May 10th

We woke up this morning to pouring rain. Couldn't get J-Me to get up for anything (she stayed awake until 4am as she could not sleep),  so we lay around relaxing until 11am when we finally went hunting. We just had to locate a pressed glass factory that had closed down 10 years ago but rumor had it that it was reopened in a small village outside of Jablonec. Armed with a new address and the GPS programed, we set out into the mountains and immediately got lost. At one point we were traveling on a goat track with large water puddles and mud. So instead we drove to our second stop, which was a lampwork showroom/factory that specialized in glass flowers on wire. Spoke to the owner and after our purchase was completed we added his factory to our tour. This is a new factory for us, and we were very excited to add him to our list of factories.
Hand made glass flowers on wire.

Lampwork beads:

We mentioned the first glass bead factory that we couldn't find, and the owner went online and gave us the GPS co-ordinates which we programed into our GPS and off we went. Bravely into the forest we drove, and immediately got lost again. Another goat track, more mud, but this time it was really raining and to make matters worse we were in the clouds and our visibility was 10 feet in front. Eventually I thought I knew where we were, and aimed for the location of the factory. We found it!

 After opening the door to what looked to us like an apparently deserted very old building and climbing a staircase in semi darkness, no lights on the stairwell, we found a door with a light on and voices coming from behind it. We knocked and entered, and behind the smoke filled room was the owner and a pregnant worker sorting beads. We had found the factory and probably the most beautiful table cut beads in existence. Throwing caution to the wind, we loaded up on beads in stock and examined sample cards for production. Screw the budget! These beads were fantastic. No photos were allowed to be taken, in fact we almost got evicted just by pulling the camera out.
So you will just have to wait until they arrive in our warehouse.

(We snuck this photo when no one was looking)

Driving back into Jablonec we stopped at a small Antik store that last year had some incredible glass buttons for sale which we had purchased, of course. This time she had a few nice ones on display, but when she finally remembered us she pulled out some rare button books and a r.
What a great score!

 This time she had a few nice ones on display, but when she finally remembered us she pulled out some rare button books and a rare 1885 - 1886 jet button book which we snapped up immediately for our own personal collection.

What a great score!

Giddy with our purchase and the days finds we drove back to our apartment to drool over the button book and eat lunch 3 hours late. Nap time with the soothing sound of rain beating on our windows. Good thing J-ME brought some warm clothes with her.

J- Me and Guy are the owners of Wild Things Beads, a small family run import business specializing in Czech glass beads and buttons and finding the unusual to bring to their warehouse. They also run working bead tours to Jablonec and Hong Kong. Their warehouse is located deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California, and can be reached by phone at (530)743 1339 or on the web at www.wildthingsbeads.com. They are also open by appointment at their warehouse.