Summer Time, and the Studio is Easy

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, the splash of water from the fountain weaving in and out of the lily pads in the pond and the shrill trumpet of chipmunks quarreling with squirrels for music. It is summer in Atlanta. The weekend saw the last big three-kiln firing for awhile on Saturday, and lots of gardening including two classes, one on making rain barrels (I now have five--three for the studio and two for the house) and the other on making a succulent hanging basket. The small pond was relocated to the front yard (from the front porch) and stocked with plants for the fish to live in and eat. The back deck was cleaned and now hosts all the house plants and orchids for the summer. I even cut down all the six-foot high poke weed, trimmed the trees up, and hired Bruce from down the street to weed the beds.

So why is my Monday morning post full of gardening? Because it is a time of transition in the glass studio. Today sees the last big group of orders from the BMAC and ACRE go out. Though there are still orders to do from both shows, there are no more days when more than two orders go out, and the orders themselves are small. They are also staggered through November and my next show isn't until August with the summer Buyer's Market.

Today I have Stacy to help pack and ship, and tomorrow and Wednesday are both going to be web development days. For the rest of the summer I will spend at least one day a week on web development and marketing and one day on business process. A third day is dedicated to studio optimization and going green (more on that tomorrow). The remaining days are enough for production. Normally I would be looking to the summer for product development too, but the new glass and metal pieces and glass colorways already created this year are enough. Better use of the time will be getting a catalog created on the website and setting up on-line wholesale ordering for galleries.

And now off to clean and sign and pack and ship. Huzzah!