4 NEW Effetre Colors/FREE Shipping at Frantz

mikefrantz · #1 2013-12-04, 2:24pm

Hi everyone

Quick post to let our Le'ers know first that we just received an small shipment from Effetre with 8 new colors! 4 of which are for sale NOW. We are still testing and will have the other 4 next week.

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Don't forget our FREE UPS Ground SHIPPING* Sale for orders of $100 or more-
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
!

Here are the beads so far:

591259 Sand (Sabbia)

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

591288 Straw (Pagliesco)

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

591238 Navy Blue (Blu Navy)

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

591855 Grigio Verde (Gray Green)

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Ravenesque · #2 2013-12-06, 1:17am

To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
love them all!

Ravenesque · #3 2013-12-06, 8:08pm

Have to whine a bit. I am a bit sad to see the prices, that's almost the cost of glasses with silver in them. I know your costs have risen, at the same time so have ours while not selling as much as in the past. Many have even quit making beads because sales are so slow.
I just think 13.75 a 1/4lb is a bit steep (yes I know they are onsale right now for 10.31), some silver laden like Double Helix are 15.00 a 1/4lb. These are just more versions of ivory, sans the blue and the green....which I like, just saying.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

glass butterfly · #4 2013-12-06, 9:37pm

Hmmm, I have to comment also. I'm very leery about buying the new colors from Effetre since I haven't had much luck with them. They just don't seem to look as good as the paddles from Frantz. My Rogue turned out to be an ugly bluish grey and the Woodie was just plain ugly grey. Those are the two that turned out to be the greatest disappointments but there were some other greenish and bluish greys that also turned out awful for me. It could be my inexperience but they are just too expensive for me to experiment with. The new CIMs this year have been great to play with but I have also not bought some because they are so expensive.
Some kind folks on one of the other threads did give me some useful tips on how to work with the Rogue and Woody, so I'll try again. Lydia

beadbroad · #5 2013-12-07, 4:22pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ravenesque
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Have to whine a bit. I am a bit sad to see the prices, that's almost the cost of glasses with silver in them. I know your costs have risen, at the same time so have ours while not selling as much as in the past. Many have even quit making beads because sales are so slow.
I just think 13.75 a 1/4lb is a bit steep (yes I know they are onsale right now for 10.31), some silver laden like Double Helix are 15.00 a 1/4lb. These are just more versions of ivory, sans the blue and the green....which I like, just saying.
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I'm with you on this. To say "you know his costs have risen" and that they're "on sale right now" is a kinder interpretation than mine, which is more along the lines of having learned what the market will bear. That said, I put the navy on my Xmas list. THAT said, my glass buying has slowed way the hell down, and I'm glad I bought far more than I need when it was a lot more reasonable.

mikefrantz · #6 2013-12-07, 7:28pm

Twenty years ago we sold Effetre transparent common colors for about 25% less than we do today. Often we have sales of 50% on Effetre, that is just $1.50 per quarter pound.

The cost of glass, the shipping and duty along with operating expenses have risen, but not that much.

What has changed is the need for new colors and new colors are made by hand. Handmade glass is more expensive. When we get a new color we purchase a minimum of 200 pounds of which maybe 30-50 pounds is sizes 8-9mm, 9-10, 10-11 and larger.

Our customers only get 4-5, 5-6 or 6-7mm rods. Larger sized rods are sold in assortments or sometimes can be found in the "Fun House" on our website with huge discounted prices.

Hand pulled color is made almost the same way you pull a stringer, just bigger, ten pounds heavier and a bit more complicated.

Mike Frantz

Ravenesque · #7 2013-12-08, 12:11am

Ok, but for example, one of my favs is Copper Green, that is handpulled. That is 11.75 on sale. I bite the bullet and buy that because it's such an awesome glass. A version of ivory shouldn't be so close to the price of a silver glass imo.

If you can do it 50% sometimes, why not 25% off all the time?

Have you looked lately at some of the posts of people having trouble selling? I can still thankfully sell, but no where near the prices I could get before.
Before a 60.00 + bead is now a 10.00 bead.

I truly thank you for bringing us new colors, but I'm just bummed I can't justify the price and trying them.

beadbroad · #8 2013-12-08, 10:37am

It *is* 25% off all the time. Until sometime in the last few months, it was 35% off all the time.

In fairness, the cost of materials in any bead is pretty trivial, unless you're Ali.

swamper · #9 2013-12-08, 10:52am

Quote:

Originally Posted by beadbroad
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

It *is* 25% off all the time. Until sometime in the last few months, it was 35% off all the time.

In fairness, the cost of materials in any bead is pretty trivial, unless you're Ali.

It may be trivial, once you master that new glass. But who can afford the learning curve on new glass?

SGA · #10 2013-12-08, 2:04pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by swamper
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

It may be trivial, once you master that new glass. But who can afford the learning curve on new glass?

In many businesses, you have expenses with nothing to show for them. Office supplies, equipment depreciation, insurance costs.

It only makes sense that we are going to lose something while pursuing glass. Here we are gaining experience at the cost of $15. It's a necessary evil for advancement and part of what you roll into the cost of doing business.

Saying that: I agree the latest effetre colors are disappointing. I value many glass artist blogs that test the color extensively before writing a review. Sometimes a paddle or basic bead doesn't betray the inconsistencies. Mike's website isn't the only one that has this problem. I remember Viola was a disappointment too.

Flonche · #11 2013-12-08, 2:54pm

I would buy all of those beautiful colors in a heartbeat if I could actually work with them. Everything out of Effetre these days is streaky, bleedy, spotty (like a bad batch of Copper Green, you know those little oxides stains that spread all over your bead and you can't do anything about them) and impossible to design with. I like geometric designs and dots, so those just are a waste of money for me.

SGA · #12 2013-12-08, 4:05pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flonche
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I would buy all of those beautiful colors in a heartbeat if I could actually work with them. Everything out of Effetre these days is streaky, bleedy, spotty (like a bad batch of Copper Green, you know those little oxides stains that spread all over your bead and you can't do anything about them) and impossible to design with. I like geometric designs and dots, so those just are a waste of money for me.

I agree. I'd like more shades of solid colors. Nothing funky. And something that will stick around. We have too many limited one off colors recently.

Less new colors, more time developing solid dependable glass.

swamper · #13 2013-12-08, 4:50pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by SGA
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I agree. I'd like more shades of solid colors. Nothing funky. And something that will stick around. We have too many limited one off colors recently.

Less new colors, more time developing solid dependable glass.

Amen.

Ravenesque · #14 2013-12-09, 12:15am

^^oh yes this too! I can't even use the white or black.

And haha wow, it's not trivial, I don't have a huge glass budget, this is my only income. When a supplier slowly increases the prices it starts to hurt coupled with shipping costs which is insane. My beads are 2 inches or more, I use a lot of glass. You can't tell me that these new colors cost more than the older handpulled to make, if so educate me.

Ok then if it's always 25%, take it to that price then put that on 25%
To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 1 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

dilly53 · #15 2013-12-09, 9:29am

I want to jump in here to see if many or any of you agree with some of my concerns with new colors. I have had the experience of buying new colors and finding them so close to other colors that there is virtually no difference. I have felt like old glass was being marketed with a new name as glass sellers know how much we love new colors. I have had this experience many times until I finally hit myself in the head and yelled "ENOUGH!!!". Also, I am not convinced that these new colors are actually colors that the glass chemists were trying to make. Many times they look like the beginning or end of a pull where the glasses haven't been properly mixed. If that is true then they are doing lampworkers a disservice by charging us inflated prices for glass that under different circumstances would be discarded. We all love new colors and we are willing to pay a premium for them. But when they are all marked as not to be available again that means they are not made intentionally...or at least that is what it means to me. I think CIM often sells their one offs as new colors that didn't make the cut and that certainly makes sense. But, the last time I ordered their "new colors" from them they were dead on matches for glass I already have. I'm not sure what we can do about this (if you agree with me), but I for one am being much more careful when ordering new colors and will not order anything that looks similar to what I already have in my stash. I would like to hear from Mike Frantz or other suppliers to see what they have to say about this issue. Have any of you out there had the same questions I have mentioned? I love all our suppliers but lately it seems that many are not being totally honest about some of the glass they are selling.

Imaglassgal · #16 2013-12-09, 9:38am

I think these are interesting discussions that have little to do with Frantz' sales.

Flonche · #17 2013-12-09, 1:52pm

In the big picture, if a vendor advertises his sale, I'd think they'd want to know why I'm not buying as much glass as I used to, but you are right that it's not up for discussion here in this thread.