Hi everyone!

This is the first time I decided to get in on the action but I've been
hanging around and snooping for a while now. I'm Nathalie and I'm what you
would call a beginner beader from Montreal, Canada. I have alot of questions
for you since I can't seem to find the answers anywhere and trust me, I've
looked. I'm so hooked on beading that I spend the better part of my web
browsing time on that subject ) eBay is my home away from home. Kudos to
all of you for your spectacular beads btw, they're great!!

I'd like to get some opinions on how hard you think lampworking is. I might
want to get started on that someday, not in the near future since the money
has to go along with it but just let me know your thoughts on the skill
level and difficulty involved in getting started. I'm not talking about all
those extraordinary artists on eBay, just basic stuff. I know it's fairly
expensive to get all the equipment together since I've looked and shopped
around. The beginner kits seem to be a great idea though.

Now here's a stupid question...Is it really hard to make a big lampwork
bead? I ask this because all the bigger ones I see on eBay (20mm and up) are
so expensive I figure there's gotta be loads of work involved and the vast
majority of the bead sets seem to be under 15mm. Is there a particular
reason why? (I told you I had dumb questions, hihi)

Moving on to other things, do any of you use hand knotting and wire working
techniques? Those are other things I want to try. I still can't figure out
why all the knotting projects I've seen so far ask for at least 6-8 times
the lenght of the finished necklace, I have trouble that's really gonna get
all used up in the knots...I've got all I need for knotting (silk thread,
silk/nylon blend thread, tweezers, etc) but am looking into getting a jig
and doing wire working.

I also want to make necklaces with sterling silver links and have gotten the
hang of the basic loop. I need to get better at a wrapped loop. Is
Colorcraft wire a good choice? Any other wire you recommend. Up here, we
have Artistic wire, not sure if I've seen in in all my US catalogs. I know
it's best to start with cheaper stuff to practice and that suits me fine
since I like copper wire anyways.

I just make basic necklaces now and sell beads on eBay. If any of you are
interested, please check out my auctions

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&since=-1&rd=1

Final question: any of you ever order from Village Originals or Acme out of
NYC? How about Cyber Imports in China? I can order wholesale and have
checked around alot for the best prices. Are most of you buying retail? I
need good price breaks but I am worried about buying overseas. Have any of
you done it and if so, could you recommend any companies? I have mostly
dealt with FMG so far and haven't had any major problems. I know some of you
would rather not get into a discussion about them so I won't elaborate. I
want to get catalogs from Blake Brothers but their site has been down for
construction since I can't remember.

Well, that's all for me, any info you could give me on beading would be
greatly appreciated )

Thanks so much!

Nathalie