworkers to have an event there.  It was also wildly successful in just a short two-hour time span.  

I also had a couple of showings at the O'Reilly's Stained Glass, in Crystal Lake, IL that also helped boost sales for the year.

Lamp Of Luxury Blog

In late November, as you well know, I started this blog to help keep you up-to-date on upcoming events, new store items, and generally discuss topics that I think will be of use or interest to everyone who loves beads and jewelry.  Whether I've been successful or not in that task is up to you, my readers, but I will continue it into the New Year and see where it leads.

My New Mac

Burning Scentsations was able to purchase a new computer at the end of the year in order to help maintenance of the web site, reduce the time associated with taking pictures and getting them up onto the Internet for viewing.  It has already been a great help in getting my pictures loaded and organized much better and will continue as I work toward a re-design of my web site in the coming weeks.

Review Wrap-Up

This has turned out to be a much longer post than I had intended, but I'm very thankful that there has been so much to review.  As you can probably tell, it's been a great year here, and I hope it has been for you as well.  I couldn't do any of this without the support and patronage of my customers, and I am very grateful for each and everyone of you.  Thank you so much, and I hope to continue our relationship into the New Year.

Happy New Year!

Bead & Button Show Schedule Has Arrived!

IT'S HERE, IT'S HERE!

When I came home for lunch this afternoon to let the dogs out into the yard for their mid-day relief, I was greeted to a plastic covered magazine in my mailbox. I took a quick look at it and discovered that is was the schedule for the Bead and Button show in 2008. Since the show does not occur until June, I was a bit surprised that the schedule for all of the classes was out.

I've only just started going through it tonight after work, but let me tell you, there are a ton of great ones listed. I'm not talking just lampwork classes either. There are classes in seed beads, metalworking, PMC (precious metal clay), polymer clay, fusing, felting, marketing, etc. Just about every bead and jewelry design possibility is in there.

Last year was the first year I attended this week-long event and actually took a couple of classes and stayed in Milwaukee, WI (home of Laverne & Shirley) for the show. It was an amazing time, and I cannot wait to repeat that experience again this year.

For more information on the show, just follow this LINK to their show web site. It's truly a great time and a very inspirational and educational experience.

On-line registration opens on January 15th which is why I was so surprised that the schedule came so early. I wasn't planning on checking for their schedule until the New Year, but I guess there's no time like the present.

If you have any questions or would like to suggest topics, I can be reached through this blog or through my web site or shop at:

http://LampOfLuxury.com/
http://burningscentsations.etsy.com/

Excuse my while I continue to review the class schedule.

See you there!