Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalera
Dennis, for beadmakers even the most expensive retail price for glass is a negligible contributor to the materials cost. It's a completely different economy from stained glass. The least expensive glass is going to contribute less than a penny to the materials cost of a smallish bead, while the most expensive glass (which is handmixed by small vendors and not available wholesale) is going to contribute about forty cents. That may sound like a huge difference, but it certainly doesn't come close to accounting for the bulk of your investment. The bulk of your investment is your time spent making that bead. Because of that, you must either make exceptional beads that can command a premium, or you must make good beads quickly. As a beadmaker, whether you buy wholesale vs. retail, or cheap vs. premium, is not going to make or break you, and in fact, overbuying and tying up too much of your profit in raw materials in order to get the lowest price could have a big negative effect on your bottom line. It's not making you any money sitting on the shelf. My advice to beadmakers wanting to treat their craft as a business is to avoid glass hoarding at all costs... buy it, use it, sell the beads. If a premium-priced color will help you make more beautiful, salable beads in less time, buy it, and then USE IT. And then, with any color you buy, make enough beads for it to pay for itself as soon as it arrives.
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In business there is no such thing as a negligible expense. Everything matters.
I've been in the glass business for 25 years and in all that time the ONLY individuals I've EVER heard suggest that artisans shouldn't be concerned about the cost of glass are those selling it retail.
My advice to people wanting to treat their craft as a business is the same advice I've been repeating for years:
Don't ask people to buy what you like to make.
Make what people ask to buy.
If you do that, there's an exceptional chance you can make a good living from your work. If you don't do that, there's an equal chance you'll create a large collection of your own work.