The Week Winds Down

Coffee in the New York skyline mug, "Ain't Wastin Time No More" by the Allman Brothers on iTunes. Yeah. Got very excited this morning about the Neatreceipts software, but then came crashing back to earth upon discovering it's for Windows only. Winblows. Of course the Filemaker Pro I am using is also for Windows--I run it inside the Parallels desktop along with Quickbooks. Don't get me wrong--it's not that I commit to Mac, I am just cheap. I have years worth of software and I can't see buying all new just because I switched computers. I switched before and didn't have to upgrade. It's ludicrous to make me do it now.

Some people like to have the latest versions of all their apps. These are probably the self-same people who like new cars every couple of years. Me, I like comfort and stability. Why on earth would I go get new every year when it means having to spend time figuring out the new features and interface and dealing with buggy new software? I really resent that Quicken and Quickbooks make me upgrade every couple of years (the online downloading of bank transactions is phased out for older releases). I understand they have to make a living and there are only so many people buying their product so they need to get them to buy it multiple times to stay in business. It still sucks.

But glass. I need to focus on glass. I have been kiln forming (used to be called plain old fusing before it became frufty) for 20 years now. Well, 20 years in August. It was always a part-time thing for me as I couldn't support myself on it alone... I started to fill in the details between then and now, but, really, all that's important is that I put the real birthday of my studio and business at summer of 2003. That's after we moved to Atlanta and I built the new studio in the lower level of our house. When I decided it was time to either make glass my entire full-time, professional focus or declare it an expensive hobby and get another job.

The point of the above info? The other day (yesterday?) I wrote that I didn't have shows till August and that it was a bit scary. But what I missed is that--if my work is good and I have placed it well (in galleries where it matches the taste of the clientele)--the orders will come in by themselves over the summer. Not as many as I would get all at once from a show, but in dribs and drabs, and enough to provide the small bit of income necessary to support the development effort I put in for next year's designs and an entry for the Niche awards (again. third time's a charm?). That's what wholesale is all about--not having to do shows every weekend in order to sell work. It's taken three years to get to point where the theory meets the reality, but it's beginning to now.

On the nuts and bolts of glass, by this afternoon I will have cut over 40 sheets into pieces, and I already know I don't have enough for the orders I have going out between now and June 15. I have another 90 sheets coming on Monday and about 500 lbs of frit. That should get me through for awhile.

Now off to pick up the new router (wireless computer, not wood router) and two new shelves for the kiln (time to have new FLAT shelves!).