Good timing, as I was talking to Evvy about this tonight. At TEN we could sell a lot of make your own jewelery kits. I have other bead sources, including one that makes amazing glass beads, so I may be able to help combined or contribute beads to such a kit.

Hi John - that's great. My vision is to incorporate a variety of beads from different countries in the kits.

I'd love to see some of the beads that you have and talk further about wholesale bulk pricing. Do you have any around that you can send to me? or e-photos to start?

Also - I owe you a sample charity box kit. I know we had talked a while back about it briefly. I will put something together for you and send for you to take a look.

I should have the glass beads soon as they are being hand carried back to the states by one of our partners at Free The Slaves

This is so good Mechel for starting this bulk jungle beads here. We have varriaties of beads and if we could have bulk price disccused then it would be much better because it is cheaper to ship many beads than when one orders for 5 or ten. As per now the shipping cost has doubled but it becomes cheaper if it is in bulk.

What are you using for shipping? For bulk beads I would think you could use normal post, that is what we do for smaller orders, even high value ones. We only use DHL or other shipping when the shipment is above about 15 pounds.

Im sure you know this, but your closest competitor Beads For Life sells bulk beads direct retail in the US for $12 for a bag of about 145 beads.

We are using the cheapest means that is EMS (normal post) that has turned to be expensive though still remains cheaper compaired to other shipping companies. Every first five hundred grams is 60,000/=($ 45) Then every additional is 20,000/= ($ 13) This means that the small orders of below one thousand grams is too expensive and leaves the organisation to run at a lost. initally it was 30,000/= ($22)

$12 for a bag of about 145 beads, you mean loose beads?

yes - loose beads. That is their price. I have never seen the loose bags so i dont know if the quality is as high.

I see your problem with shipping. Ill ask our customs agent if he knows any consoldators out of Uganda, but I kind of doubt he does. That will be an interesting problem.

Are there any neighbor countries that have much cheaper post. Probably not a solution now but in the long run when volumes are higher you might want to truck stuff somewhere else.

At TEN we have a discount rate with DHL - but the are not usualy cheaper than consolidators - but Ill see if they have any deal we can do.

Thanks for the reminder about Bead for Life. Yes, here is the link to their bulk bead pack: http://www.beadforlifestore.com/ servlet/Detail?no=49. So that's the retail price. Question is, are they working with a distributor (in which case there would be a wholesale price point) or directly to end customer.

Re: shipping - that is a huge issue. I wonder if our o/net friend Sebastian, who works for FedEx in Argentina, might have some ideas or connections. I met him in Canton in April and we talked a bit about it then. I'll check in with him also.

John - glad the glass beads are on their way. Keep me posted!

I am pretty sure it is all direct to consumer.

Anyway I dont know if there is any with chaeper post

Peter, possibly the best way to do this it to price 1,000 or 5,000 beads wholsale and have Michele take care of, and pay for the shipping. (Keeping in mind the above is .08 cents a bead retail.)

I just had Peter calculate what the shipping cost is to send 1000 bracelets and it ended up being approx. 20 cents per bracelet (can't believe how expensive that is). Figuring that an average number of beads in a bracelet is 13, and deducting a fraction for the tiny glass beads, it would work out to approx. .015 per bead for the average size bead. Might be a little bit more for the larger ones but this is at least a place to start.

thank you for the work on this. After Yom Kippur I will be back to discuss more!!

Glad to see this continued on here. I am still also interested in bulk loose beads...for a special series of artworks and also to help distribute them for jewelry makers and craftclubs, etc. Would love similar packs to BeadForLife but perhaps by color as well...as in one pack of red, one pack of forest green, etc.

Sure Darlene this will make our work a lot easier , because producing loose beads is just very simple, we only will need the details and it will be ready at the snap of your finger. Am sure Peter , Teopista and George have been putting together the price list which will soon be posted here.

that's wonderful, Grace, thankyou! I think Michele and I should combine our order so it can be shipped to one place...then she and I will meet up in NYC or here.

For my prayer artworks I'm interested in beads that are around the size of the ones that were made for the lariats that Lars gave us (around 1/2inch long)...more on the thinner side than round, in all colors with perhaps 70% in the tan/beige colors:

For about ten years now I have been making artworks with hammered nails in which each nail represents a prayer, hope, wish and aspiration.

As my other artwork series have become more about groups working together and connecting to one another and as I have been blessed and inspired by connecting across the oceans through omidyar.net and here I think that it would be wonderful to create prayer pieces that incorporated the beads made by various groups of people in Uganda instead of nails....in this way combining the energy of our hands and our prayers for a better and more peaceful future. This feels like something I must do. If you would be so kind as to tell this to the beadmakers I would love if they were to think of each bead being made as a prayer/wish that would be sent out and felt and come true. And that I will cherish their prayers and think of them as I put the beads one by one into an artwork that I hope will be seen and touched by many.

I would like to create a few sample smaller pieces first with the first batch of beads I would order and through that hope to be able to find someone to commission a large piece (5foot) so that I may order a lot more later on.

I look forward to seeing the price list and trying to figure this out. thankyou so much:)

What an absolutely lovely and inspired idea, Darlene. I can't wait to see you sample works!!

Darlene Charneco said:

As my other artwork series have become more about groups working together and connecting to one another and as I have been blessed and inspired by connecting across the oceans through omidyar.net and here I think that it would be wonderful to create prayer pieces that incorporated the beads made by various groups of people in Uganda instead of nails....in this way combining the energy of our hands and our prayers for a better and more peaceful future. This feels like something I must do. If you would be so kind as to tell this to the beadmakers I would love if they were to think of each bead being made as a prayer/wish that would be sent out and felt and come true. And that I will cherish their prayers and think of them as I put the beads one by one into an artwork that I hope will be seen and touched by many.

a Franklin farmers market friend, Ritajayne from Loaf of Bread jewelry, is also looking for bulk beads. I believe she has been in touch with Grace but may also be interested in joining the combined order.......

Long ago I had inquired about bulk bead sales. I am glad to see more discussion and planning. I work with two jewelry makers, and will follow the developments here for them. I would need to know the smallest possible bulk order, or how to combine with another shipment, etc.

I just had Peter calculate what the shipping cost is to send 1000 bracelets and it ended up being approx. 20 cents per bracelet well the scale i used before taking to a shipping company was perhaps spoiled because the 1000 beads that was 15kgs was 8kgs at the shipping company. However with shipping here is that the more you ship the cheaper it becomes. infact for every first item shipped is 60.000/= either it is one single bead or 1kg of bead and for every additional is 17,142/= per kgs. this means that the first i kg is 60,000/= so whatwever kgs you add is 17,142/= . that is why we were making a seroius loss when people order for breakfast bracelets bundles! it is only 12 breacelets which you need to ship at a total of 70,000/= when including transport from the office and the air bag

thanks Ndelo...but I am still so unclear on what it will cost and how we should order...Michele, Evvy, are you guys still around? any idea how many you want to order, Michele?

Evvy, do i remember you saying you were hoping to go there in December and bring some back? I'm thinking of ordering more bracelets to help with the xmas school fees campaign...but really what i really can use are the loose beads...perhaps loose beads can be made part of the campaign too? I'd love to order...

HI Darlene,

I have arrived in Uganda and have already met with the staff from Kampala. I will be bringing loose beads back with me but I will not be coming back until Jan 16. We will be working on the pricing this coming Mon and Tues and I will let you know. Sorry they won't be available for the Christmas sales.

If you want to order some bracelets I left a supply back in California with Shawn Kelly who is one of the board members of Life in Africa USA. If you contact her she will be able to send you some.

Yes, I have lots of bracelets. Just give me a shout if you need some!

ok I'll get some bracelets..should I just use the lia site cart?