Where are Nano Exotics suncatchers made?

Every piece is strung by hand in California, USA, and mailed from Cerritos, California. Nothing is made in advance and nothing is imported finished.

How long does a handmade beaded suncatcher take to arrive?

On slow days a piece takes 5–7 business days, and it varies heavily with demand — one person makes every one, so an order joins whatever queue is in front of it, currently putting delivery at 6–7 weeks. Bead packs are not made to order and go out in 2–5 days. A dropshipped suncatcher arrives in about three weeks, because it was finished months ago and is only being posted. If you need something for a particular date, ask before you order.

How can you tell if a beaded suncatcher is mass-produced?

Not by speed — a solo maker can be quicker than a warehouse, because a parcel from overseas spends one to three weeks in transit no matter when it was made. The reliable tells are where the shipping policy says the parcel comes from, whether the reviews carry photographs taken by customers rather than the seller, whether anyone has ever shown themselves making one, and whether the shop can answer a specific question about bead count or wire gauge without going away to find out.

Will I pay customs or import duty?

Not if you are in the United States: the piece is made and mailed inside the country, so there is no customs form and nothing to collect on delivery. Ordering from outside the US you will pay your own country’s import duty and VAT, the same as on any parcel crossing a border. Those charges are set by your customs authority rather than added by me. What I control is the paperwork — real declared value, the right commodity code and country of origin on every variant — so the parcel clears rather than being held.

Faceted AB-coated glass, refractive index about 1.52. AB — aurora borealis — is a vapour-deposited thin film that adds interference colour on top of ordinary refraction, which is why the colours shift as the sun moves.

Before you buy

Who actually
made it

A listing looks the same whether the shop made the thing or bought it in a box. Below is each shop’s own published policy, quoted with a link and a date, so you can tell which is which without taking anyone’s word for it — mine included.

The queue is the proof

On slow days a piece takes 5–7 business days. What varies heavily is demand: one person makes every one, and an order joins whatever queue is already in front of it — currently putting delivery at 6–7 weeks. Bead packs are not made to order, so they skip the queue and go out in 2–5 days.

Everything below is quoted from each shop’s own published policy, with a link and a date, so none of it rests on my word.

Nano Exotics

This shop

Made: By hand in California, USA
Ships from: Cerritos, California
Made to order: Yes — 5–7 business days on slow days, varying heavily with demand. Currently 6–7 weeks including the queue
US shipping: Tracked USPS, quoted at checkout
US customs or duty: None — it never leaves the country
Returns: Final, except a wrong item. EU/UK: 14-day statutory right

Caution

Bobble Sprig Studio

↗ Their policy

Ships from: "our fulfillment location in China"
Processing: "usually processed within 3–5 business days"
Transit: "7–14 business days after dispatch"
Total: About 3 weeks to your door, all in
US shipping: Free standard shipping
What arrives: Mostly DIY kits — 12 of their 14 products
Customs or duty: "the customer’s responsibility unless they are collected and clearly shown at checkout"

They used two of my videos to advertise these kits. Dates, screenshots and what actually ships →

Quotations taken from each shop’s own website, July 2026. Follow the links and check them — policies change, and if any of this has gone out of date I would rather you told me than trusted me.

Caution — Bobble Sprig Studio

Bobble Sprig advertises
using mine and others’ videos

They advertise with other people’s videos. They lift footage from creators across TikTok and Instagram to sell their kits. Two of those videos are mine — posted 7 May and 20 May, running on their account 13 May and 19 June with a shopping link. I have filed copyright claims with Meta and TikTok.
The kit is smaller than the advert. Which is what the borrowed footage is for. Mine shows hundreds of graded beads on long trailing strands; their own product video shows roughly fifty chunky beads in one flat green.
They publish four different locations. Colorado in the terms of service, China in the shipping policy, China again on Instagram’s disclosure panel, and a New York geotag on a video filmed in my window in California.
They dropship from China. Their own shipping policy: orders leave “our fulfillment location in China” in 10–19 business days, and the duty is yours.

Mine · 7 May5.0M views. My window, my hand, my piece.

Theirs · 13 MayThe same footage, six days later, with a shopping link.

What ships · 30 MayTheir own footage. Roughly fifty beads, one flat green.

All the dates and screenshots

Yours does not exist.. yet

There is no shelf here to pick yours off. The beads sit loose in trays until your order comes in. Then one person sits down and threads them onto wire, one at a time, for your piece and nobody else’s.

That currently puts delivery at 6–7 weeks, and the number moves with demand rather than staying put. When it moves I change it here rather than letting a date slip quietly: sales are final, so a promise I cannot keep is not a promise, it is a problem. Both parcels turn up. Only one of them was made.

I have strung 412 of these by hand, one bead at a time. Yours would be number 413, started from an empty tray like every one before it.

Questions people actually ask

Where are Nano Exotics suncatchers made?: Every piece is strung by hand in California, USA, and mailed from Cerritos, California. Nothing is made in advance and nothing is imported finished.
How long does a handmade beaded suncatcher take to arrive?: On slow days a piece takes 5–7 business days, and it varies heavily with demand — one person makes every one, so an order joins whatever queue is in front of it, currently putting delivery at 6–7 weeks. Bead packs are not made to order and go out in 2–5 days. A dropshipped suncatcher arrives in about three weeks, because it was finished months ago and is only being posted. If you need something for a particular date, ask before you order.
How can you tell if a beaded suncatcher is mass-produced?: Not by speed — a solo maker can be quicker than a warehouse, because a parcel from overseas spends one to three weeks in transit no matter when it was made. The reliable tells are where the shipping policy says the parcel comes from, whether the reviews carry photographs taken by customers rather than the seller, whether anyone has ever shown themselves making one, and whether the shop can answer a specific question about bead count or wire gauge without going away to find out.
Will I pay customs or import duty?: Not if you are in the United States: the piece is made and mailed inside the country, so there is no customs form and nothing to collect on delivery. Ordering from outside the US you will pay your own country’s import duty and VAT, the same as on any parcel crossing a border. Those charges are set by your customs authority rather than added by me. What I control is the paperwork — real declared value, the right commodity code and country of origin on every variant — so the parcel clears rather than being held.
What are the beads?: Faceted AB-coated glass, refractive index about 1.52. AB — aurora borealis — is a vapour-deposited thin film that adds interference colour on top of ordinary refraction, which is why the colours shift as the sun moves.

See the pieces Meet the maker