Bead hole perfectionist

[Ilona]

I was a wondering how bad a perfectionist at bead cleaning you are? I spend ages and have just bought another cordless cleaner.

Once I have cleaned my bead I then examine it and I have to try and remove every bit of bead release, then I examine it through a jewellers eye glass, and  if I spot a tiny chip that's it its a gonna.

What I want to know is am I being a bit over the top with the eye glass, because you can't notice anything with the naked eye.

I have been round a few bead shows and have seen some beads at some good prices with terrible bead holes.

Am I to much of a perfectionist?

[Jolene]

Please send me all of your " tiny chips under an eyeglass" beads please. I can give them all a very nice home

[julieHB]

....as Jo says....

[Jolene]

mwuh ha ha ha ha ha ha

Beat you to it Julie 

[Kaz]

Yeh I'll have a few too!

[nemeton]

I've become much more sensitive to this sort of thing of late thanks to you lovely people - the process of collecting 'fuglies' was very educational! 
I too have seen beads with manky sharp non-dimpled holes selling for full price at bead fairs; a couple of years ago this wouldn't have put me off and I probably wouldn't even have noticed, but now I will only buy a bead with an imperfect hole if the rest of it is good enough to make up for the awfulness of the hole iyswim, and if I can see a way in which I can use it and still produce a saleably good piece of jewellery. As you know, I will on occasion use more or less anything with a hole in it and don't always demand total perfection, so I will still use 'fuglies' and beads with bad holes, chips or scratches (and I don't mind the odd tiny bit of bead poo now that I know - once again thanks to spending far too much time hanging round here - how to get rid of the stuff!) but it depends very much on who and what I'm making the piece for. I am ruthless about cracked lampies though, I inspect from all angles and sometimes with a lens or a dissecting microscope if I'm not sure!
I am grateful that there are such perfectionists among you though - it means that as and when I DO want totally perfect and flawless beads I know where to find them 
Does that make any sort of sense at all? 
I think what I'm trying to say is that different people maybe draw the line between saleable and unsaleable beads in different places, and that's fine so long as you're upfront about it - but if you are a perfectionist, you may find that there are jewellery makers who will still give a good home to your less-than-perfect specimens... it depends whether you want those less-than-perfect beads 'out there' with your name on them, or whether you are trying to build up a flawless reputation and will never under any circumstances sell a bead that is in your opinion imperfect!
(sorry, going to shut up now, I know what I mean but the words aren't coming out in the right order this morning!  )

[Jolene]

I am happy to sell my "seconds" but they go on sale described as exactly that, with a full description of what I feel is less than perfect about them. There has to be something else special about them ie. too pretty for the fugly tin! for me to let them go out into the world

[Kaz]

Me too - I have 4 sets currently listed in my shop as 'seconds' and the price I have put on them reflects that.
I think it is quite difficult when you have come to lampwork bead-making via jewellery making and you have bought beads in the past and have a good idea where you think the quality justified the price and where you think it quite clearly didn't. There are a lot of fabulous beads out there from some very high-quality bead makers, but also some really dire ones (I had some a year or two ago where loads of the bumpies actually dropped off in transit and the beadmaker said - oh, I have never had that happen before, I will try to pack them more carefully in future - but I suspect it actually had more to do with the quality of the making and maybe not having been annealed now that I know more about this craft - tiny bumps should not fall off even in the post!) That's not to say some beads aren't delicate - but that would surely be pointed out!
I think the swaps are good for gauging what is generally acceptable and what is downright pernickety - but I think I have a tendency to fall into the over-zealous camp myself - though not to the extent of putting them under a microscope to check for miniscule flaws!
Kaz