I just got one of those catalogs in the mail, you know, one filled with plastic beads, cheap lampwork, and silvertone metal. There's nothing wrong with this stuff as long as you recognize it for what it is. Personally, I'm not that excited about low end material.

I did notice that the cheap lampwork (undoubtedly made is some third world factory) is getting better. Their beads aren't quite as ugly as they used to be. Their shapes and critters actually almost looked like what their titles said they were. And for a moment they had me worried. Then I looked closer. The ends are still ragged and sharp, the application still sloppy, and they never clean out their holes. Probably because they aren't annealed and would crack in water. Hm.

I'm not quite worried... yet.