Just a Glass Cutter...

Are you a bead addict? Like me, are you addicted to Swarovski, all colors, all shapes, all sizes, styles, ANYTHING Swarovski? Okay, I admit it, my addiction extends to anything sparkly but the first time I saw Swarovski crystal was when I was a vintage jewelry seller on eBay. I'd get box lots in, and in almost every one of them there would be multi-strand necklaces. Some of them, while being spectacular from a distance, weren't all that great up close. I started noticing that all of the signed pieces simply had more sparkle than the unsigned pieces. So I started researching. What I found was that the higher-end costume designers used Swarovski crystal in their creations. The lower-end costume jewelry designers (sometimes from the same design house) would use Czech crystal. Czech crystal is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not Swarovski.

The more I researched, the more entranced I became with Swarovski. Then the unthinkable happened. The sparkle addict met a Swarovski prism dealer. This was 7 years ago. The dealer and I are still fabulous friends, and his sales got rather padded that first year of my Swarovski addiction.

Time passed and I caught the beading bug. I started with cheap beads from China, and beads from vintage necklaces that were broken beyond repair. I figured anyone could bead. Boy was I wrong! I think it took about a year for me to truly establish good techniques. Meanwhile, I was selling some rather poorly crafted jewelry made with cheap components. I don't know; maybe we all start that way.

One day I went searching for better beads. I found a seller who had EVERYTHING. I'd never seen an online store with such SUNSHINE in it! I bought a few things and when my order arrived, there was a little 1" X 1" poly bag with 10 beads of different colors. Samples. And guess what? They were ALL Swarovski. Guess what I did? Yup. That bead seller began to LOVE me.

A few months later I decided to go to my first bead and gem show. I came home with a $400 hole in my bank account. I started creating strictly in Swarovski, Czech glass and hand-made lampwork when I could afford it. I sold a lot to friends and family, but do you know what I liked to do best with my Swarovski beads?

Pour some in my hand and stand in a patch of sunshine. To this day, I love to look at Swarovski in the sunshine.

You're probably asking: "Why did she entitle this post 'Just a Glass Cutter'?" Well, I'll tell you why. Daniel Swarovski was the son of a Bohemian glass cutter. If it hadn't been for that glass cutter, I might not have my addiction. How's THAT for projection?

Daniel Swarovski invented a glass cutting machine that would produce precision-cut crystal glass and he patented it in 1892. 119 years later, Swarovski holds the distinction of being the finest producer of Austrian crystal objects in the world. The trade name and logo has gone through several iterations from a simple Edelweiss flower to S.A.L. and finally to the swan logo with which we addicts are so familiar. As of this writing, the swan logo is being phased out in favor of simply using the name "Swarovski." Well why not? When you're the best, you need not hide behind anything. No abbreviations are necessary, no lovely winged creatures. All you need is your name.

And if it hadn't been for that humble bohemian glass-cutter, I might not have my sparkle addiction. So thank you, Father Swartz (because that was Daniel Swarovski's birth name) for giving us the child who would become the man to change the world of beaded jewelry forever!