GraceBeads.com offers handmade lampwork beads.
Description
Lampwork art was first developed over a thousand years ago, but was perfected during the Fourteenth Century in Murano, Italy. It is a unique art form where heat is used to melt glass rod around a mandrel stringer in order to create beads. GraceLampworkBeads specializes in offering handmade lampwork beads that are made out of high quality Italian and German glass. GraceLampworkBeads follows strict quality control throughout the entire bead making process to ensure that their customers get only the best quality products. All handmade lampwork glass beads offered are designed by Grace Ma, a self-taught designer. The products offered include large hole (4mm) silver core beads, that are compatible with smaller European Bracelet Systems such as Troll beads and Lovelinks Petite. Their silver core beads are currently being offered in six different designs. GraceLampworkBeads is ever expanding and are currently available in more than 50 stores across the United States.
About Grace Ma
Grace Ma is the owner and designer of all lampwork beads produced by GraceBeads.com. She is a self-taught lampworker and started making beads in Oct 2002. Within three months she began selling her product on eBay and after perfecting her art Grace did her first bead show in July 2004, in San Francisco. Although she is the designer of the entire line, she began hiring and training employees in the art of lampworking. "Learning is a life-term job" Grace believes, therefore, she keeps taking classes, exploring new techniques and methods. Grace and her beads were featured by Ruby magazine (published by Whole Bead Show) in 2007's fall issue. PBS TV also gave her a short interview on April 5th 2008 on BeadFest Wire Show in King of Prussia, PA, a program that will be available in September 2008.
Product Gallery
Following are some of the bead products offered by GraceBeads.com. Click here to find out all the available products.
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Discount Coupons
GraceBeads.com consistently has amazing discounts and offers. For example, with any order above $100 GraceBeads.com provides a 10 to 20% discount depending on the item. They also provide discount coupon codes that can be entered into the Discount Coupon Redemption Code field during checkout. Click here for more information.
Wholesale Discount
GraceBeads offers a special discount to whole sellers on their entire bead selection. The discount ranges from 25% and 50%. In order to redeem this offer customers must have a valid reseller permit or tax number. Just fax or email your valid reseller permit or tax ID and fill out the wholesale customers' form. GraceBeads then contacts the customers and sends them discount coupons which can be used online at GraceBeads.com. Find out more information here.
Frequently Asked Questions
"I love to share my vision, designs, happiness and success with others. With my beads, you can turn them into a piece of beautiful unique jewelry. There is too much similarity in the commercial world. The unique lampwork beads will show off your own characters and personality. It will make you feel good."-
– : – --Grace Ma
1. What is lampworking?
Lampworking was first practiced over a thousand years ago. Artist used oil lamp to melt glass rod, and wind the melt glass on a mandrel (i.e. steel stringer) to make beads. Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it became widely practiced in Murano, Italy in the 14th century. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking. Most artists today use torches that burn either propane or natural gas with pure oxygen.
2. What is annealing?
Annealing is a process of slowly cooling glass to relieve internal stresses after it was formed. The process may be carried out in a temperature-controlled kiln. Annealing glass is critical to the durability of glass. If glass is not annealed, it will retain many of the thermal stresses caused by quenching and significantly decrease the overall strength of the glass. All of beads made by GracelampworkBeads are annealed.
3. What is difference between imported lampwork beads and Grace Lampwork beads?
The difference between imports and artisan beads is quality. Inexpensive import beads are made of cheap glass. The raw material costs one-thirtieth to one-twentieth of Italian and German glass (ratio is 1:30). Due to the massive production, it’s a lack of quality control for each bead. There is no annealing process applied, which means those beads crack easily. You get what you pay for. If you want to make fine lasting jewelry, artisan beads will be a better choice.
4. How long does it take to make a bead?
For the roundel, lentil and pillow shape bead set, it takes about 5-10 minutes to make ONE bead, but it depends on the design. It doesn't include the time spent annealing, cleaning or other time consuming steps. The faster you do, the less quality control you have. It's a balance. We don't want to loose the detail and quality by pursuing the quantity.
Payment Options
Address
- 1175 Saratoga Ave, STE 10
- San Jose, CA 95129
Testimonials
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Add your constructive feedback or review for GraceBeads.com |
Grace, you probably don't remember me but I was at the last New York show and my husband and I bought a few beads from you, actually a lot of beads. I just love your beads, they are the nicest beads I've seen from the shows I've gone to and the websites I've seen. I just wanted to let you know what I think, keep up the good work and stay as nice as you are.
Rachele Davis in CT
Languages
English
