Hi folks...thanks for reading my post. I'm a small business owner - not a big company - mostly just me.
On and off for several years, I've been looking on the Far East websites, but haven't found what I'm looking for, but the light recently dawned on me that maybe I should be looking closer to home!
So getting to the point - I sell kaleidoscope making supplies. As you can imagine, there aren't a lot of sellers or buyers in this niche area (which is why I also have a full time, 'real' job!). The one item I've never been able to find though are the glass pieces that go into the end of the kaleidoscopes. And I should say that I'm talking about gallery quality kaleidoscopes here - its easy enough to find plastic bits or glass beads for kids or people who aren't trying to make a living selling their work.
For good quality scopes artists usually make their own simple (?) lampwork pieces. They are generally translucent pieces, in almost any color, and smallish - maybe a couple millimeters up to perhaps an inch. "Twisties" (I don't know the real name), squiggles, long and thin, shapes etc are all good. Why not use easy to get glass beads, or broken stained glass? Well the purists out there generally don't use any beads with holes because it screams out that the pieces were bought or found, and the holes can be distracting when magnified. Some stained glass is ok, but the rough edges also make for sharp, angular images - fine in some cases, but not always.
Anyway to summarize, I'm looking to see if I can find nicely colored scrap pieces, smallish with all or mostly all smooth edges, translucent glass etc? Or if anyone has any ideas about where I might find something like this please let me know. Thanks if you're still reading!! Feel free to contact me at
lrubin28@gmail.com. Thanks!