I don't wish to imply that Chinese glass beads are implicitly bad. That would be monumentally stupid, given that ‘Chinese Warring States’ beads are perhaps the most beautiful, and beloved, antique beads. Nor do I feel that beads made in other countries immediately spell the doom of American lampworking.

In fact, that was the Italian attitude for centuries; it was the decision by a few US lampworkers to share their knowledge that led to the renaissance of the glass bead movement, which has ballooned into a fabulous, and worldwide, phenomenon. However, lampworking intersects with the laws of physics and the reality of chemistry in certain, ineluctable ways, to wit:

Unannealed glass often cracks. (Badly) incompatible glass inevitably cracks.

2 chinese lampwork beads, 8x12mm; compare to 3 US made (by yours truly, in fact) beads of similar design, using high quality (i.e. compatible) Italian glass, properly annealed.

When I purchased these, I primarily wanted to point out the difference in technique—the white, like those evil opaques often do, crawled all over in the stripes because it wasn't properly cased. The holes are also very large for such small beads, which is fine for cord or leather, but frustrating for thread or wire cable. They're also chipped, and the glass is rather scummy.

However, it's been so many years that a far more insidious problem is revealed: incompatibility. This shows in the ways the cracks follow along the color—in this case, I suspect that white is, again, the culprit. Imagine making a gorgeous piece with hours (let alone weeks) of weaving, only to discover, a year or two later, that the lampwork put into enhance the piece had cracked!

Heartbreaking.

For a project that's just quick and of little value, these beads might be acceptable. Even there, however, it's problematic: originally there were three beads (which is why I made three too) but one's cracked completely in half. Stuff ‘for kids’ should not scratch or cut them—indeed no jewelry should.

This isn't a unilateral statement against Chinese stuff—the faceted crystal that I've gotten from real bead shops is gorgeous, and very affordable—perfect for things like bead curtains, where a little wonkiness doesn't matter. CiM is manufactured in China, and it's pretty sweet. Overall, it seems to me quality worldwide is increasing. But that said, I've had rotten luck with the crappy quality at national-chain craft stores, and simply won't buy beads from them.

It's simply too much of a crap shoot.

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.