A post about post

This past year or so I've had more "my beads haven't arrived" emails than ever before. Most of the things I make are one-offs that I either can't or simply don't want to make again so a missing bead package always gives me the jitters.

Because of this I've made some postage and delivery changes in my webshop. These changes mean that my postage prices have gone up but everything I send out will now be insured and/or trackable.

UK Customers

Postage is calculated by the value of your order.

Orders worth up to £20.00 are sent Royal Mail 2nd Class to UK addresses. This is £1.50 per order and usually takes two to three working days. In the event of your parcel going astray we can claim the value of the beads inside it.

Orders worth over £20.00 and up to £150.00 are sent Royal Mail Tracked 48. This is £3.50 per order, insured, trackable online and usually takes two working days.

Orders worth over £150.00 are sent Royal Mail Special Delivery. This is £7.50 per order and is insured and trackable online. A signature is required upon delivery. This is a next day service.

Overseas Customers

If you are outside the UK - including all EU countries - you may have to pay import duties, VAT, other tax, postal service handling fees, or other fees, at your end. Normally your country's postal service will contact you to arrange payment of these fees before they will deliver your package to you. I am not responsible or liable for these taxes or fees - you are. Please check with your local postal service or relevant body to see what the current import value thresholds are where you live, and what taxes and/or fees you may be liable for.

Postage to Europe, America, Canada and the rest of the world is Royal Mail International Tracked and postage is calculated by the value of your order.

Postage for orders worth up to £50.00 costs £10.50. This is insured and trackable online.

Postage for orders worth over £50.00 costs £13.00. This is insured and trackable online.

In the rare event of your parcel not arriving, please contact me and we will work together to resolve the issue.

I'm back

I've recently had the longest break I've ever had from beads. I had Covid so I didn't work for a bit and then that bit turned into weeks and then more weeks. At one point I didn't think I'd go back to lampworking. I was ready to get rid of the shed and everything in it but fortunately Chris advised me to just leave everything where it was and to just wait. I seemed to have simply lost all enthusiasm for going down to the torch and glass. I stayed indoors and crocheted instead. I crocheted and I knitted and I crocheted a bit more. I even thought about going and getting a job at the Post Office. (I don't know why but whenever I've considered getting a job I always think about the Post Office.) I felt a bit lost and like I just wasn't supposed to make beads anymore. I was feeling that my beads are rubbish and boring and my refusal to 'make myself the brand' and be sucked into creating social media content - churning out videos and reels and all that guff - meant that my beadmaking days were probably over.

And then one day last month I got up and decided that I was going to go down to the shed and make some beads.

Before I lit the torch I sat and looked through my Flickr gallery and my own Instagram, surprised at just how many beads I've made over the years.

And then I made beads.

Afterwards I felt like a total idiot for feeling the way I'd been feeling.

My beads aren't rubbish or boring. I know they're not fancy sculptural beads or ones that contain inclusions and metals, or big massive focals - they are simple-looking, honed-over-nineteen-years, unfussy, small beads - but they are my beads, and that's fine.

I make beads for me. No, I don't wear them or keep them but the making of them is for me. The act of creating a bead is a little challenge and that challenge is what I love about making in general. I've tried a huge amount of crafts over the years but none of them has ever satisfied my makery urge as much as beadmaking does.

So on I go, continuing to do my own bead thing in my own way.

This past week I've revisited my Ditsybeads. I've always liked these even though they take a lot of faffing to get right. I timed it yesterday and each successful one takes me about fifteen minutes to make. That's quite a while for a 12mm bead. I'm such a slow beadmaker and I set myself such daft standards but again, without those things my beads would not be my beads.

Anyway, that's quite enough of the self-obsessed introspective blah-blah. Next time I'm having an "I'm burning the shed and everything in it!" drama queen moment, this post will serve as a reminder to myself to keep going.

I'm going to write a boring blog post now about new postage rates for my webshop for balance.