Bead on a Wire Blog

First, I finished and shipped the Elizabeth bridal set this week. I really hope the bride is pleased with her custom bridal jewelry. Here’s the finished necklace.

Second, remember the key fob bracelet that I made for my sister a few weeks ago? She likes it so much that she sent an email to all of the ladies that she works with and generated four orders for me. One has since canceled her order (no reason given - no worries, that’s her prerogative), but three custom orders is still pretty good! I am waiting for supplies to arrive and then I will make and ship them to my sister to hand deliver at her office.

Third, my mother and I are working on a cross-promotional package to be listed in both of our shops. I have made a beaded tea infuser for breast cancer awareness (I have one made, still need to photograph it. And I need to get more of the pink ribbon charms to make more so that we each have one in stock for our individual listings). She has a tea for the same. So we’re going to each create a listing for a combo of the tea and infuser and we will donate 10% of the profits to the Breast Cancer Prevention Institute. We think it will make a great gift for a woman who is dealing with yucky treatments for breast cancer.

I love doing custom orders. I like that they challenge my creativity a bit and that I can meet the specific needs of my customers.

Two custom orders were completed this week:

First is a custom beaded tea infuser as seen in these pictures. The woman who requested it plans to give it as a gift to a friend who loves tea and knitting. So the charm at the end is a ball of yarn with knitting needles in pewter. She asked for beads in reds and gray. I like the final product and so does my customer.

Second is the Red Hat bracelet and earrings in gold for a local woman that I met at the fall open house. I did some custom pieces for her after that open house, too. I love how rich this bracelet looks - my photography doesn’t do it justice.

There’s only one earring completed because the vendor I bought the leverbacks from only sent one. Weird. So I’m waiting for the other earwire to arrive and then I’ll ship these beautiful pieces to my great customer.

I’m excited to be sending off a new batch of beaded tea infusers to the shop in Philly who consigns them. I got word over the weekend of another sale and was asked to send four more of the cup infusers. The package is ready to ship today.

I’m a bit sad I won’t get to list them in my Etsy shop, but that just means I need to make more! I do have some new pot infusers to list that didn’t sell at the open house this weekend. I just need to photograph them.

If you’re in the Philly area, head over to Vix Emporium, where a lot of great hand-crafted goodies await you. Including these lovely beaded tea infusers:

I’ve been invited to participate in the Uncle Sam’s Niece/Tea For All Reasons spring open house in early March. I’m excited about it since I did so well at their fall open house in November. If my sales are even half of what I did back then, I’ll consider it a huge success.

Knowing that most of the ladies who will be shopping are tea enthusiasts, I am making tea themed items, including the earrings and bracelet that I listed in my Etsy shop. I’ll be working on making more beaded tea infusers, too, since my inventory is low.

I also have a pair of the earrings with white Swarovski pearls that I still need to photograph and list.

If you’re in Northern Virginia and would like information about the open house, please contact me. The dates are March 7-8, (Friday and Saturday) each day from 10am-3pm. Of course, you can always shop online at both shops linked above. Unfortunately, the proprietress of Uncle Sam’s Niece doesn’t have a website yet, but she has lovely things to offer.

I consign my beaded tea infusers with a shop in Philadelphia - VIX Emporium. I sent eight infusers to the shop for their grand re-opening in November. There were no sales of infusers in November, but I just got notification of my first payment for the sales from December and it turns out that four infusers sold - Three of the cup sized infusers and one of the pot sized ones. I’m very excited!

It was a tough decision whether or not to take custom orders, but then I realized that I’d be missing out on way more benefits from doing them than the time it takes to do the work. And when a friend asked if I could make a bracelet to match the earrings she had just bought, that helped to push me, too. She has asked for a couple of other custom pieces since, too.

At the open house last weekend, I came away with five special orders. I’ve managed to get three of them completed with the materials I have on hand. Two others required a supply order, which I placed on Monday. I’m hoping it arrives this Monday. Here are what those pieces look like:

The other items ordered are another tea cup infuser with a specific blue lampwork bead that I used for a pot infuser that this customer bought and a bracelet and earrings set with pearls and Sterling accents for another customer. The earrings are to be teapots like a pair I made for my mother. And the bracelet is to match one also made for my mother.

And I also need to try to make many more infusers for my open house next weekend since I’m pretty much out. I’m also hoping to make a necklace or two and maybe a bracelet or two.

Busy week ahead!

I am participating in the Tea For All Reasons Open House this weekend. I’m working at getting more beaded tea infusers made since this is a tea merchant’s open house. However, I’m hoping to sell a lot more than the infusers.

In other news of this weekend, my infusers will be featured at the VIX Emporium reopen on Saturday, Nov 17 in Philadelphia. Go pay them a visit if you’re in the Philly area!

A B&M shop owner posted in the Etsy forums over the weekend that they are looking for consignment items to carry in her shop. In the list of things they are interested in were housewares and accessories. Thinking that jewelry would be overrun, I opted to just tell her about my beaded tea infusers. They’re unique enough to stand out, I thought.

I got an email shortly after posting with a positive inquiry and negotiations began. I have the contact filled out and ready to mail along with eight infusers - four of both sizes. Actually, I need to make three more of the cup infusers - I’d rather not have to spend the time photographing new infusers to list at Etsy when I can make new ones for the shop and take just one inventory photo.

I’m excited about this opportunity and hoping her shop does well when they reopen in a couple of weeks.

If you’re in the Philly area, the shop is VIX Emporium and the reopening is November 17. Go pay them a visit and buy, buy, buy!

I’ve had a couple inquiries into tea cup sized infusers. I have finally had a chance to list newly beaded cup sized infusers. Here are the two I’ve listed. I have more to make so if you are interested in something different, let me know!

Being the daughter of a tea merchant means I’m also a tea lover. I found the idea of beaded extensions for tea infusers in a beading magazine and suggested it to Mom. She loved the idea and sold several of the infusers that I made for her for the Christmas season. I now carry them in my shop as well - they make great gifts for any tea lover who gets frustrated with the infuser chain falling into their pot.

Right now I only have the large, 4-cup infusers. I am planning to add 1-cup sized infuser to the inventory soon. Here are a few examples of what I have to offer: