Found Fish!

A while ago, I posted about these adorable earrings I had made from a pair of beads that I had received as a free gift along with my order. They were rose quartz and had a hole where the eye would be. I really liked the way they hung like that.
Anyway, the pair of earrings sold quite rapidly at the Gallery and I was dismayed that I could not find any more beads like that to make more earrings.

Well, time passes, and two things happened right around the same time, about a week ago. First, I found a supplier for those beads! They've got them in over twenty different gemstones. They are drilled lengthwise as well as the hole through the eye, but that's okay. I'm just glad I found them in a source that also provides so much variety, and at wholesale prices!
Second, the woman who bought the first pair of earrings from the Gallery had left me a note requesting another pair. She said the first pair she bought ended up as a gift, but she liked them so much, she wants another pair for herself.

That's such good news. It's funny how things go that way sometimes.
This supplier also sells sterling (and gold) findings that are way cheaper than where I've been getting my findings. So I can go to them for that as well. I think they have a minimum order, but it's only $50, so that shouldn't be a problem.
They do carry Swarovski crystals, which I like to use in those fish earrings, but unless my simple math abilities are seriously screwed up, they're not even close to being cheaper than where I normally get my crystals. That's kind of a bummer. But oh well. Such is the way business is done.

Oh! They also have bear beads, too! I've seem them called fetish bears, or zuni bears. I'm probably going to pick up a few kinds of those as well. You know, for those people that don't like fish. Who doesn't like bears??

In other news, I found more cardstock for my earring cards. I had been using leftover cardstock from my brothers wedding. But, I'm down to my last sheet. The 110# cardstock I got from Office Depot isn't heavy enough. It's fine for item tags, but it isn't sturdy enough to stand up on its own while supporting a pair of earrings. But, with the wonderful help of a friend of mine, I discovered that the stuff I had was 80lb. cover paper. I found a local paper supply store, brought in my last sheet, asked for 80lb. cover paper and eureka! It's a match!
So now I have a whole ream of it that should last quite some time. I can get four cards per page and I have 250 pages. So, after I sell 1,000 pairs of earrings, I'll need to buy another ream! I joke, but if people like these fish (and bear!) earrings as much as I do, then they should sell pretty well.