From the category archives:

Artist Interview

Interview with Kandice Seeber of Air & Earth Designs

by Lori Greenberg on August 23, 2009

in Artist Interview, Bead Business

1.How long have you been making glass beads?

I started making beads in July, 2002 – so that would be 7 years now.

2.Did you start selling right away?

Not right away, but it wasn’t as long as I probably should have waited. After taking my first class, I started by apprenticing with Paulette Insall (who has moved on to painting), and after a couple of months I set up my own studio. I started selling early on in 2003.

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3.Is there anything you can share about when you started to sell your beads?

Like many other newbie beadmakers, I took up selling really too early. It was partly due to necessity – we often have to sell in order to make the money needed to keep buying glass and such. But I admit to getting caught up in the idea that I was good enough to sell my work – a lot of people were asking me to. If I had to do it over I would wait a year or so before selling my beads – giving me time to perfect the basic techniques and find my artistic voice.

4. I have often linked to your article about selling on eBay. Thank you! Do you still sell on eBay?

Thanks for linking the article – I am glad you enjoy it!
I do sell on ebay still – but it’s not on a regular basis. I sell larger sets there when I want to kind of let everyone know I am still alive. Ebay is a great venue for getting your name out there, but it is not the ebay we once knew. The market has really changed over the years, and ebay is no longer the main place for beadmakers to sell. There are so many venues out there that are more geared toward the self-representing artists. Ebay gets the most traffic, though, so I keep a presence there.

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5. What are your selling venues of choice? How has that changed over the years?

These days I prefer to sell beads on my website Lampwork.net, with the occasional ebay auction for larger sets. I sell tutorials on my other website, Coloraddiction.com, and also on Etsy.

Over the years, I have tried many different venues. Third party venues like Etsy, Artfire, Justbeads, Ebay and such are good for people who haven’t done a lot of online selling or are just starting out, because they help get one’s name out there and are not as much work as having one’s own website. Once I became a little more well-known, my website sales went up and I was able to concentrate on that as opposed to being on several other venues. I find that if I spread myself too thin I can’t keep up with more than just a couple of places.

I really like selling on my website because it eliminates the venue fees and I have more control. I’m kind of a control freak that way. LOL I do all of my own website creation and maintenance, and all of my own online marketing. It’s a lot of hard work, but really worth it.

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6. Do you sell anywhere else?

Other than online sales, I have done a few shows here and there. I’d really love to do more shows though – we’ll have to see! I will probably wind up doing local shows to supplement my online sales. I did do the ISGB Gathering in 2008 and that was a blast – I highly recommend it.

7. Your colors are beautiful! How do you come up with such great combinations? Do you experiment a lot or is it natural for you now?

Thank you! Color is my main motivation and inspiration. The way glass transmits light is what drives me as a beadmaker. I have always loved color – it’s a blissful experience for me. It’s color rather than shape or design that gets me excited when making a set of beads.

Color combinations come to me in a variety of ways. Usually though it just comes when I happen to see color scheme in a magazine, in a store, in nature, on TV, in someone’s clothing – anywhere really. I am always thinking to myself, “okay, which glass color would that be and how can I get that combination?”. I even look at the colors of cars going down the street and automatically try to come up with the glass color that matches.

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I also tend to spend a lot of time in the studio placing glass rods next to eachother to see what kind of emotional response they give me. I get a lot of ideas that way – spreading five or six rods out and trying to imagine them as a set.

By far the best place for color inspiration for me is a fabric, craft or yarn store. I could spend hours putting colors together in the local yarn store. I fall in love with color combinations every single day of my existence.

8. What advice would you give to someone new, wanting to create an online business?

I tell people all the time that making your art into an online business is very, difficult. It can be really rewarding, but it’s much more of a challenge than I ever thought it would be. You have to seperate your artistic self-worth and the monetary value of your art, otherwise it can be tough on your soul as an artist.

I also tell people that in order to succeed in a business, you have to love what you do. You have to give yourself time to fall in love with it and time for that love to come through in your art. That means giving yourself time to really learn the basic techniques so that your artisic voice is free to come out. Once that happens, your beads will sing with your voice, and more people will see value in that and will buy your work.

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If you don’t love what you do, and you’re just in it for the monetary gain, you are less likely to succeed – because your beads will just have no soul. People really want beads that speak to them.

Once you reach that place where you are happy with your work, be prepared to really put a lot of effort into selling. Especially in these economic times – people are less likely to spend a lot on what might be thought of as an “extra”. You will need to go that extra mile in order to stand out in the competition. But don’t give up if it’s what you really love!

9. I know that you have experienced having your beads knocked off and designs sent over seas, as well as having your images stolen and used without permission. How have you dealt with that and what advice can you give to someone who might experience this in the future, or how to prevent it, if possible?

I still struggle with dealing with this. The toughest part is the emotional side – because when you love your art as much as I do, it’s part of your soul. And when people steal it to profit from it, it hurts. However, if you can somehow come to terms with the fact that in this industry it cannot be avoided, you’ll be okay. I’ve had to learn to just let some things go.

The best defense with this kind of thing is just to educate people about it. There will always be unethical companies and people out there, and the more we talk about it the better. Unfortunately these days there’s not a lot that can be done to prevent image theft or design theft. I have tried many many things – even contacting authorities and watermarking my images. There eventually comes a point where the benefits do not outweigh the effort made to try and stop these things, so you have to decide what to do when that happens.

I can’t tell others to not let it get them down, because I myself get down about it all the time. But what I can say is that no matter what, no one can take away your artistic voice.

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10. I will be doing a review and holding a contest for your Simple Raised Flower Bead eTutorial on my Lori Greenberg blog…can you tell us a little about the process of writing a tutorial?

Tutorials are fun! Personally, I do my writing last. The first thing I do (well, after deciding which design I am going to turn into a tutorial) is make the bead I am writing about a few times while taking notes about each and every step. I then have my husband photograph each step while I am making the bead. He’s really good at it! I then edit the photos – and this takes the most time out of the whole process.

Lastly I write the tutorial from my notes and do the layout of the tutorial in my publishing program. The whole thing takes a couple of weeks because I tend to work on it intermittently while keeping up with other beadmaking and website sales.

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11. Thank you Kandice!  Is there anything else you’d like to leave our readers with?

Mainly what I would like to say to people just starting out is this – There is now a lot of competition out there. Beadmaking is becoming more mainstream, so we all have to work even harder to stand out in the crowd. But if you put a lot of love in your work, have a little talent, and are willing to pound the pavement and learn about marketing and business, you can be successful.

Learn how to market online – there are a lot of free resources out there just by Googling. Learn to balance what you love with what potential customers are looking for.

Above all – be patient! Sales will come, but it does take some time.

You can find Kandice’s web site at www.lampwork.net, her tutorial site with fellow glass bead artist Kimberly Affleck at www.coloraddiction.com and her blog at www.coloraddictionblog.blogspot.com where she writes about glass colors, testing and color in general.  Make sure to see what she’s up to!

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Artist Interview: Vickie Lee

by Lori Greenberg on May 27, 2009

in Artist Interview

I was recently at a show where Vickie Lee was also exhibiting. During some down time we had a chance to chat business and I got to learn from a real pro. I’ve focused my interview questions on some of the things that we talked about and I want to thank Vickie for her giving heart and her passion for telling it like it is in order to help others excel in their own bead/art businesses!

How long have you been in the glass business? How long in the bead business?
I began lampworking 36 years ago, in January 1972, after seeing the demonstrations at the Disneyland crystal arcade.

Originally a hobby, I found myself selling my work within a year, after a rep found me and put me in the wholesale gift shows. The orders were overwhelming and I found myself leaving wholesale after a few years to try retail where I was able to work during the year preparing for my seasonal sales events. My first Christmas booth in 1979 sold $20,000 in product during the holidays. The following 2 years I doubled my locations and had found my niche!

My personal life abruptly changed and I returned to wholesale. It took a while, but I soon found a great niche in that venue as well. I eventually moved my wholesale business to the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas, working under contract as their resident lampworker. After 3 years in Las Vegas I opened my own Galleria back home in California, but quickly returned to wholesale sculptures, until I found beads.

Out of curiosity, I wandered into the BABE show in the Bay Area and the first beads I saw were Leah Fairbanks. I was in total awe and at that moment decided to give this new art form a try. In January 2003 I bought my first sample pack of soft glass and mandrels and began to teach myself about this art. I owe all of the wonderful bead people online for their openness and generosity in helping me to achieve this coveted goal.

What advice would you give to beadmakers getting into the business of selling beads, regarding pricing their work?
Usually when someone asks about pricing, I ask them if they could sell their beads for half of what they are currently priced.

My first bead sales were wholesale, so right away I had to price them where I was making money at a wholesale level. When I crossed over to retail, I doubled them to match the stores that carried them. It was scary at first, charging “that much” as a new beadmaker, but then I realized that if people were buying them at the stores, they were priced accordingly. And, I wanted to keep my prices the same as the stores, so that I never undercut my wholesale accounts. That’s a big, no no in any business.

Another thing that can throw off a pricing decision is the time it takes to make a bead. We all know the “per hour rule of thumb” but sometimes miss the fact that the years of experience and your design should contribute to your pricing decision. Sometimes an experienced or fast lampworker tries to follow the per hour rule because “it didn’t take that long to make”. I always say it took me 36 years “to make” because that’s what it took for me to get to this point. So pricing adjustments should always come into play based on your unique design and how long it took you to develop your style, let alone that particular design, and experience will teach us if we are on the right track.

What are your thoughts on wholesaling vs. selling retail?
When I began both my lampworking career in sculptured glass, and my bead career, my first sales were wholesale. I then ventured into retail with my sculptures and now at retail bead shows with my beads and jewelry. Both avenues have their advantages and disadvantages, so it becomes a matter of what type of working environment suits how you like to work.

What I love about wholesale is that you spend most of your time doing what you love, melting glass and working in the studio. Before I got into beads, I had a wholesale glass clown and Christmas ornament line that I sold nationwide through reps. This was before computers and so I would fill my reps orders from my order sheets by my workbench. It wasn’t exciting, but it was easy, consistent and I made good money that I could count on. I was usually booked 6-8 weeks in advance and carried a Net 30 on most of my accounts, so I always had a good steady income. That was important for me at a time when I needed to be home to raise a child and support us both.

The disadvantage of wholesale is that your creativity suffers a bit, unless you set aside extra time for that as well. You have to be consistent with your wholesale items, and be able to duplicate them exactly as shown every time, even when being handmade. But….when you receive a $3,000 order that you know will be paid within 30 days of receipt, it doesn’t seem as boring as you might imagine.

The advantage of retail shows is that you get a lot of in person feedback about your work and you get to meet some very nice people in the process. You get to make many different types of beads and jewelry and can experiment with your designs. It’s a bit more risky since you have a lot of upfront expenses with no guarantee that you will make the amount of money you may need.


How do you promote your work?
Right now, I get most of my work from my shows, a few select wholesale accounts, and the customers on my website that have already seen my work at the shows. I was selling with eBay for a while and it was good, but I’m not happy with the way things have been lately and I’m working on bringing customers to my website from the shows I attend. I’m also working on designing some wholesale lines that will take me in another direction as well as with the beads.

What advice would you give to someone just getting into selling their work?
Be consistent with your business policies and your work. Set specific terms for your work and as much as possible stick to those terms. Put them in writing so that your customers, both retail and wholesale know that you have a policy and then they will be less likely to ask for changes. I was at a show and was overheard telling a customer “no” who was asking for a “discount” because she didn’t qualify as either a retail storefront or a designer. I was VERY polite to her, but remained firm showing her my written terms, explaining that I had to be fair to the customers that do qualify and need that advantage to resell and make a profit on their end. A few minutes later a woman walked up to my table and said…”thank you!” When I looked at her rather confused, she said that she owned a bead store, and was pleased to hear that we as artisans, don’t undercut our wholesale accounts.

What is one thing you would have done differently if you knew now what you didn’t know then?
This was the toughest question for me. I really don’t have any regrets on what I’ve done with my glass career. But if I look back at the biggest mistakes I’ve made, it was when I went with a company that was starting “something new” and I decided to get in on the ground floor. I now realize that no matter how hard I was willing to work, a good part of my success was at the mercy of others and if they got their end of the business up and running.

When I did my seasonal boutiques in the malls in the early 80’s I had my first store, and would expand into the new malls that were being built. My sales were exactly half in the new malls, but with the same amount of effort. I was trying to get in on the ground floor but it wasn’t a wise choice. When I went to the MGM, they were just starting out with this new venture at the theme park. I was promised the moon with a contract to back it up, but the promises were never fulfilled because their end of the arrangement didn’t succeed.

When I opened my Galleria, it was in a brand new mall. I wasn’t able to support myself and carry the expenses of the business while waiting for the mall to live up to their end and attract enough customers to keep it going properly. I used to tell the mall management each month….”I can’t sell to ghosts”. My store was very nice, and I attracted an exclusive clientele from another established mall, but the volume of people wasn’t enough to sustain many of the merchants in the mall at that time.

You can find Vickie’s current work and show schedule at vickielee.com.

Thanks Vickie, for taking the time to share your experiences! I know that your pricing hints have helped me tremendously in my own bead business!

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Artist Interview: Heather Powers

by Lori Greenberg on October 14, 2008

in Artist Interview

I was able to catch up with Heather Powers of Humble Beads, and pick her artsy brain about the business of polymer clay beads and jewelry. Keeping reading for words of wisdom from someone who is out there making it happen in the world of beads!

How long have you been making and selling beads?
I’ve been creating beads for 15 years and selling for the last seven.

Do you make or sell anything else besides beads?
I started out selling handcrafted jewelry and still do the occasional art show and online listing. I use a lot more of my one-of-a-kind bead designs in my own jewelry collection.

How many hours a day/week do you work? How much time is spent on creating and how much on the business side?
40+ hours. 50% business/marketing and 50% of my time is making beads, filling orders and creating jewelry. Yes, 50% of my efforts go toward marketing my work.

Where/how have you sold beads in the past and where do you sell them currently?
I have my website (www.humblebeads.com) where I sell my regular line of beads. Etsy (www.humblebeads.etsy.com) is where I showcase some of my more popular beads, limited editions and the occasional experiment. I also sell beads at a few local shows. I wholesale my beads to stores across the country, Bello Modo carries the largest selection of my work and does some of the bead shows on the west coast. In the past I’ve sold my beads on eBay and JustBeads, but stopped once I discovered Etsy.

How long would you say it took before you had a following or a more steady stream of buyers?
It took a good year of selling online before I had a steady income from selling beads. I now have many repeat customers, I like to think of them as Patrons of the Arts!

Other than selling your beads, do you supplement bead making income in other ways?
I write articles and projects for the bead magazines, promote a Bead Cruise (www.beadcruise.com), and occasionally I teach.

How has the business of making and selling beads changed for you since the time you started?
There have been a lot of changes in 7 years. Polymer clay is used more by jewelry designers as beadmakers forged their way into this field. Art beads have become very popular in the last few years as beading as increased in popularity. Designers are looking for beads to set their work apart from their competitors and unique art beads is one way to stand out from the crowd.

Online marketing has changed over the years. There is an exciting and wonderful online community through blogging. I love reading blogs from jewelry designers and seeing how they use my beads. It’s one of the best forms of advertising. I’d also say that Etsy has changed the face of the selling online, offering artists a unique venue. My blogs are www.artbeadscene.com and www.humblebeads.blogspot.com.
If there was one thing that you could change if you knew then what you know now, what would it be?
Create a daily schedule and stick to it!

What piece of business advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Create relationships with your customers. Use the power of connecting online to form a community of creative people that will support, encourage and share your work.

What is one of the most important things you’d like fellow artists trying to make it as a business to know?
Take the time to find your niche and unique voice in your medium. There is nothing new under the sun, but there is also no one else in the world quite like you. Your interests, experiences and passions should go into creating a signature look. It will take time but if you can stand out from the crowd you’ll find success much quicker.

Thanks Heather!

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