I’m going to spend a little time here explaining some glass terms.  If you’re not a lampworker, but a buyer (sometimes collector, sometimes INVESTOR!), this might clear some things up for you when you’re trudging through the listings on Etsy and eBay, thinking… what the…?? at the descriptions :D  I’m not going to be technical, so my terms might not be right on to those purists, but you’ll get the idea!  This might run a little long. Sorry.

I’m starting off with regular glass.  These are made by Effetre (old name is Moretti, Italian), Lauscha (German), and Vetrofond. These are the staples of the soft glass lampworker.  Also, in a different COE (coefficient of expansion- this means how the glass flows when cooling, or.. something like that :D), is Bullseye (American made).  For the most part, you can use Effetre, Lauscha, and Vetrofond together, along with small amounts of furnace glass frit without compatibility problems.  That’s a whole other story!  Bullseye works great with furnace glass since it’s basically the same COE.  So- basic Effetre colors run anywhere from 8-12 dollars a pound. Special handpulled colors (orchid purple, copper green, dark silver plum, et al) are more pricey, usually around 40 dollars a pound.  Rubino (that gorgeous raspberry pink, is made with a lot of gold, so it’s more in general, almost $50 a pound lately. Lauscha’s a little more, going for about 20 a pound. Vetrofond basic colors run about the same as Effetre.  The newcomers, Reichenbach (new to soft glass, they’re furnace glass producers), Kugler (same as Reichenbach), and Creation is Messy (CIM) are more pricey, from 20-40 a pound, depending on color (but OH, the colors!!).  Satake is the underdog, a very soft glass from China.  Czech glass is available as well, but major compatibility issues (which means a lot of cracking after cooling) abound, in my opinion.

On to the specialty stuff…

Boutique/silvered glass:

This is a small batch glass made by a very few glass pullers.  Double Helix is the front runner, going for… $80-100 a pound. Yeah, I typed that right.  They were the first, selling on eBay loooong ago, getting upwards of $50 for a QUARTER pound of their hand pulled silvered glass (which was nothing special, I still have some.).  Then came R4, for the same prices.  We pay them because the glass is astounding. When you see these names, you know that the glass artist paid more than a pretty penny for the glass to make the goodies you see.  Luna, Terra, Nyx, Aion, Gaia, Khaos, Dali, Michelangelo, Psyche… Just a few names to get you familiar. If you’re interested in seeing the websites of the glass sellers to get more info on these, here they are:

Double Helix

R4

I know there are more silvered glass pullers, but these are the only ones I have experience with.

NOW… Vetrofond came on the scene a few years ago, vying for attention from Moretti/Effetre users.  Same recipes, same glass, right? Well, a little different, but the same colors because the guy who ran Vetrofond was originally in on the Effetre company.  Here’s another thing you’ll see:

ODD LOT GLASS

What does this mean to you, the buyer?

Nothing, if you don’t like the color, design, the beads themselves. Now, if you do… Buy them. Now.  Because odd lot means exactly that. These glasses were made ONCE, and they can’t (or won’t- many glass artists agree that this is a marketing scheme to raise prices for mistakes) be reproduced.  Glass artists pay out the nose for these odd lots, because we know they’re only around once.  We’re like painters who found a new color!  And what does it do with the colors we already have?  We have to know!  It’s an addiction. Seriously.

SO- Odd lots.  They’re all over the place, and they run anywhere from $6 a pound to $40 or so a pound.  These are experiments, mistakes, trials, etc.

Again, I ask, what does all this mean to you?

Well, if the bead maker, glass artist, doesn’t make beads you like, it means nothing. If you find something you do like, and balk at the price, check out the glass used. If it’s an odd lot, or a silvered boutique glass, chances are that’s why it’s higher than you’d expect. We’re recouping the cost of the glass.

Now for a hilarious quote from a wonderful bead maker on The Glass Haven, because she’s absolutely correct-though I still can’t help buying those odd lots and silvered glasses… *sigh*

“Bottom line is that most customers don’t care if a glass is made in Germany or Timbuktu, they don’t care if it’s a limited edition glass only available on the third friday of months without an R within a leap year. They don’t care that you waited on hold for 6 hours with the factory or that the glass was secretly passed to you in a dark alley by an 87 year old toothless glass smuggler. Customers don’t get all tingley in their breeches when they hear the word odd, it’s the lampworkers.”- Minnow

WE LOVE odd colors, and glasses that do wonderful things.  So… bear with us when we wax seriously poetic about the glass we’ve used!  We’re excited