Saturday and Still Standing

DECAF in the Denver skyline mug, "The Power of Two" by the Indigo Girls on iTunes (and Jessie telling Ernie to "Peace out, Erns" as she takes a movie of him with her little camera) for my background. Last night's kilnforming date night was a great success, and, as always, there's no rest for the wicked today. I wish I still had a working Remedy server and a copy of all the software. I would whip out a POS program in a heartbeat and I wouldn't have to "settle". I HATE settling. Is it to much to ask that one of the columns of information shown in the list of orders is the order total? Barring that, is there any reason why I can't have a report for orders? *sigh* I'm sure I have bigger things to worry about, but it's annoying nonetheless.

Today, taxes to the accountant, POS for the glass resource center, the rest of the orders in the studio POS system, do the ad-creation and write-up for the summer camps we decided upon yesterday, a web development next-steps plan for Michael for the resource center... there are a bunch more things that should be on that list, but, heck, without coffee there's only so much I can get done!

In For a Penny...

Coffee with Italian sweet cream creamer AND Belgian toffee chocolate creamer (I'm a cosmopolitan coffee drinker) in the Montreal mug, The ticking of the clock interspersed with Ernie's rumbling snores from the couch next to me for music. I am typing so fast there is smoke coming from under my fingers (and I'm not even a touch typist!). I don't know if it's the reintroduction of caffeine to my life or the longer daylight and promise of spring just around the corner. Whatever, I have the first third of the outline for the next book done, several weeks of summer camp in the planning stages, two corporate gift proposals in (one for 1000 pieces and the other for 3000 pieces), and I'm raring to go on a kitchen garden... Oh yes, and I have a kilnforming date night tonight and I start 5 weeks of private glass lessons for someone next week. Whee! (I say again, Whee!).

Now Lee, Dee and Todd are on their ways over to meet and talk about classes, orders, reconcile finances, and plan, plan, plan! I also need to get with Brian to go over the next construction in the torchwork classroom (the vent system). Then there are the advertising campaigns for ACRE, resource center classes, and summer camp, and the information cards, catalog, brochure and follow-ups with galleries I didn't see at the BMAC. Mustn't forget the POS program--I FINALLY whipped it into shape last night at midnight (another midnight of POSing) for the studio and will create the one for the resource center over the weekend.

Time's awasting, got to go. Everyone will be here soon and I've got to call Maureen James of Profitable Glass and Glass Patterns Quarterly back. She called yesterday to ask if I'd be interested in writing a tutorial for them this month and I have JUST the project!

If Ever There Was Morning That Deserved Real Coffee...*

Because it IS such a morning, I am having a medium mocha at Kavarna and trying to jump start my day. I am having some difficulty in my endeavor as I am easily distracted and have so far delved into the correct use of the subjunctive in English (American English or British English? I don't know.... Auuuuuuuugh!) and gotten lost in art/poetry on the wall here at Kavarna, and, oh yes, that little Monty Python side trip...

Back to business. Last night's class was wonderful. It is going to take me a bit to back into the teaching rhythm--I have had a production hat on for so long that I've forgotten a bit about the timing and social necessities of teaching. I went into last night's class determined to be uber efficient in communicating everything I could to the class participants about the techniques and theory being presented--without overwhelming them--and I completely missed taking into account that classes for many people are also social interaction occasions. Some of the participants of this class had taken other classes together and needed some time to chat and catch up, and all of them needed a little time to learn about the rest of the group and to bond so I had to manage the delicate balance between letting them ramble and reining them in to keep them on track (and on time). After all, the purpose of the class is to HAVE FUN. Yes, they will (hopefully) learn things too, but when they leave the class it is most important that they think back on what a great time they had and how energized and motivated they feel after it (and how they want to do another one).

We finished work at 9:30, finished chatting and headed out the door at 10:00. I didn't have them clean up their stations yesterday (bad me), but I will henceforth. I got them all to sign photo releases, but I was so busy during the class that I didn't take any pics. Oh well, next week. One of my students is taking a quick trip to Murano this weekend so I will definitely plan time for chat into next week's class.

For now I'll pick up where I left off on the monstrous list from yesterday... after I call Todd.


*Thank you Wordpower for the clarification on the use of the subjunctive vs the indicative to express conditions (but what the heck is the .ws top level domain on the URL?)!

Either the Indicative Mood or the Subjunctive Mood can be used to express a condition.

In the case of a condition which is considered true or probable, the Indicative Mood is used.
e.g. If she is here now, we will ask her opinion.
In this example, the verb is is in the Simple Present Indicative. The use of the Simple Present Indicative indicates that the condition if she is here now is considered to be probable.

In the case of a condition which is considered false or improbable, the Subjunctive Mood is used.
e.g. If she were here now, we would ask her opinion.
In this example, the verb were is in the Simple Past Subjunctive. The use of the Simple Past Subjunctive indicates that the condition if she were here now is considered to be false or improbable.

I am Slowing Down... Really.

Ready to start the day? Who am I asking, you or me? Breakfast of diet coke, a donut and a slice of cold pepperoni pizza and I'm ready for anything. Last night finally got in the proposal for 1000 steel and glass pieces due the first of May for a corporate gift program and now I don't know whether I hope our proposal is accepted or I hope it's not. 1000 pieces due at the same time we're running the hotshop portion of the Johnathan Schmuck glass roll-up workshop for Glass Inspirations. (Have I said Whee yet?)

Tonight is the first night of our six-week glass survey glass in the studio and I am jazzed for it. Of course I've spent the past 24 hours tweaking the content of the class to the point that I've added a second project and another hands-on technique learned--it's going to be a full night every night. Whee! (Now I said it.) Tonight's class will be about the many varieties of sheet glass for kilnforming from straight transparent or opal colors to streakies, chopstix, irids, confetti, streamer, and how to combine and layer them for different effects. But that's not enough so we're also going to make our own art glass from streamers, frit, confetti and powders on a clear base. I think I'll bring drinks and snacks as I plan on working this class hard.

This Friday I also host my first kilnforming date night. We've had several glassblowing date nights, but this couple want to learn about kilnforming glass. One week back from the Buyer's Market, starting on orders from the show, and teaching too! It's never boring.

The elements on the glass furnace gave up the ghost while I was in Philly and yesterday we got a new set ordered from the man who made the furnace over 10 years ago, Sonny Cresswell. He and Lee had a long technical chat and he gave Lee several pointers about rebuilding the furnace. The new elements should arrive the end of this week and we'll be back up for classes by the middle of next week (Lee is amazing).

For the past couple of years Don Drum and I have been flirting with the idea of doing some collaborative glass and cast pewter pieces and castings of his sculptures in glass. Both he and his work are incredible and I am very excited about this opportunity. Yesterday he sent me out some molds to play around with and I'm looking forward to creating both fused and cast work with him this year. Might even have something for production to take to the summer BMAC. A girl can dream!

V is coming today to put last year's books to bed and pay bills (including the ginormous Bullseye glass bill--just in time as I need to start putting together another order), and Todd and Dee are coming down Friday... Got to make some peacock and ocean glass for Todd before then--oh yes and a lot of large shards for him to use in the wire people for orders next week. At least I got the key rings ordered for him yesterday. (Paperwork, supply management, finances--oh the glamorous life of an artist!)

Finally, got to finish clay slumping molds this week for a sconce commission, and get the rest of the Siyeh Studio orders in the new POS storefront (point of sale, not the other, more common usage for POS). And then there's creating the Siyeh Glass POS storefront so I can use it to generate orders and receipts for supplies, classes, etc. Oh My. What day is it again? Am I dreaming or awake yet? Better get moving...

Tuesday

Thinking about going back to coffee, at least decaf (antioxidants, doncha know), listening to Dave play an early morning round of Bioshock 2 before taking the J to school. It's a Tuesday. Last week after I got home from the show I planned to take some time off to rest. Instead I found myself loading and reloading data into Checkout, the Mac POS program I have been testing. It has a couple of serious flaws, but it's extremely well-designed with a very good user interface, it works on a Mac, it's better than most if not all the alternatives, and it's affordable. Best of all from some people's perspective is that it exports invoices to Quickbooks (you're welcome V). Finally have all the products and customers imported and configured, now just going to do the show orders this morning and fire up the kilns for the first time since before the BMAC this afternoon. Oh yes, and I'm looking forward to opening the package with all the paperweight goodies from Sara and David that have been arriving over the past week.

Snore, Ernie, Snore

Egyptian Licorice tea in the Denver skyline mug, robust feline snores emanating from Ernie next to me on the couch for music. Time to get back in the saddle after weeks and weeks of schedulelessness. I got an email from another glass artist/show circuit friend this morning asking me about the tone (for want of a better word) of my last post on doing shows. She wanted to know if I was just tired from the drive or if I was really contemplating quitting the show circuit. What can I say? I am a woman of extremes. Last year I thought the answer would be to add more wholesale shows. By the end of the year (and continuing on into 2010) I was thinking no shows at all--and the recent Buyer's Market did nothing to change my mind.

Yes, attendance by both exhibitors and buyers was drastically down due to the double whammy of the economy and the weather (I got an order in email from a west coast client after the show who had canceled her hotel reservations when her flight was canceled). But even without the weather and the struggling economy, I do not see a sustainable future in doing shows. The costs of doing them increase yearly--and I'm not talking about booth fees though those don't lessen either. The other costs--freight, drayage, hotel, parking, and exhibition services can eat you alive. Sure you can economize on food, but my parking and cab fares cost me more than my hotel did this time at the BMAC! And for what? Not one new buyer for my work. If I want repeat orders, I can get them with nice mailings, targeted ads, glossy brochures, catalogs, color samples, and personal calls--all of which cost a lot less in both money and energy than shows do.

Show producers are are also contributing to my disillusion with their dilution of the few American-handmade-only shows we have. What is really going to be the outcome of two simultaneous handcrafted shows in Vegas this spring? Are we going to get buyers (most of the buyers, all of the buyers, not SOME of the buyers) at both shows? Really? So why are we being encouraged to do both shows? Why on earth would I want double the set-up and breakdown, double the exhibition fees, double the freight (shipping double the work for two shows) and double the booth fees so that I'm sure to see every buyer? All a second show is doing for me is potentially reducing the number of buyers I see. Do I really think people who don't currently come to Vegas for ACRE are going to be lured there by NICHE? Sure I do. But do I see the numbers doubling to justify the double expense and work required to do both shows? No. Simple math, it's a lose-lose situation for artists.

Now some might disagree with me and say that the winter BMAC was such a great show in years past because of the timing of the Baltimore ACC show right after it, and I know many artists who participated in the insanity of doing both (I heard nothing but horror stories and am glad I was spared). Now we're being presented with a new show in Orlando and it seems like it will stretch the buyers even thinner. When I mentioned the argument that we should see a lot of crossover buyers from the Orlando Gift Show to one of my Florida gallery owners at the BMAC, she laughed so hard I thought she'd have a heart attack. Her analysis of the Orlando gift show was that it was cheap beach towels, souvenir trinkets and suntan lotion. Are their buyers going to want to add handcrafted American work? Takes me back to my experience doing the Dallas show last year in the temps when I was down the aisle from the people selling Poo-Pourri and little cloisonne balls holding lip gloss that were made in China--I still feel soiled.

Which is not to say that Dallas was a totally bad show. My experience last year was that it was more about no one great show than about poor shows vs. great shows. Something good came out of every show I did last year, and total revenue from the shows would indicate that doing all of them is the way to go. But when total expenses were balanced against total revenue, there just wasn't enough "good" to continue carrying the horrendous costs.

So I have my fingers crossed for Vegas. The show date was changed so that I'll be spending my birthday there this year. Maybe 49 is a good year to celebrate in Vegas with friends.

It Was the Best Of Times, It Was the Worst Of Times...

While Dee is showering (we're sharing a room for the BMAC and she's going to help me schlep the rest of my stuff down to the minivan) I will do one last quick BMAC post. My hope at the end of day 2 turned out to be unfounded and I took two orders a day both Sunday and Monday. So the show turned out to be a little better than last year (which was dismal), but the return in no way justified the effort and expense of doing it. I did not get one new customer for my kilnformed glass--everyone who ordered from me has been a strong customer in the past. Todd picked up a few new customers for our collaborative work, and one of Sara's old paperweight customers came in and ordered from us. I think Bill and Elaine did well, but I didn't talk to anyone who had a great show. We were pretty much all glad to get ANY orders.

The new booth layout went very well and we were up and down if not in record time, at least very quickly. Come to think of it, it may have been record time for us. And the breakdown was complicated by packing two crates of work and the new display panels to go to Vegas for the ACRE show, two crates of lights, carpet, pedestals, and miscellaneous to go into storage here for the summer show, and two carloads (Bill and Elaine's and mine) of old work to come home. With all that we were still done before 10:00 pm.

The future of shows is grim. The costs of doing them just keep rising--booth fees, exhibition services fees, shipping fees for work and display, lodging, parking if you drive and more. And isn't this a kick in the pants--parking the minivan here and cabbing back and forth to the hotel cost me more per day than my room did. I am still on the fence as to whether this is my last year of shows, but the outlook is not good.

Now time to hit the road. Bill and Elaine are already on their way and said the spitting snow we are getting here in Philly stops below Baltimore. I hope so. I am ready to see my family tonight and to just rest for a few days. Thanks to John for the snowy bicycle pics.

Day 2 of the BMAC

A white Russian made with coffee creamer in a water glass (thanks John :-), the hum of the heating system for my background music. Dee, Todd and John have all gone out for a drink without me. I stayed tucked virtuously up in bed to crunch sales numbers and to post.

Like the front of the new business card shown at right? I designed it during a spare minute in the booth today. The picture (also taken in the booth today) is a detail shot of the new large steel and glass collaborative piece I have with Black Cat ArtWorks. The stand depicts two peacock feathers and it cradles a 20" round glass panel. The glass is the new peacock colorway I created especially for this stand. I think it might be my best colorway yet. The back of the business card has all the contact info in a font large enough to read without reading glasses... Yeah, I'm getting old.

So about the show. In a nutshell, it's a Chinese curse personified: We all find ourselves, indeed, living in interesting times--both short-term and long-term.

The weather has played havoc with exhibitors and buyers alike to the extent that if you're here, you really worked hard to Make It So. A not unexpected outcome of that reality is that there are far fewer buyers than I have ever seen at a February show--you could practically bowl in the aisles. That said, the buyers who are here are writing orders--the aisles are empty because the buyers are not window shopping, they're in the booths buying. In direct contrast to last winter when the glass artists languished uncourted, today when I walked from glass back to inspired interiors, the aisle was empty, but for four booths straight on each side of the aisle there were artists taking orders. I'd trade empty aisles for serious writers any day.

I am also seeing a more traditional customer base in my buyers than I did for either of the BMAC shows last year. By the end of the summer show, I was really concerned that the Buyer's Market was devolving into a regional show from a strong national one. This winter the buyers are lean, mean, and national. They are the survivors and they know it. While I am seeing a few fresh faces filled with the shiny, dewy optimism of new gallery owners, I am seeing far more lined, gaunt, experienced, but determinedly forward-looking visages. They are decisive and strong--and they are good business people. I am confident that they will be reordering because they know their demographic and if they're ordering it's because they are confident of selling--this is not a let-me-try-one-of-these-to-see-if-it-goes market.

The orders I'm getting are also radically different than those of last winter. This show my average order size (admittedly with only two days of data) has doubled from last year bringing it back in line with the 2008 winter figures. The new display is also netting me positive results: sales of my glass (as opposed to joint work--steel, aluminum and blown glass--with Bill and Elaine, Todd and Lee) are up 10% overall--in spite of adding the new joint work with Lee (roll-ups and paperweights). For overall sales totals, I am already within $1,000 of my total sales for winter 2009--and there are still two days of the show left.

I'm interested to see (and hopeful) how the next two days will pan out. Sometimes it's not over till it's over and the 2:55 pm order on Monday saves the show, sometimes it's over after the first flash with Sunday and Monday being empty yawners, and sometimes, just sometimes, it starts as it means to go on and stays steady and true for the duration. Here's hoping for the last option.

In spite of being a show fraught with interesting times--or maybe because of it--it has also been an incredibly fun show. I have schmoozed, eaten and drunk with more artists and buyers than usual and the conversation has been intense, positive, driven--and alive. Is it the triumph over nature and getting here despite the snow, or is it the adrenaline engendered by the proximity of the recent apocalypse in Haiti, or is it maybe just still standing after (during) the on-going economic turmoil that has filled us with a vibrant, electric energy and a surging awareness of being alive. I don't know. Maybe for me it's just that I've had coffee for the past two days and my body has gone into energy overdrive. I don't think so. For me, I think it's a bit of all of the above. As I was packing up and getting on the road on Tuesday, Lee (who has only worked with me since this past summer) looked at me and marveled aloud that I am one of the most resilient people he knows. That's what we all are, those of us who are here.

Let me close by telling you again about the nature of the craft business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.

Too Tired To Post

Well, I'm not too tired to post, but I'm too tired to do justice to a post so I'll wait till tomorrow morning to regale you with details of the first day at the BMAC (Buyer's Market of American Craft). Suffice it to say it's a very good show so far (my sales at the end of day 1 are already 43% of my total sales for last February's show). I close with a picture of the new booth layout--at least my side of the aisle of it--Bill and Elaine are across the aisle in a mirror set-up with mostly metal and some glass.


Now off to snore some more.

The Set-Up Goes On!

The snow has finally stopped falling from the sky and the sun is out. Huzzah! Yesterday was an eye-opener. The Reading Market closed at 4:00, buses stopped running after 1:00, the big restaurants around the Marriott and the convention center were all closed (Maggiano's, The Melting Pot--didn't think to check Chili's, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was closed too), the city just shut down for the snow. The word "unprecedented" keeps being used (mostly by Todd) to describe the weather and the snow.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

It works better if you turn the kiln ON, that's what. At first glance this is a perfectly normal shot of a kiln load. But this is the AFTER shot (or should have been) not the BEFORE shot, and I was more than a little dismayed when I opened Bertha yesterday and saw my slump load from the night before still unslumped. That was the first major disaster of the day. I looked into slumping the pieces yesterday and having Judy ship them 2-day to Philly for me so they would be here by Friday... $179.00. I don't think so. So I fell back to using pieces that I already have in Philly to fill in the gaps--which is great, but I don't know what pieces I have there after all this time. So without knowing the pieces I have to work with, we couldn't drill the holes in all the panels. We also can't use any power tools (corded, cordless or battery-operated) at the show so I called Hargrove to see how much they would charge to have union labor drill the holes for me. Once the panels are marked, drilling the 1/4" plywood (with a power drill) is nothing--Dave did one in under 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the minimum time is one hour, and the charge is $120. I don't think so. I stopped by Ace hardware on my way out of town and got a small manual hand drill. It won't be fun (for John--Todd's partner John is here to help with set-up and breakdown too so we at least have three sets of hands in the booth and his are the strongest hands), but I have my principles.

With two strikes behind me, Dave and I loaded up the minivan in the rain and I hit the road... at 1:15. The weather was not good for the entire afternoon, evening, night and early morning. It was either raining, spitting sleet or snowing the entire way. When I left Atlanta I had the germ of an idea to go straight through to Philly and arrive at 1:00 am. The germ steadily took hold and I was pretty committed by 9:00. Then about midnight I hit the REAL weather. There were cars on top of the guard rails, cars upside down, a jack-knifed semi, cars facing backwards on the freeway--most of them with their lights on and people still in them slowly getting covered by the snow. But I reasoned that it was better to make the drive with very (very) few other cars on the road than it would be to make it during the day with a lot of other cars--and yet more snow, and maybe wind too. And I arrived safe and sound by 3:00 am.

Now it's after 10:00, Bill and Elaine were first in line to unload this morning and were all done and having breakfast by 9:30. I am... awake, semi-alert, still decaffeinated and ready to have a hot shower and get to my own unloading. The hotel is... interesting. It's a little boutique hotel for weekend romantic travelers and so has no fridge, no microwave, a little bitty flat-screen tv, no dresser, no bathtub (shower only)... and single beds unless you get a room with a queen and a cot. But the beds are comfy, the room is quiet, and it was only $69 a night through Hotwire (and it's close to the convention center).

The phone has been ringing non-stop since 9:00, guess I better get to it.

A life of shows on the road is never boring.

On the Road Again!

Well, almost on the road. I'm packed. Sort of. I have clothes in a bag anyway. Still need to buy the totes to carry all the work. Still need to drill the panels. Now racing against another snowstorm. Still have work in the kilns that is too hot to take out (which is why I am taking a harried few to post). Am I stressed? Worried. Nah. Allow me tell you about doing shows. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.*

As usual, in the race to get ready many things dropped off the plate to languish untouched by the dogs and Ernie on the floor. Thankfully the three-second rule does not apply to tasks dropped on the floor (only to food), so I still *might* be able to pick them up again--depending on how the drive and set-up go. Most of them have to do with sending out email to my galleries about the new work (come to the show! come to the show!), getting postcards and other info sheets printed, and other administrivia.

Okay, that's enough post for this morning. I'll try to post daily on the show for the snug bugs staying home this year (Sara and Nancy in particular!).


*Thanks again to the writers of Shakespeare in Love for such a wonderful explanation of, well, my life.

Pussy cat, Pussy cat where have you been?

I've been to London to see the Queen
Pussy cat, pussy cat what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under her chair.

Yes, it's all gibberish here. A last quick update before heading to the Buyer's Market. I was supposed to head up to Bill and Elaine's tonight and we'd all hit the road tomorrow morning in the way dark to get to Philly by tomorrow night. That way we'd have a nice restful night there, a calm morning, and begin set-up at noon. But I'm not done firing yet. I was in the studio till 11:30 last night and still have three slump loads, and a firepolish load to do in the studio and three roll-ups to do in the hot shop. Lee also has paperweights to do in the hotshop (after the rollups) that I need for the show. Sara and David of Creekmore Durham Glass have passed the punty, so to speak, on the paperweight technique to us and we are taking them to market with our new roll-ups.

So where am I in the prep cycle? Well, we are trying something new this year for our display (surprise, surprise!) designed to help us get the booth up faster. We are hanging 2' X 6' fabric-covered wooden panels on the walls which will have been (but aren't yet) pre-drilled (can't use power tools at the show) for bolts to hold plate stands. It probably sounds more confusing and complicated than it is because I am so kerfluffled this morning. The big downside to this display is that it's a permanent arrangement of pieces--no futzing around and changing our minds as we set-up--extremely daunting. Too late to worry about that now, we're committed to the course. Better get on my panel layout and drilling--it's going to be a long day.

I Only *Think* My Glass is Half Full...

Such an optimist I was! I worked on my booth layout until 10:30 last night and when my eyelids wouldn't even stay open with toothpicks, I gave in and let myself succumb to sleep even though I didn't even have a piece list completed, much less anything else. I was so tired I slept right through my anxiety attack at 4:00 this morning. Well, I woke for a couple of minutes, but my subconscious just couldn't get my neurons awake enough to fire false adrenalin through my system and I fell right back to sleep.

I did manage to get stands ordered today--two sets of them, both will be here Friday. *sigh* I don't need two sets and can't afford two sets, and it's a long story that I won't go into now, but I found myself succumbing again--but this time not to sleep (or the blandishments of a fast-talking man... well, he was a fast-talking man, but he didn't talk to me about the things fast-talking men usually talk to me about... come to think of it, it's been a long time since any fast-talking man talked to me about those things... I must be getting old).

So the stands are ordered, and the booth layout and piece list are *almost* finished (I am determined not to sleep till they are completely done and I have a firing schedule to attack at 8:30 am tomorrow). To help me in my endeavor, I am keeping this post very short tonight and closing with pictures of happy brownies from yesterday's fieldtrip. Thanks to Dee, Todd and Judy without whom I never would have been able to pull it off.

Doncha Just Love 14-Hour Workdays?

A glass of milk and a can of fizzy water, and I'm ready to post. J is up taking a shower, and once I finish the bedtime ritual with her, I'll be ready for a couple more hours work. I have run out of time, it's the end of the line, I MUST decide on the pieces I am taking to the Buyer's Market next week. Then I have to make the firing schedule for them, create the layout on the panels for them in our display, and order the acrylic stands for said display (!). Yeah, well, I've been busy.

Today was a BIG day. Did three roll-up pieces with Lee, had a work critique session of the roll-ups and new paperweights with Lee, Todd and Dee, and then had J's brownie troop (12 8 year-old girls) in for a fieldtrip to make suncatchers or small plates. It's no wonder I didn't get to the BMAC work (or any other kiln loads, for that matter). I did get Brian on task for the next torchworking classroom projects--class write-ups, outdoor tank storage, and a ventilation system. And yesterday I redid the front page on the Siyeh Studio website. Check it out. I won't get postcards out for the show this time (it's really too late for that), but I think I will at least have the new pieces and colorways up on the Wholesale Crafts website and on my website.

Tomorrow, as Scarlett said, is another day. Tomorrow I'll fire lots of pieces. I'll answer the email that languished today (it's going to continue to languish today because if I go another night without getting my piece list done, I might as well stay home from Philly). I'll begin to evaluate Checkout for Mac (the POS program--POS meaning point of sale, not that other POS)... Can you tell I got my groove back today?

Now off to shower and work more!