cheap lousy glass work

[JoanFrances]

Shop NBC has stained glass on right now.  $357.00 for a two panel room devider.  Each panel is 15x 60.  Gag me, the work stinkssssssssss.  Pretty to look at from a distance, but

oh now they have a 63" high floor lamp  and 20" shade for $150.24.  No wonder people who don't know any better look at us like we are nuts when we are selling our work. 


you can check the stuff out on www.shopNBC.com

[Kev]

I've seen lots of that stuff Joan, and sheepishly I admit to owning some of it....lol. I bought it at a time when I was not able to actually do glass work myself as I was in an Apt. at that time. It is true, there are a lot of people out there that do not care about the craftsmanship of it as long as it looks nice and fits their budget. Thank God there are also people out there that know the difference.

[Becki]

We've been discussing pretty much the same thing on another forum but pertaining to warm glass art, especially jewelry, at craft shows being underpriced and poorly made.  It's tough enough to sell your work when people don't understand what you do but even tougher when other "artists" underprice and sell junk.  It hurts us all.

[PiscesGlass]

The design seems attractive, but the glass looks awful...not to mention the fitting of the pieces in it.  I guess that the price is right.

De

[Graham]

  It hurts us all.

It's a terrible disease called "Walmartitis"
In every aspect of out lives we see the symptoms.
The crap stained glass goes beautifully with the crap furniture.

[Graham]

  I guess that the price is right.

De

Ya think??

[Kev]

It must be a new design style  Graham..."The crap look"

[Alan]

Well, there is the 'shabby chic' style, guess we'll call this 'crappy chic' - no wait - it's just crappy!

[Graham]

It must be a new design style  Graham..."The crap look"

Nah! It's been around for years. It tends to come to the forefront in difficult financial times.

[BentPedals]

you can check the stuff out on www.shopNBC.com

Ethical question here Joan . . . . likely legal as well, but I like the ethical side better.

Given that these are cheap imports, poorly made, and intended to undercut the glass market here in north america,  what's wrong with us copying said designs and doing them ourselves correctly?  Some of them are quite nicely designed.  I wonder where they get thier design inspiration.

They are out to stab us in the back, is turn about fair play?

Yea yea yea, two wrongs don't make a right . . . . but it would be interesting to compare one that we made to the cheap import.  Wonder if the
purchaser could tell the difference.

How much of a revision to said design would one have to make to circumvent copyright issues?

[ct4mom]

If there like any of the things I have seen the glass seems to be much thinner. I seen some panels about 14" sq and are not very heavy. Anything Ive made that size is much heavier.

[JoanFrances]

you can check the stuff out on www.shopNBC.com

Ethical question here Joan . . . . likely legal as well, but I like the ethical side better.

Given that these are cheap imports, poorly made, and intended to undercut the glass market here in north america,  what's wrong with us copying said designs and doing them ourselves correctly?  Some of them are quite nicely designed.  I wonder where they get thier design inspiration.

They are out to stab us in the back, is turn about fair play?

Yea yea yea, two wrongs don't make a right . . . . but it would be interesting to compare one that we made to the cheap import.  Wonder if the
purchaser could tell the difference.

How much of a revision to said design would one have to make to circumvent copyright issues?

they claim that most of the designs are from Tiffany.  While I have seen some of those designs I like most wouldn't be able to tell if they were his designs.

[Bleedy Pokes]

If there like any of the things I have seen the glass seems to be much thinner. I seen some panels about 14" sq and are not very heavy. Anything Ive made that size is much heavier.

I've wondered about that, too. When we bought our house, our kitchen's overhead light was an imported stained glass shade (I didn't realize it at the time) and it felt very light. I wonder if it's thinner glass, or maybe just lack of much solder. Either way, I've seen the same shade at Lowe's for less than $75 and I think it would cost me more than that just to get so many colors of glass!

[azbunch]

I'm forever tapping hanging lamps at pizza parlors, windows at restaurants, panels in shops, and have found that most are plastic...yet, they look nice.  So, it's easy to figure that folks who didn't know better would think they got a pretty nice piece for not much moolah.  In my neighborhood I've noticed some nice pieces (from afar) and asked the homeowners if the local shop made them, and the usual response is "Oh no, I got it in Mexico!".  Oh well.....

Beth

[JoanFrances]

These people buy the cheap stuff and then bring them to the shops to get them fixed.  We've all heard the stories about someone asking a studio for a price to do some custom work that never happens and the next thing you know the person is bringing the shop a piece to repair that they bought on TV or at some discount store

[PiscesGlass]

Ok, this is odd. I just posted about that JF..a lamp that was brought to me for repair...but the post just disappeared.  Just my luck.

At any rate...here goes..the entire top portion of the lamp had pulled apart. The weight of the thing had caused the first few rows of the design to pull away completely.  It was flat soldered on the back, no wire reinforcement ANYWHERE..and it was ridiculously easy to take apart, as there was NO solder between the pieces at all!  Not to mention that at first glance the glass looked fairly nice...from a distance.  Very muddy looking stuff.  Not a good deal any way you look at it.
I told the owner to put the darned thing up high and be very careful how she handles it.  I was NOT prepared to take the thing apart enough to wire reinforce the entire thing.

There should be a smilie here for tongue in cheek "the price is right" type of comments.   

[Graham]

These people buy the cheap stuff and then bring them to the shops to get them fixed.  We've all heard the stories about someone asking a studio for a price to do some custom work that never happens and the next thing you know the person is bringing the shop a piece to repair that they bought on TV or at some discount store

Repairs are profitable. The nice thing about fixing the cheap crap, is that nobody expects good work. Slap-dab repairs match the original perfectly, so you do it fast and make more money.

Repair costs more than the original cost? Tough - fix it or toss it, customer's choice

You know what to do when all you have is lemons?

[JoanFrances]

These people buy the cheap stuff and then bring them to the shops to get them fixed.  We've all heard the stories about someone asking a studio for a price to do some custom work that never happens and the next thing you know the person is bringing the shop a piece to repair that they bought on TV or at some discount store

Repairs are profitable. The nice thing about fixing the cheap crap, is that nobody expects good work. Slap-dab repairs match the original perfectly, so you do it fast and make more money.

Repair costs more than the original cost? Tough - fix it or toss it, customer's choice

You know what to do when all you have is lemons?

I'll  to that

[PiscesGlass]

Oh, I'm not complaining...lol...I'll probably make more on that lamp than the owner originally paid for it...gee, she may think that buying a lamp I've made will suddenly look like a great deal...you only spend the money once.  As long as someone doesn't throw something at it.

I've repaired lamps that someones husband threw his lunchbox into...it's all good...it's all money!

De

[Amber]

I was in a big box home improvement store with the hubby today and I usually stop in at the light section to look at lamps, hoping to find something that would be a good heavy base to use and I could make my own shade. Anyways I actually stopped to look at the glass lamps they had, with this original post in mind, and I just couldn't believe what they were selling!!!! I've only made 3 lamps and even the worst of mine was miles ab love the stuff they had, I was really shocked!! I mean the solder work was crappy, the foil tape job was uneven and the ends didn't match up, the grains of the glass were inconsistently layed out and overall just rotten work..... WOW  .

[Malinda]

I like the design (but only the design) of the fairy lamp they show and the 2 butterfly lamps they show...they are different.