The CPSIA Committee over the summer voted down exempting all glass & crystal beads as exempt from testing. In fact jewelry in general is on their radar, is it not even covered under the stay off testing. As of March 20, 2009 all finished jewelry that is made for or marketed towards children under 13 must goto an independant 3rd party government approved lab to be tested by batch and lot. So even OOAK and custom made pieces would originally need at least 2 of the same made so 1 could go & be destroyed by the lab to prove what the lead levels are. Since testing cost, at least the lowest I found, $75 per individaul raw material used for a seller to get a legally recognized test report for the CPSIA. A single color glass bead bracelet uses at least stringing material, crimps, jumprings, clasp, clasp catch, & of course beads thats 6 types of raw materials X $75 plus the cost of producing 2 items. Right now the way the CPSIA is written even if all the other materials used are exempt, as in being sterling silver or another precious metal, once 1 element that is not on the exemption list is used the whole piece including the exempted items must be tested. So something I could of sold last year at $10 would now cost a customer $470. If I'm able to make 3 bracelets out of the same batches of raw materials the price could drop to around $240 & if I'm lucky enought to get 4 bracelets I might be able to go as low as $165. The only way around this testing is by using 100% exempt materials.
