Been busy with orders and re-stocking the online store.
Almost in to port is another order of Vibrant Glass Tiles. Hopefully all the out-of -stock colours and the very low-stock colours will soon be replenished, yes friends that does mean the popular lime green tile as well, and there will be a few new colours to add to the range. It is always best to adopt a "wait and see" attitude with these orders as some go to plan and some not. I've been pleased with my current manufacturer, so I am expecting that standard to continue.
Just a heads up with this range, the two pink coloured tiles were almost double in price I think, and last time I just sold them at the same price as all the tiles, thinking it would all work out in the wash, but the pinks sold out the quickest, the darker one first. So this time they were even a bit more expensive, so I will have to price them accordingly. I'll have to wait and see when they arrive, as there is duty to pay too.
I can never really get an answer why some tiles are so expensive to buy. In the new Tess-Array-nbow range there is one colour that is hugely more expensive than the others too. It must be a pigment cost thing. So I'll have to do costing checks once they land in Aust and customs and duties and GST have all been paid.
Hopefully it won't be too long til I am unpacking and photographing new stock for you.
I've re-ordered the Tess-Array-nbow tiles, plus added Tess-Array-nbow 2 to the mix. These 10 colours will be sold just like the others- in one sheet of 10 strips. They should complement the original Tess-Array-nbow colours. I'm going to keep the colours a secret for now. They won't be in production for a while and will be arriving hopefully in June. I can't wait to see them all together. 20 colours WOOHOO. Hopefully you will love them as much as me. Oh -and there is a new product as well... Just bought a small amount to do some market research first to see if others like them too, or if it is just me....... before I put in a big order.
Still got the Give-Away in the back of my mind. I have just been a little too busy with climactic conditions around here for a while, I don't like to use the f-word ( f--e) at all, -with the "what you focus on expands" theory and all.... so let's just say in WA we are looking forward to some good dousing rains and some cooler weather.
I'll continue to work on the give-away- three prizes I think, one ceramic-( just made some "Party Nippers" the other day to go in the prize box), one glass and one micro. I think I'll have three winners, and they can pick which prize they would like. More news soon.
The photo is taken at the little work station where I pack your orders. I've got containers of all the Vibrant Glass Tiles behind. When I purchase the tiles, they say there is 2% margin for quality error, so virtually that means that there can be 8 tiles on a whole sheet that are inferior quality. I soak off a sheet and put them in the container for my supply. The rest are stored in a large shed on shelves. I check all the sheets of the VGT once they become an order, and if I can see corners missing or a chunk out of a tile, I will cut it out and replace it with a new one. I am only seeing the back of the tile- they are face mounted onto paper- so the side that is glued is the actual colour and should be the premium side. All who use these tiles no doubt appreciate the variety in the colour on the reverse of the tile, it means with some of them you get two colours for the price of one. This is true also for ones that are iridescent on one side. I've always loved these tiles. The colours are great, they are a good size to use whole, and can easily be cut with good sharp wheeled nippers into many shapes.
Years ago when I first started making mosaics I found some of these from a US shop in orange and loved them.Then when I decided to have my own store, this was one of the first products I ordered and imported.
Thanks so much to my Tess-Array customers, I appreciate each one of you. Feel free to message me at any time at karen@tess-array.com with any questions, feedback, suggestions, requests...
Karen Baker.