Art Insomnia Beads – Meet our Friend Dawn

We would like you to meet our friend Dawn of Art Insomnia Beads. Dawn is a lampwork bead artist and is truly the ‘Queen of Raku’. She is an absolute master at coaxing color from Reichenbach 108 Iris Orange – affectionately known as ‘Raku’ by the lampwork community.

Dawn and I met in 2003 (eek – has it really been 5 years?) when we were both selling polymer clay beads on JustBeads.com, and have been internet buddies ever since. Several years ago she made the leap from polymer clay to lampwork and her lampwork beads became an immediate hit. Last year she was gracious enough to invite us down to her beautiful studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida to give us a lesson in beadmaking. Watching her effortlessly apply stringer was a humbling experience.

She sells her beads on eBay and has recently opened an Etsy store: ArtInsomniaBeads.etsy.com . Be sure to stop by and check it out!

How is the situation in Kenya affecting the Ladies who make the Kazuri Beads?

Several of you have expressed concern about the ladies who make the Kazuri beads. If you haven’t yet seen the beads or read the story, click the link:

See the beads and read the story!

We received the following update:

Kenya Update

I’m sure you have been wondering how the situation in Kenya has been affecting the women of Kazuri. Fortunately, at the moment, the location of the factory is not in the area where the violence has been the most intense. They continue to carry on as best they can. When things heat up, transportation stops and the women cannot get to the factory. Unfortunately, the stores and other essential services have been shutting down sporadically as well, creating shortages of food and other necessary supplies.

Here is a quote from a woman that is involved with the New Life Orphanage in Kenya:

“Conversations with our friends and partners in Kenya make it clear that there is much more peace than violence throughout Kenya, and the arrival of Kofi Annan and the fact that the leaders are meeting brings the hope of some sort of closure. But they also agree that tribal relations have been set back decades. And the long term impact on the hundreds of thousands of women and children who have been left homeless, fearful and vulnerable is immeasurable.”

Our hopes and prayers are with the Kazuri women.

For people who have asked how they can help, this is the word that we’re getting from our supplier: We are telling our customers that the best thing they can really do is buy beads. By buying beads, we have to order more, which keeps the women employed or allows Kazuri to hire more women, which with their salary they are able to support 10-15 other people, which is much better for them than having to rely on the relief agencies. The factory is in one of the nicer suburbs of Nairobi, it has security and is surrounded by a wall. Unfortunately, the women have to leave the factory to go home.