Several months ago I purchased a matched set of beads from a lampwork artist in ebay who is an SRA member.  I felt comfortable purchasing these beads, and they were lovely and in good shape when they arrived.  The set included several disc beads and some round beads all in coordinating colors.  Since I am only able to bead when I find time, which is not a lot, I did not get around to using these beads until last week.  Until then they were stored in a plastic bag and placed in a divided container commonly used for fishing tackle.  I made a bracelet with lots of dangles using these beads along with some vintage beads and Swarovski crystals.  I consider myself just getting the hang of wrapped loops, so this bracelet took quite a bit of my time.  Once done, it was a beauty.  I placed it in a ziplock bag and then in a box for storage until my show this Saturday.  Yesterday I was making sure my pricing was all in order on each piece, and found that one of the lampwork beads, a disc bead, had broken leaving sharp edges.  Neither the beads or the finished bracelet were subject to banging around or rough handling.  I know that a bracelet can get a lot of bangs against a desk or other objects, and I'm worried that more beads will break.  Do I tear this bracelet apart and not sell it?  Do I sell it and tell the buyer to return it if something happens?  I put so much work into this, and the beads were not cheap.  I'm at a loss.  Any suggestions?  Alice 

Sounds like a problem with the annealing. It happens once in a while. I would approach the maker and see what they will do. I would look for any flaws in the other beads that might be a crack developing.

If the lampwork artist is a professional they will stand by their product - no matter how long it took you to use it.  I would definitely contact them regarding replacement - or at least tell them the problem so that they can figure out why it happened and correct it.  As for the bracelet - you certainly can't sell it with a broken bead - is there a way to replace the bead with either a peyote bead (that can be zipped around the string) or several more wrapped loops around the string here and there - that will make up for the space of the broken bead?  It may be easier to just restring.  Such a bummer when that happens.  I recently had a handmade peyote clasp come apart right in front of the customer (so embarrassing) but since she trusts me, she allowed me to repair the piece - and is still going to make the purchase.    Good luck with the bracelet.  Sounds beautiful.  Oh and a side note - once you get the hang of those wrapped loops - they can be somewhat addictive.  I use them as accents on many of my mixed stringing/woven/fiber pieces.