Brightening Up Our Day

"There is a single light of science, and to brighten it anywhere is to brighten it everywhere."
-Isaac Asimov

And there does seem to be a science to combining glass colors to produce a bright and pleasing affect. I think you have to have an awareness of hues and intensities and compliments and contrasts that eludes me. Occasionally i will attempt bright, rainbow colored beads, but i've never gotten a result that i'm happy with. So whenever i see beads like today's artist makes, i look closely and i enjoy thoroughly.

When we are carving out our little niche of the etsy marketplace, I've wondered if it pays to restrict your shop to a narrow product. This way all you would have to promote is one kind of item, and once buyers of that item found you, they would always know which shop to go to first. I've wondered if I should offer only my bone-shaped beads, or only my flat fish beads, or only spiky beads in sets of eight...

Curious whether other sellers have made a conscious decision to specialize in one type of thing, I posed that question to etsy seller of undeniably "brite" beads, beadygirlsbeads. "That's what I like and that's what inspires me...It wasn't a business decision, I just make what I like and hope that I get some business!"

The beads in beadygirlbeads' shop make me happy, which makes me think that the artist must be in a constant state of joy in order to be able to create them and fill her shop with them (you really must see all of her offerings). Whether that's true or not, i don't think you can look at her beads without feeling somewhat lifted and brighter yourself!