Frequently Asked Questions
How are glass beads made?
This is a very popular question. We start off by coating a stainless steal rod, or mandrel with a special mud called release. Once the release has dried we can heat the end of a glass rod. As we spin the mandrel and gather a small amount of moulten glass at the end of the rod we are able to "wrap" the glass around the mandrel. Once a prefered amount of glass is on the mandrel, the glass is heated to a moulten state again. Then comes the design and shaping of the bead. Most of our beads are finished off with a clear layer of glass or "encasement." After the bead is made it goes directly into a digitally controled kiln. It is then heated to an annealing point, which removes stress from the glass. The final phase requires you to let the bead cool slowly to room temperature in a kiln. This process is essential for durable beads.
Do you combine shipping costs?
Yes, you will pay shipping on the first item, all others will ship for free. If you purchase 4 or more items, shipping is free, however international buyers will still pay the insurance cost.
I won 4 items and my free shipping is not showing up when I check out through Ebay, what's wrong?
Sometimes Ebay does not calculate in free shipping with 4 items. If this happens to you please email requesting your total and we will send an invoice with the free shipping.
When will you ship my beads?
We ship Monday through Friday. In most cases payments received by 12 p.m. Pacific Standard Time will ship same day except for Saturday's. All payments received after noon will be shipped the next business day.
Why do you require insurance on International shipments?
This a form of protection for the buyer as well as ourselves. We have had missing international shipments in the past. With the insurance in the event that your package does not arrive within 30 days we will ask for a signed letter stating that you never received it. We will then be able to make a claim to receive reinbursment for our cusomter. When an insurance claim is paid you may have store credit or a cash refund, buyer's choice.
Do you take custom orders?
The anwser to this question isn't a straight yes or no. We are always open to a custom order. Borosilicate colors can be a bit hard to predict, sometimes we are not able to fufill special requests, sometimes we can. Quite honestly it just depends on what you're looking for. In most instances we have cusomters pick styles of beads from our store that they would be interested in. If we think that we would be able to fufill the custom order we will request a 50% deposit. We will not accept a custom order for under $100.00.
Why do your pictures get blurry when the mouse cursor is over them?
We have the images blur on mouse rollover in order to protect them from being saved with the right click of the mouse. If you have purchased a set of beads and would like the photos, please email and ask. I will be happy to send the images to any customer who has bought the beads.
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