What you should look for when buying Lampwork Beads

Buying lampwork beads have become a popular 'eye candy' in adding to jewelry designs

This lampwork bracelet I made, and the boro beads made by an SRA ebay artist Norma Brinks - Awesome lady!

You can see that the bead has been kiln annealed.

Kiln annealed - This is a process where the beads are cooled slowly in a kiln to allow time for the glass molecules to stabilize. 

Make sure the beads are cleaned from bead release inside of the bead holes. If this is not done, it may cause wear on the soft flex or other stringing materials used.

I also look for tags or labels such as:

SRA -Self Representing Artist - typ SRA Lampwork Beads it will show a list of wonderful glass artist.  There are artist that don't have those tags or labels, but just be wise and read the description before purchasing your lampwork beads.

SRAJD - Self Representing Artist Jewelry Designer

Mass produced beads (below ) will look like these not all but for the most case.

They do not look like they were kiln annealed properly and if you look closely, the beads were not cleaned from the bead release. Sometimes the dots are not placed properly and end up chipping off.

It is hard to recognize the mass produced beads at times. Have you seen the encased flowers? There are some that are stunning but make sure that you read the description, so you know what you are getting.

In listing my auctions I always state whether they are massed produced or if an Artisan Lampwork artist made them. I pride myself in making my beads and my artisan jewelry.

WE have amazing Artisan Lampwork Artist here on eBay who strive to do their best to produce great glass art for us all!

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