Random Thought

I think I would be more likely to open an Etsy store if I had minions to post things for me.

Better Than A Stick In Your Eye

So I'm there looking at an 80% off sale at an online bead/craft shop and...

I am continually amazed at how UGLY so many lampworked beads and pendants are. Maybe I'm amazed because I know how beautiful it is possible for this particular artform to be, so there's a large dollop of disappointment in my surprise. But seriously, who in their right minds would consider any of the following to be pretty? It's like they took random bits of glass and melted them, swirled them a bit and chucked them into a silicon mould. Which quite possibly they did. Likewise, with the beads, it's again the random colours that get me. Just splodges of ugliness.
( list of examples )

It's the colours that really get me, I think. Some of them are so bad I wince at them. Others aren't so much ugly as Utterly Boring. I mean, really, blue hearts with black polka-dots? What were they thinking? Though if they were made in a sweatshop in India or China, they were probably thinking of their next meal. Which then makes all the blurbs about "lovingly handcrafted by skilled craftsmen" a bit over the top, doesn't it?

See... I love lampwork when it can be so pretty...
( examples of lovely )