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geti-titanium
16-10-2009, 09:28 PM
I've been quietly looking at all the work that gets presented on this site by you talented folks and I wondered if there could be potential for us to make lots of money together. So, as an experiment, I've just registered a domain name www.glassbeadsuk.co.uk and started to set up a website.

The only problem is that I don't have much to sell at the moment. This is where you come in - I'm looking for products to sell, mainly mid to high end stuff like Chameleon's Platinum and gold core beads.

I have one collaborator at the moment from the forum - we are working on a Silver maille bracelet with diamond set and plain Titanium balls which will be very nice and will be one of the first products to get listed. I'll let you know who she is later when it is ready so she can take a bow.

If having your products listed on the new site is of interest to you and you think you have products that I would like, then please contact me with your ideas, trade prices and delivery leadtimes.

Thoughts invited please. :~:

bustagasket
16-10-2009, 09:47 PM
Sounds like a good idea for people to help one another to sell stuff. I imagine as with all new ventures there will be hurdles to cross and stuff to settle, but thats par for the course with a new business.

Good luck everyone, we certainly have some very talented people on here, so lots to chose from :D

MuranoSilver
16-10-2009, 10:00 PM
Hi Geti
By collaboration are you referring to adding your skill set to stuff
e.g. titanium & diamond beads?
If not are you proposing on buying wholesale, or are you suggesting a percentage or a genuine collaboration where it's a split based on input?

Nicx

geti-titanium
16-10-2009, 10:11 PM
By collaboration are you referring to adding your skill set to stuff
e.g. titanium & diamond beads?
If not are you proposing on buying wholesale, or are you suggesting a percentage or a genuine collaboration where it's a split based on input?

Hi Nic,

I'm suggesting buying stock wholesale to put on the site and also I would be looking to add my own Titanium twists to some pieces where I think they would work with input from the original designer.

Chameleon
17-10-2009, 06:00 AM
Oooo I'll play :dance: I'd love to collaborate on something I love titanium and it would be fab to do something with titanium and glass / silver / gold

caroleallen
17-10-2009, 07:25 AM
Sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing the stuff made by all you talented people.

mizgeorge
17-10-2009, 07:39 AM
I think I might have been interested, but it sounds like you've already found a mailler somewhere already :(

I'll contact you about another idea though.

geti-titanium
17-10-2009, 12:10 PM
OK - the shop software is in and let the decorating begin :)

www.glassbeadsuk.co.uk

Emerald
17-10-2009, 12:49 PM
OK - the shop software is in and let the decorating begin :)

Glass Beads UK (http://www.glassbeadsuk.co.uk)

You dont hang about Geti do you lookin goood so far x:Y:

MuranoSilver
17-10-2009, 04:14 PM
Oooh liking the shop software - did you build it in house?
Nic x

geti-titanium
17-10-2009, 04:20 PM
Oooh liking the shop software - did you build it in house?

It's a fully customisable software package called 'Cactushop' - really powerful and search engine friendly. I don't tend to mess too much with the layout and features as a rule because it works well for me, it's just the CSS I alter.

geti-titanium
17-10-2009, 04:23 PM
This is the same package Designer titanium rings and Black Zirconium wedding rings uk and mens rings. (http://www.fatcowdesigns.com) and again for another customer Eden Jewelry (http://www.edenjewelry.co.uk) (still being worked on).

geti-titanium
17-10-2009, 04:26 PM
If you buy £1800 worth of Titanium ring stock off me I'll build you one and host it for free for you :)

Emerald
17-10-2009, 05:03 PM
If you buy £1800 worth of Titanium ring stock off me I'll build you one and host it for free for you :)

Oh ok then lol x

geti-titanium
17-10-2009, 05:05 PM
Oh ok then lol x

Sold! That woman at the back. :Y:

amazingbabe
17-10-2009, 06:20 PM
looking good :Y::Y:

geti-titanium
18-10-2009, 08:22 PM
I've been doing a little research today and would be grateful if a few lampers could give this info sheet the once over for errors just to make sure I understand what lampworking is all about.

Many thanks.

What is Lampworking? (http://www.glassbeadsuk.co.uk/page.asp?id=lampwork)

Pandanimal
21-10-2009, 11:40 AM
I read your what is lampworking blurb.

You might want to think about mentioning silver rich glass which creates some of the wonderful metallics and rainbow colours that you get in lampwork beads and maybe the crushed glass, frit, that is used in decoration too?

A lot of lampworkers also use fine silver as wire, leaf or foil to add to their work and presses to help shape the glass bead into uniform shapes for a set.

The very fine glass rods you mention are called stringers and can vary from about 2 mm thick right down to hair fine!
We also use multi coloured rods, usually created in advance by the artist, called twisties and shards, a bubble of glass is blown and then shattered and the resulting shards make a wonderful texture on a bead.

This may well be information you already have and rejected for your website. If so, sorry to repeat!

If you want to know any more please feel free to message me, I could talk about lampwork for hours!

Julia

Solunar Silver Studio
21-10-2009, 12:53 PM
Hi Julia....since you can talk for hours about lampworking.... I have a friend who is pretty much self taught as a lampworker who was trying to work out how to get the really fine intricate and accurately positioned fine lines that he has seen on some beads recently. They are far too fine to be stringers and are so accurately placed and straight without the little pools you tend to get at the beginning and end of stringers. He has seen something about glass pens...I think it was on the Warm Glass website and wondered if it was these that were being used. Have you had any experience of these? And if so are they easy to use and worth the investment to have a play with??

:threadjacked: Sorry to hi-jack your thread Geti... but when something pops into my dusty little brain I have to act or I forget what it was!!

Fiona
21-10-2009, 02:44 PM
Hi Julia....since you can talk for hours about lampworking.... I have a friend who is pretty much self taught as a lampworker who was trying to work out how to get the really fine intricate and accurately positioned fine lines that he has seen on some beads recently. They are far too fine to be stringers and are so accurately placed and straight without the little pools you tend to get at the beginning and end of stringers. He has seen something about glass pens...I think it was on the Warm Glass website and wondered if it was these that were being used. Have you had any experience of these? And if so are they easy to use and worth the investment to have a play with??



You mean like this.. Flickr: Dora Schubert's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/doraschubert/)

Dora's stringer work is all done by hand, using hair fine stringer and flame.. just tell your friend, its a steady hand, low heat and practice !! :)

Solunar Silver Studio
21-10-2009, 03:17 PM
You mean like this.. Flickr: Dora Schubert's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/doraschubert/)

Dora's stringer work is all done by hand, using hair fine stringer and flame.. just tell your friend, its a steady hand, low heat and practice !! :)


Nope - you can see they are stringers as you get that little blob at the beginning and end. The photos he showed me had crisp blunt ends to practically parallel lines. I'll email him and get him to send me some piccies and then I'll be back!! (It might take a day or so for him to reply!!) Dora has some lovely work there though! Reminds me very much of piped royal icing on cakes!!:Y:

Pandanimal
21-10-2009, 03:21 PM
Wow those beads are amazing.
Is that the sort of thing your friend is thinking of?

I was just off to look up a few examples of fine stringer.
here they are

Naive Seventies Feather Nuggets (http://www.moogin.com/page30a.html)

or this

CHEEKY Lampwork bead set by Pixie Willow Designs by pixiewillow (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=31181875)

Both these artists do very fine stringer work and I am in awe of their control,
but it is stringer and it must take hours of practise to get that good, years probably.
Quick tip. don't suggest to a lampwork artist that their stringer is actually drawn on with a glass pen. They might just feel a little miffed.
To say the least.
Julia

Pandanimal
21-10-2009, 03:22 PM
oh! OK we cross posted. Not like that then.

Solunar Silver Studio
21-10-2009, 03:39 PM
Those look a bit more like what he showed me but I'm sure that the ends weren't covered with a blob! Sorry - no technical terms here!! - stringer is about as technical as I get ...and humble apologies to any lampworkers I have inadvertantly offended! I am overwhelmed by your skills and wouldn't demean them for anything! I have emailled him so hopefully he will send me something just to prove that I wasn't dreaming it!! I am just curious and you don't get answers unless you ask!!

So - what on earth is a 'glass pen' and who uses it and for what?

Di Sandland
21-10-2009, 03:48 PM
oh my word - how clever is that!

AlexandraBuckle
21-10-2009, 05:03 PM
Aren't those beads amazing! Wow!

mizgeorge
21-10-2009, 05:46 PM
There are some lampworkers who can do amazing things with hair fine stringer. I am very definitely not one of them!

B - glass pens are generally used in fused work - I think they only work with COEs in the 90-96 range. You 'draw' directly onto one layer, and fuse a clear or transparent layer on top. They certainly don't go very thin though.

Another way of getting very fine lines would be using fine silver and not melting it in enough to 'blob'.

Emerald
21-10-2009, 06:34 PM
mmm and i have got a couple of Moogin and pixie willow's in my stash ....so much to do so little time #-o

mizgeorge
21-10-2009, 07:46 PM
I have (ahem) one or two of Mindy's beads too. This was one that sold the other week - her focals always seem to work really well on pins

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s76/mizgeorge/09lyra1.jpg

Her stringer work is always utterly faultless :)

geti-titanium
21-10-2009, 08:46 PM
If you want to know any more please feel free to message me, I could talk about lampwork for hours!

Thanks for that Julia, I've amended the copy to include your contribution - keep 'em coming :)

lesley
21-10-2009, 09:08 PM
Oooo, you've just reminded me - I've got some Moogins on order.
I'm going to think about them before I drop off to sleep. :)

Emerald
21-10-2009, 09:29 PM
I have (ahem) one or two of Mindy's beads too. This was one that sold the other week - her focals always seem to work really well on pins

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s76/mizgeorge/09lyra1.jpg

Her stringer work is always utterly faultless :)

mine are all oblong pillows just waiting for some sheet so i can echo them cant wait :dancing: havent made pillows before x

Solunar Silver Studio
22-10-2009, 01:33 PM
You mean like this.. Flickr: Dora Schubert's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/doraschubert/)

Dora's stringer work is all done by hand, using hair fine stringer and flame.. just tell your friend, its a steady hand, low heat and practice !! :)


I stand corrected!! And I must pay more attention to what I am shown in future....I obviously was dreaming about the blunt ended lines...they are only blunt because they are hidden under blobs!! (my 'technical' terms again!! Sorry!!) And they are not even beads... lampworked cabouchons in the main! I have just got a reply to yesterday's email and he has sent me Dora's website...so it obviously was her! http://www.doraschubert.com/ My God! What amazing stuff!!:worthy: I just love the way they are set into silver....the best of both worlds....though how you make them....:dontknow: Any lampworkers here make cabs?

mizgeorge
22-10-2009, 02:19 PM
Most lampworkers can make cabs ;)

Solunar Silver Studio
22-10-2009, 02:26 PM
Just wondering why you don't see many of them about...everyone is drooling over beads - but I've not registered cabs before... I think these look absolutely stunning - and it is a great bonus to be able to set them in silver! What is the process for them then...obviously you don't use a mandrel! Is it just like slumping/fusing but done with a torch - or do you need a glass kiln - or is it done in moulds.... Oooooo....so many questions!!:D Sorry!!

Is there a book that covers this technique?? That would sort one Chrissy pressie out!!:Y:

mizgeorge
22-10-2009, 03:20 PM
Lots of different techniques B

The easiest are to either use a cab mandrel (near the end of this pagehttp://www.tuffnellglass.com/contents/en-uk/d27.html#p433 ) or just wait for a nearly nice bead to crack in the kiln and then slump it!

Lorna at Pixiewillow makes some stunning cabs.

I used some made by lovely Becky Fairclough for these (my first cab settings):

Emerald
22-10-2009, 05:35 PM
Sometimes its as if people are reading your mind on this forum lol. As we speak Becky is doing me some Cabs, when i first came across Lampwork i knew that i wanted to set them and i have asked around but no one seemd interested or there mandrels where to big and they where unable to do them, but i have high hopes in Becky (no pressure lol)x

Chameleon
22-10-2009, 06:49 PM
but i have high hopes in Becky (no pressure lol)x

no, no pressure Jo ... :D

they are cooking as we speak, and even I am excited about a couple of them lol :Y:

Barbara, I make them in two different ways depending on what I want to use them for and the style of pattern, either off the end of a mandrel which leaves a little tiny dimple in the back, great for putting earring fittings into, or just on the end of the glass rod which tends to work better for complex designs as I can make them flatter this way which is also useful for setting. hope that makes sense ?

glen
22-10-2009, 08:05 PM
I would be interested in a collaboration of precious metal and precious stone products even semi precious stuff. I would definately be interested in developing a few products begining of next year. I will be in touch, or feel free to message me.

amazingbabe
22-10-2009, 08:21 PM
Hi Becky xx Where can i find those cabochons for sale ??? ;)

Solunar Silver Studio
22-10-2009, 08:51 PM
Sorry I'm late in sending my thanks for your replies about the cabs (and very fine stringers!!)... I've been doing the proud Mum bit and watching my son being awarded an Excellence Scholarship (worth £2,000) from his University!!

I'll be trying to pursuade my friendly, neighbourhood lampworker to give cabs a go ...and pull some finer stringers too:Y:!! Thanks again girls![[]]

Emerald
22-10-2009, 10:13 PM
Hi Becky xx Where can i find those cabochons for sale ??? ;)

you cant find them as they are mine all mine you hear:mwahaha: x

Emerald
22-10-2009, 10:14 PM
Sorry I'm late in sending my thanks for your replies about the cabs (and very fine stringers!!)... I've been doing the proud Mum bit and watching my son being awarded an Excellence Scholarship (worth £2,000) from his University!!

I'll be trying to pursuade my friendly, neighbourhood lampworker to give cabs a go ...and pull some finer stringers too:Y:!! Thanks again girls![[]]

Wow well done to your son i would be a very proud Mum to and to you for bringing up such a clever chap x

bustagasket
23-10-2009, 06:02 AM
[QUOTE=Solunar Silver Studio;18991]I've been doing the proud Mum bit and watching my son being awarded an Excellence Scholarship (worth £2,000) from his University!! QUOTE]

Woot!!! Huge congratulations to him, you have every right to be an extremely proud Mum!! []

Petal
23-10-2009, 07:44 AM
Aww, an Excellence Scholarship for your son - you must be over the moon about it Bee - many :))) from me and lots of celebratory :dancing: and a big 'well done' to your lad


[[]]

Di Sandland
23-10-2009, 10:45 AM
Warmest congrats, Bee, to you and your boy.

Solunar Silver Studio
23-10-2009, 11:39 AM
Awwww! Thanks guys!! You never realise when you have them that they might really make you proud one day! The presentation was in a dark auditorium and my camera was just not up to it so my memory joggers of this event are a bit on the dark side! But here he is (in a suit for once!) getting the first instalment cheque and certificate from Tanya Byron (Psycologist of toddler taming fame who is also Chancellor of the University).

486


Awwww!! My baby!!!!:'(<3<3

snow_imp
23-10-2009, 03:15 PM
Congratulations to him. And congratulations on raising him to do this. [[]]

Chameleon
23-10-2009, 03:49 PM
Hi Becky xx Where can i find those cabochons for sale ??? ;)
you cant find them as they are mine all mine you hear:mwahaha: x

Lol @ Jo :-D

Gayle, I usually only make cabs for me as I have only had any interest a couple of times before but I have made a batch of varied ones up this time and promised Jo she can have first dibs, any that are left I will put on my website

Barbara congratulations to you and your son !! :)))

caroleallen
23-10-2009, 09:24 PM
Many congratulations. Your son looks lovely in his suit.

Lisa Quinn
23-10-2009, 09:34 PM
I'm so pleased for you Bee, you must be so proud, what a marvellous achievement x

EmmaRose
28-10-2009, 02:22 PM
would love to collaborate, but don't work in platinum or gold or glass. But if you want me to design stuff, or work in metal clay, textiles, felts or silver, I'm your gal :D
E

geti-titanium
04-11-2009, 08:55 PM
Update - just started putting some products on the new Glass Beads UK (http://www.glassbeadsuk.co.uk) site. I was hoping to get a chainmaille and Titanium ball bracelet on as one of the first products but the Ti ball proved to be a bit fiddlier to make than I expected. I have 5 prototypes ready to be sent away to be added to the bracelet so we're not too far away now.

Funnily enough the site is on page two of google.co.uk for the search term 'glass beads uk', that was a surprise to see it go so high so quickly.

glass beads uk - Google Search (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=glass+beads+uk&btnG=Google+Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGB&aq=f&oq=)