Sylviebead Journal

THURSDAY...

can't believe this week is almost through. It has ZOOMED by!!!!


It's been a very beady week and that's a good thing!!! I am the queen of the itty bitty baby lampworked beads again and it feels good to be back. I have been a beadmaking MACHINE this week.

It's fun to be back in that groove again. I have a LONG way to go till I'm totally back to "normal" again, but it's really nice to get my rhythm.

Making little beads is very meditative to me. I make about 8-10 (getting better every day, it was 6 a few weeks ago... 12 is the goal) beads per mandrel.... yes, I know... that's a lot. It's just something that my hands know how to do... they know how much glass to melt, how to lay it down, how to rotate, how to move to add dots... it's very repetitive and I'm sort of on auto-pilot when I make these. They're simple beads, but I like making them.

When I make them, I sort of zone out. I think a little bit, but it's more meditative than real thinking... it's good for me. (ok... I have to admit, some of the time it's not meditative, it's singing along with whoever is on the ipod at the time) When I make big more decorative beads, it's a lot more thought, more planning, more art... less automatic. I think having a mix of both is good.

I'm glad to have the time to just get back in the groove without HAVING to be in full production mode. I know that day is coming, but I'm glad to have a little time to slowly gear-up.... and making little beads is good for that AND it's good for other things. It's practical.

I've been talking economy of beadmaking to some close beadmaking friends lately and it's really a scary time to re-enter the market. What's funny is that I'm not totally freaking out like the beadmakers who have been selling for the past couple of years. Why???? Because what was happening out there these last two years was NOT NORMAL. (1,000 or more for a set of beads??? are you kidding me????) Anyone who started making beads when I did knows that no one got rich being a beadmaker back then. The prices on e-bay these last couple of years were a FLUKE.

So, I'm coming back into the market at about the point I really entered it in the beginning. I never PLANNED to make a living making beads... it just happened... some of it because I was getting good enough that my time was best spent making beads and some of it because I HAD to make beads for our family to pay the bills... I was the breadwinner and making beads was what I was able to do to support us.

It never was easy to make a living making beads, and all the beadmakers who entered the market in the past few years... a lot of them entered for the money alone. Those people will drop out unless they did it because they LOVED it and absolutely with their heart and soul had to melt glass. The high has probably happened and REAL is coming back, both due to the economy and just because the market was grossly inflated. It's sort of a culling of the beadmakers about to go on... and I think that's a good thing.

As far as the art goes.... those that have that NEED to create will stick around and the beauty of art beads will remain because of them. Those that were making copies of what was the hot seller, will eventually fade away. I truly believe this. If you're not making beads because you love it, when they're not selling well... why bother???

I hadn't planned to talk about this today, but it's what I've been thinking about a lot lately. SO... that's why I'm focusing on little beads. That's where I started... I'll never forget that I'm "Jenny From the Block"??? (ok, maybe only I thought that was funny) And the fact that I'm just as proud of my little beads as I am my mermaids and beads I've been applauded for, shows that.

HOPEFULLY I'll have time to take some pictures of all these baby beads some time soon... I'd just rather spend my "free" time making beads right now. Taking good pictures of beads is a big production and a pain!!!


tiny blah blah blah... today is brought to you by Frederic, who though he didn't have anything to "announce" here, was sweet enough to buy my coffee today. Merci! :)

coffee - CDL
music - my new long long long mellow list (I lumped all my various mellow playlists into one long one for the studio)