Computers, Can't Live with 'Em, Can't Set 'Em on Fire

Coffee in the Starbucks Skyline Chicago mug, "the Breakup Song" by Greg Kihn on the iPod. Isn't it great that I can be self-confident enough to put my deplorable musical taste out here? (Not that there is anything wrong with Rock Kihn Roll. After my famous visitor yesterday--I am still all aflutter--I have to be careful what I write!).

The kiln is cooling from yesterday's firing and I am losing my faith in computers--I mean, it must be the computer in the kiln that is the problem. It's *always* the computer that goes wrong. (Postmodernism. Yep. Dave: "You keep usin' tha' word. I don' think that word means what you think it means.") Anyway, I could have used 2-3 more minutes on the high soak. The day before's fuse could have used 1-2 more minutes. This is the same schedule that came out perfectly (with the same piece composition and configuration) just a few days ago. The only thing remotely different--if I were to look for a cause other than the computer--is the quantity of glass I am fusing.

Yesterday I was so giddy from my brush with fame (and finally getting the book contract) that my afternoon was completely derailed. I was still putting the kiln load in when Dave got home at 5:30. So instead of packing it to the gunwales (pronounced 'gunnulls'... isn't English great?) with unallocated pieces that I could use for shows and art fairs--and taking an hour or more to do it, I just fired exactly what I had scheduled and it was a smidge emptier. Whatever. I am done fusing for the week so I will just have to note the results in the firing log and come back to the problem when I get back from Texas.

Today I cut, grind and begin slumping the umpteen gazillion sushi plates that I fused over the past few days. I have got to buy more of those molds. Right now I can do either 12 plates or 4 platters and four plates at a time and the molds do not take up even half the kiln. So I fire half empty and am filled with guilt at the energy I am squandering to heat the whole kiln--as well as the extra time it takes to get it done. *sigh* I just got an order from Bullseye. I really don't want to order again (come to think of it I haven't even paid for the last order yet) but somehow I am almost out of #2 neo-lavender opal frit, running low on several other colors (what is it going to take to accurately predict how much of which colors I will use?) and I have less clear irid than I thought I did.

Today I FINALLY get my accounts receivable updated and my web content materials organized and shipped out. Having someone else with the responsibility of designing and implementing the website is a tremendous weight off my mind. Now I just need to solve the shed and computer problems and I will be set. Mass-marketing efforts are put on hold till after the book is finished. I am stupid but not suicidal.

To get me moving, "Ronnie and Neil" by the Drive-By Truckers just came on the Pod. Now there is some music I can be proud of.

It's Official!

I have a final book contract. The book is due out Fall 2007. (sound of sleeves rolling up) We're having fun now!

Post-Modern Operators

Coffee in the New York Skyline mug, "Shakin'" by Eddie Money on the iPod (it's not called the Shame playlist for nothing). It has already been a Morning (see Stranded in the South for details). Now it is time to put on the glass artist hat, hit the ground and mix metaphors.

Yesterday was a big day. I virtually met a woman (talked on the phone) who makes natural soaps and body products and supplies one of the galleries I am in. The gallery owner recommended I call her about information on avenues for expansion into the department store/large catalog marketspace. The soap and personal products are her weekend gig (in addition to two small children and a husband). During the week she is a product stylist with--again--her own styling business. She was a font of information and in addition to all the good tips she gave me, she gave me one lightbulb-exploding one. We were talking about tradeshows and she recommended that I do the Atlanta Gift Mart in January--not with all of my work, just the Archetype Industrial pieces which I am ready to take to a new market. We talked a bit about booth design and I said I was really happy with what I did for the Buyer's Market of American Craft. She said it was good I had developed a strong booth design as establishing corporate identity is key in this space.

She went on to say that a great e-commerce website is also crucial (and her soap site is gorgeous). I had to admit that my website pretty much, well, no way around it, it sucks. And there is no e-commerce in it at all. Now here is the lightbulb exploder: She recommended giving photos of my booth to whoever does my website so they can see how I present my work and design the site to match. Wow. It is so obvious and makes so much sense. I have struggled (and brought hell to the lives of friends and family who have tried to help me with my website) for the past three years trying to build a site about who *I* am and what I see as the roots of the studio (Siyeh Peak/Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana) and I completely ignored the work. My work is bright, primary, visceral colors, and my websites have been muted, soft earth and nature tones. Maybe that reflects me, but it does NOT reflect my work.

We talked a bit more about website design firms and she pointed me to BizAtomic. I filled out their on-line form and Nicholas called me to talk over my needs. After about an hour of his time, he said that maybe their service were of a higher level than I need right now. The only e-commerce I want to be able to do is have galleries with wholesale accounts be able to login, see the current catalog and order on-line. Most of those accounts have Net 30 terms and even those who don't I need to call about scheduling anyway so I can get the credit card info then. So I don't need to be able to process payments on-line.

Now here's the kicker from them: Nicholas said that they often recommend another company, EZNetTools, for customers who need fewer features and would like to keep the costs down a bit, but still want excellent quality and service. He gave me their phone number and the name of a person to talk to, told me their monthly e-commerce hosting fees, and said he would call me this afternoon to see how it went and what I decided to do! He said that I can always start there, and if my needs outgrow their ability, I can move to BizAtomic. And it's not even like they are friendly rivals in the same place: BizAtomic is in Florida and EZNetTools is in Idaho.

So I called EZNetTools and the long and short of it is I have hired a web development company to create and host an e-commerce site for me with everything I had hoped to have this year for a price I can afford. And the process was so slick! As we finished talking about the costs, etc., my sales rep gave me a url that began with his name, and when I went there, I saw my quote in detail! As I read it over I saw an item that wasn't right and when I brought it to his attention, he corrected it and it disappeared from my screen. I printed it out, signed it and faxed it back, and we start development today!

I told Dave this whole story last night and, nerd that he is, he kept going on darkly about how they were all post-modern operators ala Bruce Sterling: constantly looking ahead for the next angle, the next deal, and going to take me for all they could get. I don't think I ever got across to him that at least the woman I talked to first gave me all the information and advice free for nothing--no expectation of future gain.

So a great big thank-you goes out to everyone who has helped me, offered to help me and commiserated with me about my website travails. I hope the worst is behind me now.

On other topics (because of course that isn't all I have to do right now) I fused a full kiln load yesterday and it came out great. In the load are a 15" bowl, 2 11X7 sushi platters (fused together) 20 sushi plates (fused in sets of five), 4-8" plates (fused together), a 7.5" dish, and a 16X24 hanging panel. Whoo hoo!

Even though I was planning to do two slump loads today I am not going to have time so I am going to do the last fuse load of the week. Today I have paisleys and Morceaux de Verre to do--and I get to try out my new Silberscnitt circle cutter for the paisleys. I also need to get my accounts receivable updated in Quickbooks, order plate stands, mail invoices, fax w-2's to the accountant and get the first batch of web content to the website developers. I still haven't decided what to do about the computer thing, and I still haven't heard back from The Publisher about book contract signing and book scheduling, but those and unpacking/sorting my current studio inventory can wait till tomorrow.

Monday, Monday...

Coffee in the skyline Alaska mug this morning, "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" by Van Halen on iTunes... I left the Pod in the studio and am just running shuffle on the shame playlist on iTunes. It doesn't quite suck.

Dave is home from Austin and he has wireless so that means it is the internal wireless modem in my laptop that doesn't work. (A break for a rant) This is a two year-old Compaq laptop. The battery lasts 10 minutes when it is unplugged and now it is no longer wireless. To fix these two things will cost me about $250. And fix them I must as I am about to head off to Texas for a show and I will need both battery and network. This is after replacing the power cord in February in Philadelphia ($80). I am reaching critical mass on the amount I wish to spend on this machine. It is slower than dirt and manipulating any image files takes FOREVER.

On the other hand, I do not wish to buy another windows machine. I am ready to move back to Mac (my first laptop was a Mac DuoDock in 1992). But I am not financially ready for that move (machine and software), nor do I have the time right now to invest in the OS ramp-up. It is a great quandary. There is also the whole issue of what Mac to buy: After many years in winblows I know the processor speeds and types, the amount of RAM, etc. that I should get. The Mac numbers in comparison seem so... small. The processor speeds in the mid-range are 1.5-1.6 GHz. Windows machines are in the mid 2's now. Yes, I am more than willing to believe they are less efficient, but it makes comparing difficult.

Okay, I found some common numbers with the same processor (the new dual core thingie). I built a Dell system and an Apple system with *exactly* the same options wherever possible (different screen size and battery life) and the Dell came out to be $300 more! Of course either option was over $3,000. Shed, laptop, shed, laptop: Both are necessary business components and the shed is also a necessary personal component to keep my husband sane (stuff is everywhere right now--though not in the cat's bathroom closet! See Stranded in the South for details on the great electronics purge). So I will do what I always do when faced with a technology purchase choice... Help, Johnathon!

As it is Monday I am cleaning up details of work left undone on Friday: Orders to place, bills to pay, testimonials to write... and a follow-up call to the Publisher to find out if they still want me to write a book for them! I got the operations manager and she passed the contract on to the publisher (an actual person with that title, as near as I can tell) a few weeks ago and doesn't know what the status is. I said time's a wasting and Neiman Marcus waits for no man so as tempus fugit, what is going on?!? Someone will get back to me. The writing task (not to mention this blogging) has an impact on the laptop issue too. (I do not use "impact" as a verb. Alexander Haig was just flat wrong.)

I worked all weekend fusing 25 sushi plates, a 16X24" hanging panel, a sushi platter, 2-8" dishes, a 12" bowl and a 16X13 S curve platter on Sunday and slumping 10 sushi plates, the sushi platter, one dish, the bowl and the S-curve piece on Sunday. Now I need to run the hanging panel to Dixie Glasshoppers to be drilled and then I need to fill the kiln with another fuse load.

I am in a glass trunk show at Taylor Kinzel Gallery this weekend and need to get a lot more new work done--interspersed with the three gallery orders which need to go out before I leave for Texas next Wednesday. Gurk.

One Damn Thing or Another... and a Good Idea

Just finished the dregs of an extra large house blend from Jupiter Coffee with an extra shot of espresso. Dave is, of course, in Austin and I am helpless in the face of the coffee maker. "Voulez Vous" by ABBA is on the iPod. However when I sat down to write this post , the song playing was "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls. But I didn't have an internet connection so I couldn't get to this page to start writing. I went through "The Key" by REO Speedwagon, "You Should be Dancing" by the Bee Gees, "Venus" covered by Bananarama, and "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood during the internet system administration phase of the morning. Now I am in the office with my laptop hardwired to the router listening to "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf. In my defense, though the music is on shuffle, it is shuffling through my secret shame playlist as I started the morning (after getting Jessie up, dressed, fed and to school) by putting an entire load of Archetype Industrial (AI) pieces for a couple of gallery orders into the kiln and I do that best with the Pod on 'inspirational and fast'.

Anyway, back to the internet situation for a moment. Either the router's wireless access is kaput or my laptop wireless network card is fried. I will have to wait till Dave gets home and there is a larger sample of computers to test to determine for sure. In the meantime I have a cord, am not happy about it, and wanted to share that state.

What I really wanted to post about today was not the inevitable other s*it that mucks up a small business owner's day (like technology failures--don't ever dare say or even think that you are getting ahead because the demons of technology will strike with a vengeance and put you so far behind you will see your ancestors childhoods before you). No, what I wanted to post about was the idea I had while I was grinding the edges of the AI's before putting them in the kiln (while listening to some really great tuneage including INXS, the Drive by Truckers, Bruce Springsteen and Jeffrey Osborne).

"I Ran" by a Flock of Seagulls ushers in the idea: I am ready to supply the masses and move into the department store market. Oh not for everything I do. No, I want to get the AI pieces out to the world. I LOVE them. They are all made from machine-cast glass which I cut, grind, slump and combine into sets of functional ware. I make everything from sushi sets (I can now even do the soy cups) to dinnerware. There are sets of tapas plates, rectangular serving trays in a variety of sizes, 8", 10" and 12" square plates... I could even do the Seder sets in them now that I have created the molds.

And they are so inexpensive! They are perfect for just starting twenty-somethings who want stuff that is a step up from Target and can't really afford it. They are also great for chic parties for the forty-somethings (like me and my friends). In fact I started doing them again after going to a poker party at a friend's house and he was using an AI piece I made in 1988 to serve sushi. I was struck by how well the design and idea (and the piece!) had held up--they are classic and modern at the same time. They are called Archetype Industrial pieces because they perfectly evoke the feel of the Art Deco period and the dawn of the age of technology. They are perfect for someone who is an artist AND a geek (or an artist married to a geek...) somewhat like Captain America. He would have used these plates. It is the combination and juxtaposition of the different tints, textures and weights of the various glasses combined in a set which make them special. If all the plates were of the same glass it would be, well, machine-made and boring!

Even more important than the issues of demographic interest and cost is the production question and part of the reason I am not really making a living as a production glass artist is that I can make far more than I sell. Even though I am now in (or will be in once all the orders I am working on have shipped) 24 galleries and do five retail art fairs a year including the One of a Kind Show in Chicago (a big one) AND get an average of four-six large commissions a year, I am still not producing at full capacity or even close to it.

I know, I know, I whine a lot about being behind and not having time to try out new ideas, but a good part of that is that some work takes a lot more mental energy that other work. The AI's can really be done in my sleep--or I could even hire someone to help with them. The steady income that they could generate would go a long way to making the studio self-supporting--even with the cost and hassle of having an employee.

Of course I would have to get another kiln for really big production, and I would totally take over the garage for glass and mold storage and new kiln placement. The last time I bought glass for these pieces I got four cases, 2000 lbs of glass. For serious production I would need to double that. And I would want to store it as close to the drop-off point for the shipper as possible. Last time I moved all 2000 lbs one sheet at a time over two days all by myself from the parking pad outside through the garage and into the studio. Boy was I sore! (On the plus side, this kind of a workout obviates the need for a gym membership and is free.)

Am I an Artist?

No coffee yet--Dave is out of town. No music either (I haven't even rousted the Sprout out of my bed). I was going through the little icons at the bottom of my screen and found one that was called "Journal". Hmmm. This and Stranded in the South are my journals. I had no clue. So I clicked on the icon and this is what I found:

______________________________

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

An auspicious day to begin a new artist journal. I just ordered two books from A.com on being an artist. This was in response to a post about self-doubt by another glass artist on Warm Glass. In it she talked about the inspiration/motivation for her pieces—their spiritual history if you will. I read it and realized that I don’t have a spiritual history or a motivation for my work. It is beautiful, therefore it is. Does that mean it is not Art because there is no meaning behind it? Should I start trying to make art based on things I feel and care about? If so, I will become an environmental artist, and most of that work I find schlock. It also doesn’t lend itself to what I like to do. Many of the artists on the list don’t like production work—they just want to do inspired art pieces. I like production. Does that mean I’m not an artist?

______________________________

Well, it sounds like me. All except that part about most environmental art being schlock. I have no idea what I was thinking there.

Fortunately today I am in a more secure mental state (probably because I have been journaling-for-the-new-milennium, i.e., blogging, for the past few months and production work has been really going well). So I put out there that I wrote this, and now I delete the file, delete the icon, and move on to getting my child ready for school and finishing my firing schedule for my upcoming trunk show (3/25-26), my first retail fair of the season (The Austin Fine Arts Festival in Austin, TX 4/1-2), and the orders for seven new galleries that I have to get out by the end of April. Did I mention that I am writing a book?

For Barbara

These are quick pics of a commission I did for a couple here in Decatur last year. The parameters of the piece were fused panels based on Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House windows. The amber (which would have been the lead/copper lines) is 01 frit...

Barbara, you come and hang in my studio for a weekend, and I'll show you how to get these REALLY crisp lines. (Then I'll come to your studio for a weekend and you can show me how you lay out your lovely figurative layerings.)

The Dinnerware

For those interested souls, here are a couple of pics of the dinnerware commission I have been writing about. There are eight 10" plates, eight 8" plates and a 15X7 rectangular platter in the set. There are also two spare plates--one 10" and one 8" in case of breakage. Looking at the photos, can you tell which of the two 10" plates and which of the two 8" plates shown were in the last nearly disastrous firing? Hint: I can't either. :-)

Mixed Blessings

Coffee in the Atlanta Botanical Garden go cup, no music, just the sound of the cat's drinking fountain gurgling because it is low on water. In quick response to Bill, yes, there is a specific set of Starbuck's mugs called the Skyline series. They also have the new City Scenes mugs with pictures of the cities represented, but my particular obsession is the Skyline series.

The first news of the day, which is overwhelmingly good, is that the Seder plates are not ruined and neither are the molds. 1425+degrees and no kiln wash. Must be ceramic board and I may start experimenting with fusing directly on it (it has a really smooth finish). The downside is that the board I have is only 1/2" thick and therefore not sturdy enough to be a shelf. One of the paisleys is definitely ruined, and the other might be. The dinner plates look to be fine (whew!).

The bad news of the morning is that I did not get into the 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago in June. I am not too surprised: They have a grandfather system which means that if you get accepted once you get to be in forever without jurying again. This limits the number of new artists accepted to about 50. Last year when I looked, they only had three glass artists total--none of them with kilnformed or functional work.

I am also still wait listed for the Dogwood Festival. I understand I am the first person on the waitlist in the glass category so all is not lost, but the deadline for payment of fees has already passed so my chances are slim. And finally, I STILL have not heard back form the Publisher regarding my book contract. I sent them a gentle reminder that I am WAITING earlier this week and they have not yet replied. How swiftly the winds of schedule change from over to under full.

I end with my glass all the way full: If a bunch of things drop off my schedule for the year, it leaves me with more time to experiment with new techniques and ideas, work in my yard, and laze in the hammock reading. There is no bad-case scenario there.

Pride Goeth Before a Fall

This is the story of what happens when I crow about the beauty of something I made. I do not know yet if the ending is happy, I am betting it will not be.

So I put the last two plates from my dinnerware commission, the last Seder set and two unassigned 12" paisley plates in the kiln to slump. I decided to be tricky and put in two top-temp soaks to mimic the extreme effort I went through manually last night. What I *meant* to do was ramp up to 1225 at a moderate rate, soak for 20 minutes and then ramp to 1265--again moderately, and soak for another 20 minutes.

I *meant* to set the timer so I could check towards the end of the second soak to make sure it was enough, but I forgot. But it would not have mattered, the damage would already have been done when the timer went off. And as it was, I went down and looked in before the second ramp was done.

What I actually programmed into the kiln computer was a ramp up to 1225, soak for 20 and then a ramp to *1465* with a soak for 20... When I went down to check to see how things were going, the kiln was between 1425 and 1445 degrees. I don't know the exact temp because I freaked out when I saw it and immediately turned the kiln off and whipped up the lid (I have asbestos gloves doncha know). Everything was glowing an evil cherry red (pieces slumping are not supposed to glow) and one of the 12" paislies had begun to puddle towards the middle of the mold. The glass, you see, is *fused* at 1440 degrees. I almost never go as high as 1465 for anything, much less slumping.

The best that will happen is that everything will be a bit more slumped (puddled) than I intended, but will not be too noticeable with the organic edges. More likely, if I am really lucky, I will get the additional slumping along with some kiln wash stuck to the bottom of the dinnerware and the paislies. The penultimate worst case has the ceramic board stuck to the bottom of the Seder plates and the molds ruined, but the pieces ok. The ultimate big-time bummer has the pieces all too slumpoed to salvage and the Seder molds ruined. This would be exceptionally bad as I am out of one of the frits (crushed glass) I need to do the dinnerware commission and would have to crush some of my own in order to re-create those pieces. I would also miss my deadline for delivery of the Seder plates to the Jewish Museum of New York.

Positive karmic thoughts and prayers would be really nice right about now.

Just had to post a picture...

I couldn't help post one more picture of the first Seder set. I am so happy with how it turned out! 

Beaten Into Submission

Coffee from Jupiter Coffee (an extra large with a shot of espresso) in the Chicago Skyline mug, "I'm a Believer" covered by Smash Mouth on the iPod. Both are *very* appropriate!

Well I wrestled her to the ground and got the pin, Big Bertha that is. It took four schedule modifications and until 10:00 last night, but I got the Seder plates to slump perfectly. Now I just need to be able to replicate it today. My problem (in so many aspects of life) is that I must have it NOW. Good things may come to those who wait, but those of us who need faster than instant gratification will probably never find out.

Kilnformer extraordinaire Bill Zweifel counseled me on the benefits of the three-hour top temp hold for the slump at the BMAC this year, and I just.cannot.make.myself do it! Barb, I know you slump the same way, and I should probably have patience and try it, but I just keep thinking that if I don't up the temp a bit, the glass will never fall.

Last night I thought I would be tricky and stack the deck in my favor. Instead of slumping onto the 1" thick ceramic board on the floor of the kiln, I put a 2" vermiculite board on top of the ceramic board just where the Seder plates would go. This means that the pieces were 2" closer to the elements which makes them slump better. (I catch myself in the use of the word "better" there. Technically it is not necessarily "better". It is faster, and as we have determined above, faster is not always better. Faster can cause your edges to pull in and up and your piece to deform.) However the Seder plates were not the only pieces slumping in Bertha last night, and I did not want the others to overslump during this intensive slump cycle: They were in taller molds and therefore initially closer to the elements.

I started with a top soak at 1225 degrees for 20 minutes. The plates laughed at me, little silicon chortles emanated from the kiln when I opened it at the end of the soak to find the barest dip in the surfaces of the small plates. So I sent the temp to 1240 for 20 minutes. This was better, but with 4.5 minutes left in the soak, the little plates were still stubbornly holding out and up. I determinedly rolled up my metaphoric sleeves and upped the temp to 1250 for 15 minutes. The little plates struggled, but fell a bit more. With 3 minutes left I made my last bid: I upped the temp to 1465 for 18 minutes (the remaining 3 in the 1250 soak and an additional 15).

I did not stay around for the results. I went to bed thinking it would either work and I would do set #2 tomorrow (I ended up making only one set of molds) or it wouldn't and I would have to slump both sets in the medium kiln tomorrow. And, drum roll please, it worked!

So today I will slump the second Seder set and a miscellany of other pieces, and I will ship it all out tomorrow. Three new gallery orders down and ten to go.

A molding I will go...

Starbucks New York mug filled from the Botanical Garden go cup--I couldn't start today without coffee. "War" covered by Bruce Springsteen from 'Live 1975-1985' on the iPod.

I think I finally have Big Bertha whipped into shape. My firing this weekend was just about perfect with a top hold of 1440 for 17 minutes. The right side is still cooler than the middle or the left. I am tempted to get a fan for more even heating (and better dispersal of the thinfire burnoff which devits the bottom of Bullseye opals if I fire with the lid tightly sealed). But I do not have the margin right now for any more kiln maintenance.

Today I cut the final molds for the seder sets and begin slumping them. And I am in a quandry on this one: I have enough new ceramic board to cut two full mold sets (14 pieces). However this may be a one-off project as they may never order them again (even though I am not charging them for r&d including mold creation these are going to be fairly expensive sets and may not sell). Cutting two full sets takes twice as much time as cutting one (duh)--a not inconsiderable amount of time--and will just about use up my one remaining sheet of ceramic board. However I do not even remember where or when I bought that ceramic board so it's not like I have a lot of demand for it...

On the other hand, if I cut two sets I would be able to slump all of the pieces today in Big Bertha instead of over two days in the medium kiln and then I could ship tomorrow--three days early--which would really please the client. Of course if I got up really early tomorrow I could do the second slump (the first being done today) in the medium kiln and get the pieces out by late afternoon tomorrow with just the one set of molds...

It's only Monday morning and my brain hurts already. I guess I will just cut the first set, see how long it takes, and if it is a real pain to cut, I will only cut one and do an extra firing. I am cutting one-piece molds for all the pieces this time because even though they are more difficult to cut, they are easier to use as they do not have any seams to fill. Today when I cut I will wear gloves (and a dust mask, of course). That ceramic board really makes me itch after no time at all.

The Little Plate from Yesterday

Coffee this morning in the Art Institute of Chicago mug with Katsushika Hokusai's Beneath the Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa. It's smaller than the Starbucks mugs, but its message is mighty.

It's the weekend so I got a real breakfast this morning: Dave made waffles and bacon and served them with fresh berries, coffee and oj. Yumm. I am culinarily spoiled.

Now I have to put a load in Big Bertha, wrestle with her firing schedule and beat it into submission, and deliver to Creative Spirit Gallery here in Decatur. Becky has been patiently waiting for me to bring back all the work I took for the Buyer's Market show in Philadelphia (and she has a big commission check for me--makes a Saturday delivery worthwhile!).

So the little plate fully slumped in the medium kiln and surprisingly, it did not pull in or lift up any further. I may just make the rims on the little plates 3/4" as they will already have organic/unfinished edges and will therefore have thinner uneven edges. A note on timing: I got a not-totally-straight drop but as much as I wanted in 15 minutes at 1265 degrees.

Barbara, thanks for the heads up on funky thermal shocking: I have not mixed plaster and mullite before, and these molds are cermaic board fired on ceramic board (and no kiln wash is necessary!).

A Technical Post for Kilnformers Only

This is going to be very technical post (which I have been trying unsuccessfully to publish since this morning...) which will cause the eyes of any non-glass person to glaze over and fall out so skip it unless you are interested in making your own molds with rims for slumping glass.

Coffee in the New York Skyline mug, the iPod song WAS Natural Beauty by Neil Young from Harvest Moon, but I decided I would probably slit my own throat if I listened to it any longer and switched (almost purely randomly) to Riding the Storm Out by REO Speedwagon. My husband is fond of saying the golden age of rock 'n' roll is 16 and today I am just proving him right...

Yesterday I made my first pass at slumping pieces for seder sets. I have been commissioned to do two of these sets and am finding interesting challenges. The thickness of glass I am using is 1/4" to 3/8" (more than two sheets of Bullseye and less than three) as I am using frit and every piece comes out slightly different in thickness. The parameters of the commission are to make a base plate with about a 1-1/2" rim and six smaller plates--each with a rim--which should fit inside the big plate. The little plates should be about 4" X 4" square.

I initially figured that the base plate should be 16" X 12" and I planned to use mullite (clay) shelf segments as the mold material. Yesterday I was rummaging through my stuff and I found some duraboard (ceramic fiber) pieces from old kiln lids and shelves and decided to try them first. Duraboard is a relatively soft material that can be cut with a utility knife, smoothed with sandpaper and has a fine grain for smooth detail. Mullite is very hard--I cut it with a tile saw and would need to use one of my diamond grinding bits for glass to round the top edges down.

For mold assembly, I tried two different approaches. For the big plate--because I saw a possibility for a need to change dimensions and because of the size of the scraps I had on hand--I used four strips 2" X 18" X 1", sanded down one top edge, and laid them out so that each piece would be one side of the plate in the appropriate length. I filled the seams with kiln wash paste.

For the small plate, I cut a one-piece mold out of a single piece of 1/2" thick Duraboard (or it could have been HD board--I have some of both lying around and have no need to tell which is which) and smoothed down the top inside edges with sandpaper.

For the glass I used scrap from a large piece that I did last summer and cooled too quickly causing it to break. (It is a sad thing when you have pieces of glass lying around which qualify as "scrap" and which are over 16" X 12".) However I made a serendipitous error in cutting the scrap: I ignored the measure twice, cut once principle becasue I was in a hurry and ended up cutting the big plate 15" X 12". You will see the serendipity of this error in the slumping result.

Into Big Bertha they went with two other large pieces and I extended the slump at the top by 10 minutes (1225 degrees for 15 minutes). The results were less than successful. Only one piece fully slumped even with the extended time. As one of the other large pieces (the control group if you will) did not fully slump either it is clearly not just the new molds (more fun with Big Bertha's firing schedules)--though they presented their own issues. It has been almost two years since I made molds like this for a dinnerware commission and for an Ikebana dish and I arrogantly forgot the lessons I learned that time.

Most molds for slumping glass have a slope to them--they do not just drop off abruptly as glass does not like to just drop off abruptly. So when you make a mold like I did you have to figure in the width of the slope (key when you are counting on a particular surface area inside the plate to put food or other little plates on). The actual flat surface size in the bottom of the big plate turned out to be just under 7" X 11"--Probably not big enough to hold the six 4" X 4" plates.

There is also a relationship between the width of the rim and the height of the drop that you need to take into account to avoid the edges of the glass pulling in and lifting up as it slumps. Here is where the serendipity came in: The sides of the big plate which I cut cirrectly had 1-1/2" rims and they pulled in a bit (1/4" in the corners and 1/2" in the middle--still too noticeable) but did not lift. But the edges that I cut too short (resulting in only a 1" rim) pulled in and lifted up.

I take away from this experiment a comfortable guess at the ratio between width and height as 2 to 1 for glass of a thickness 1/4" to 3/8", and a conservative estimate of 2.5 to 1.

The smaller plates were more difficult yet. I only planned on a 1/2" rim for them with a 1/2" drop and even though they did not slump nearly all the way they were already pulled in and lifted up. I am currently fully slumping the control plate and the smaller plate in the medium kiln and I am eager (really I am) to see how bad the little plates look at a full slump.

Now I have to redo my size calculations completely. The 1" drop on the large plate did not add to the balance of the piece and adds unnecessary complications so I am going to decrease it to 1/2". I will leave the rim at 1-1/2" for that piece. For the little plates I need to increase the rim size to 1" and I will need to see what this does to the interior flat base of the plate--it might not be balanced anymore at a 4" total size. If I have to increase the size of the small plates for balance I will also need to increase the size of the big one.

Passover is coming. I better get a move on.

Chugging Along... Nothing Big.

Coffee? There was coffee? Aw man! Actually I shouldn't joke about that as my husband is very serious about making me coffee every morning before he leaves for work even though he does not drink it himself.

So yesterday's firing was a success. The same slightly-longer-than-usual schedule that I had been using in the kiln prior to the addition of the new lid produced exactly the same results with the new lid. So today I make seder plate molds and slump a bunch of stuff. Tomorrow I ship out a load to Florida and two more will go out Monday to Wisconsin and NYC. Tomorrow I will also deliver the three pieces given away at Jessie's pre-school auction last weekend and *finally* deliver my consignment pieces back to my two local galleries.

Of course that means I have to sort through all my work today and divvy it up. I don't know why I have been dragging my feet on that task. I know why I have been recalcitrant about getting the bills out (BORING), but sorting and divvying means touching, stroking, admiring pretty pieces of kiln-formed glass. There is no bad there. There is also no available surface on which to do the divvying either as the studio is a MESS! I need a shed so the garage can officially become Studio 2.

The Kiln is Almost Done

8:49 am, coffee in the Alaska mug, "Blame it on Me" by the Barenaked Ladies on the iPod, and the day has begun. Well it actually began at 7:40 when I wrangled my sleepy child out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready for (pre)school. I then took my spouse to the train station, my child to school and stayed at school with my power drill to put up a miniblind in her classroom. I am Buildings & Grounds doncha know.

Now I blog, get caught up on bills and finances and I wait for the Maytag repairman to get here and Fix My Washer! Waiting for servicemen, like Godot, is a whole 'nother topic and gets its own post later on Stranded in the South. The iPod keeps me company as John Mellencamp is introduced by They Might be Giants and followed by the Midgetmen. It doesn't usually take me three songs to write a paragraph, I must be off my game and still in the timeslip from the other day.

Monday ended with three impossible tasks crammed into one little hour and as I am not Dr. Who and have no Tardis, they did not get done. Yesterday morning bright and early my new next-door neighbor Shane and his brother-in-law Roy came over and spent almost the entire day putting my new kiln lid on for me. It turned out to be quite a chore as the kiln was missing the four posts for the lid clamps and the electric box on the top middle was too large to fit between the steel framing from the old kiln. The framing is necessary to keep the lid from warping at high temps so I ran it around the corner to my local body shop and paid $75 cash for a piss-poor un and re-weld of two joints. I hope they are better than they actually look as the welds need to hold the weight of the lid on my counterweight system...

So far a boring, technical post and it reflects a tedious, boring day. There were two bright spots in it (or one bright spot and one really surreal spot) and they are Stranded in the South today as they are not glass related. For glass related, the Jewish Museum in New York is getting anxious for their Seder sets, I haven't finished the last two pieces of the dinnerware commission yet, I have yet to sort my inventory for shipment to distant and delivery to local galleries, I am at least 30 days past due on paying some bills--due to time and not financial constraints thankfully, my website is still really dismal (untouched), and the book? Well, at least that one is not my fault: I am STILL waiting to hear back on the *contract* edits I sent in before going to California two weeks ago.

On the plus side, I am up-to-date on shipping the orders I took at the BMAC and I am not yet behind on fusing upcoming orders. So I wait this morning for Maytag (and get caught up on blogs and bills), and this afternoon I put new fiber blanket in the top of each side of the kiln, drill for and install and the latch posts for the lid, hook up the counter-weight, and do a fuse. I did the burn-in firing last night (and boy did it stink!).

I debated doing a test-fuse today, but the controller did not change, nor did the size of the box or the placement of the shelves. All I have done is put in new (and probably more efficient) elements and upped the insulation so I am going to go against safest practices and jump in with a real firing. Worst case, I lose some glass and waste some time, best case, I am on-time for all of my current fusing obligations.

Late, Late, Late!

As if I did not have enough to do, at J's school auction on Saturday night I had a bit too much wine and woke up the next morning having committed myself to creating and donating four more large pieces by the end of the week...

It is late today and I am dragging from too many activities over the weekend. I chauffered Jessie to two birthday parties, we attended the auction and finished up the weekend at an Oscar party that went till midnight Sunday. I am too old for this... stuff.

Now at 4:00 pm on Monday I am going to tackle uncrating the new lid for Big Bertha and getting it on and the old one off. This activity will clearly extend into tomorrow. But first I need to pack up the order for a gallery in New York so I can ship it at 6:00 pm, and I really should get the last two pieces of the dinnerware commission fusing in the medium kiln too (the clients added on another 8" plate and another 10" plate in case they break one from the set).

Clearly I am working in another dimension where time passes at a different rate. Or there is a worm hole in my studio. Or I am just flat-out delusional. Take your pick.

To Own or Not to Own...

Coffee is in the Starbucks Skyline Alaska mug this morning, and I do feel like the last frontier--or the last something. There is no music (unless you count the faint strains of "Annie" wafting down from my Mom’s room).

It is Friday. I was on vacation Monday and Tuesday. I am a small business owner: Being on vacation means there are two days when things needed to get done and nothing got done. And that is the glass half empty, some would say. I say that yesterday morning it would have been a relief to get up, get dressed and commute into a job. Working for someone else--no matter how responsible the position--never requires as much effort, energy, thought and relentless reinvention of the wheel as working for yourself does. You can (and probably do) fudge a bit to your boss about why you missed a deadline (when the real reason is that you are still in post-vacation mode) but you can't fudge to yourself. Actually, I am sure there are people who can--self-delusion is not uncommon in the population (it is common--as my mother was quick to point out when I read that paragraph to her--in our elected officials... shrubbery comes to mind). It is, however, rare among business owners of businesses which survive.

So today I looked in the kiln and the slump... wasn't. A bowl which was scheduled to be shipped to the Art Institute in Chicago today for arrival *and jurying* Tuesday had to go back into the kiln for another slump. I am not hopeful I can fire and ship it today, but I will try to remain optimistic. Worst case, I can probably mail it through the post office tomorrow. (I have to work Saturdays, why can't UPS?!?). That makes the second firing this week that did not complete successfully in Big Bertha. I have the new lid for her (which has been outside still in the crate in the rain sometimes covered by plastic, sometimes not for the past month and a bit) and will probably need to get it unpacked and installed on Saturday--before the birthday parties, school auction and Oscar-filled weekend... I may have to break into some of the wine we schlepped back from California. I knew it wouldn't last.

Last night I wrote letters, updated mailing lists, mail-merged and packaged up catalogs and price lists till 11:30. Doing the small business owner marketing thing, I looked up all the galleries which purchased from me last year at the BMAC shows--none of whom I saw this time--and sent them "hey I missed you at the show" letters and packets. Yep, that's right, I am soliciting MORE work. I felt like just skipping it, but that would not be the responsible small business owner thing to do. Yes, I have a lot of production work now and through the middle of June, but eventually I will be ready for more (unless I have slit my throat between now and then) and my work has to stay vibrant and exciting in the minds of my clients in the meantime.

So I'm off to mail packets, create spreadsheets of work schedules, unpack a shipment from Bullseye, unpack from the BMAC, inventory the finished pieces I have and schedule them for re-delivery to the local galleries I emptied before the BMAC, and prepare for a big week of firing next week.

March already, hoo boy!

The coffee is in a mug from the Art Institute of Chicago and it is cold, not by choice but by circumstance. The mug was chosen specifically as I fuse several pieces for the Art Institute today which they ordered last Wednesday evening--the evening before I left for vacation in California (hence the reason I have not posted for a week). Today is my first day back in the studio and I need to pick up the pace here and stop messing around with the computer and blogs. I will get through all my email later...

I sent my final edits to the book contract back to the Publisher the evening before I left and I still have not heard back from them. I must say, for a company which is hot to have material from me by August 15th they are sure slow to get things back to me.

Today I also begin processing orders from the Buyer's Market and preparing for a glass show at one of my local galleries at the end of the month. No rest for the wicked.

Finally, in a fit of mother-guilt, I donated a "Weekend in the Studio" to my daughter's pre-school auction fundraiser. It is an introduction to kilnformed glass for two, two projects per person with all materials and tools included. I must be out of my mind. The school was excited enough that it is one of the items in their live auction rather than the silent auction. Pilchuck it may not be, but I will still sit in the audience and pray somebody bids on it. The auction is this Saturday, squeezed between two children's birthday parties and the Oscars. No rest for the wicked indeed.

I'm Baaaaack!

Coffee in the Starbucks Skyline Alaska mug, Galileo by the Indigo Girls on the iPod. Yep, I'm home and all is right with my world. The schedule today is jam-packed full, but tomorrow Dave and I leave for a six-day weekend in California with friends and Gramma stays here to take care of Jessie and the pets. With that to look forward to, I can get through anything.

Yesterday, as expected, was the absolute day from hell. Due to mixing up the end date for the BMAC and double-booking my time, I drove eight hours and then worked in the studio for eight hours fusing dinnerware which must ship tomorrow (I will slump it today). My spouse was incredibly supportive throughout (as was my mother who drove 2-3 of the eight hours so I could rest a bit).

That kind of a day is already tough, but the day before had already exhausted the reserves: We did the show all day, then broke everything down and carted it a block and a half in multiple dolly-loads and loaded up the car and then drove to Richmond arriving at 11:30 pm. Waiting to bring the car into the dock for load-out would have added at least an hour so we put in the physical effort instead.

So, drum roll please, how did I do? I had my first five-figure show! I added 13 new galleries--including the shop of the Jewish Museum in New York--from coast to coast. I can't wait to get a gallery map up on my website. I am designing seder sets for the Jewish Museum shop and have to get them done and shipped asap.

I also met a metal artist from LA who might be teaching me to weld while we are out there this weekend (if I can squeeze it in with all the drinking). He is already planning collaborative work for next year's NICHE awards. Psyche. Now I better get going. Miles to go before I sleep I(including getting a hotel room for LA--nothing like leaving things till the last minute.)

OOOOPS!

In terms of the classic blunder, this has got to be one of the most classic. So at the BMAC you can sell your "samples" at the end of the show. This is a great time for artists to get other artists' work at wholesale prices. The "sales" take place at the end of the last day. So this morning someone comes up to me and asks me if I am going to sell samples on Monday... I'm thinking, "No, moron, I will be well on my way to Atlanta by Monday." But I say, "Sure!" By 10:00 I had three people ask me if I would be selling my samples on "Monday" and I got nervous. So I asked the woman in the booth across the way and she confirmed that, yes, the show goes through Monday at 3:00...

I am an idiot. I cannot believe what an idiot I am! Of course I only have a hotel room through tomorrow. Of course I have a full day's work scheduled for Tuesday and for Wednesday in the studio which has to ship Thursday morning--before we fly to California Thursday morning. And now I need to drive Tuesday... So I got on Priceline to try to extend my stay at the Hyatt for another night at a good rate and was unable. So I scrambled and dropped my willing-to-pay amount by one star and $10 and BINGO! I got the Marriott--which is attached to the convention center and means I do not have to pay double parking. And I might even be able to use it to my advantage for load up. We'll see. I have to remember this star thing for the July show.

Other than that, I picked up several new galleries today from California to New York to Florida. I am still waiting on representation in Alaska and Hawaii. Know anybody who needs fused glass there?

PS--Like the whorehouse red of the display?

Live (barely) from Philly...

I watch Law and Order CI and sip a perky white graves and listen to my mother snoring genteelly in the other bed... No wait, that was two nights ago. Tonight I slug down a sauvignon blanc straight from the bottle and listen to the printer spit out catalog pages on glossy brochure paper. I am going to set one more job to print and then it will be my turn to shower and crash. Here are some highlights of the show so far (from notes I have put in over the past couple of days):

Wednesday, February 15, 3:20 pm.
We had made it through the first day. And it went surprisingly well! Against all odds, expectations and scheduled move-in time, the carpet is down in the booth, the braces are all installed across the top of the booth to hang the track lights from and we have unloaded the van. Today they are supposed to install the foam core walls first thing and then we will finish setting up the booth and I will make the catalog and print out a bunch in the room tonight. Nothing like saving things till the last minute! On the plus side, I did get a site meter installed on my home page this morning so I can track the traffic I get from the show. I plan to hand out oodles of postcards and the first place the people picking them up will go (I hope) is the website. It would be nice if I had it were done, but you can't have everything.

Thursday, February 16, 8:30 am.
I sit with baited breath (really, I haven't brushed yet. At least it's not baited coffee breath) waiting for the contract negotiator from the Publisher to call me. I broke down and wrote her last night as it has been over a week since I wrote and I have heard nothing back concerning my contract issues. The phone rings!...

...and we are on. We have come to if not total agreement, at least understanding on all points under discussion in the contract. They could still screw me--the contract is heavily skewed in their favor--but at least now I have a comfort level that they won't. The only fly in the ointment right now is that they want final copy by August 15. My husband assures me that I "churn it out over a long weekend". Is he high?!? Where did he get drugs like that? I think I am not going to be able to be comfortable with that one and it is going to have to go. I can do 8/15 as a stretch goal, but not as an expectation. Now off to finish setting up for the show!

Friday, February 16, 3:30pm.
IT'S DONE!!! I am finally all set-up and ready. Notice the time above. The show started at 10:00 am. I tempted the gods by writing about things going well the day before yesterday and I was severely punished. Exhibitor Services didn't get the walls in my booth up until 3:30 yesterday afternoon *23-1/2hours after they told me they would be done*... that isn't a typo or an extra digitr in the number. They were just shy of a full day late. It was a nightmare, I had wine with lunch to get over it.

There was not much I could do until the walls got up so Mom and I had to stay and work until 10:30 pm. We got all the glass up, and then we came back to the room and I worked on my catalog till 1:00 am. Then back up at 7:00 am today to print some more pages out (they had to be turned over and sent back through the printer so I couldn't just load it all last night). Some of the buyer's today were a bit cranky that I didn't have my work priced for the first four hours. In fact I ended up redoing my price list entirely and changing some of the prices after I handed out some catalog packets (with price lists in them)... Oh well, if anyone I gave a now obsolete price list to comes back and orders from me tomorrow, I'll give him the lowest price from either price list (some prices went up, some went down--I just needed to simplify!).

And I already have two orders! They are not big, but they are new galleries and one of them is in a new state for me--New Jersey! I need to get my gallery map up on my website. Priority, priority, priority (after BMAC orders, commissions and the book...).

And Kathleen Hogan from Chicago's One of a Kind Show and Sale stopped by my booth to drop off a few applications postcards that they are sending out for the show. My work is on the front of the postcard!!

Friday, February 17, 10:43 pm.
So the weary road warrior goes to bed. It was a long day, but a good one and there will be real sleep tonight. The printer sings its lullaby with my mother's delicate snores providing high notes in harmony.

Going to the Show

Tonight's the night. Tomorrow, I head for the majors and I have my shower shoes ready. Make that my snow boots...

I sit in the relative quiet of the evening preparing mentally for the seven days ahead. I wanted to post one last time in peace before I get swept away. For once, everything on the list was accomplished well enough and in time enough or successfully triaged. No, I did not make it to Home Depot for lights or the office supply store for catalog materials today, but I did get new tires on the van. There is a Home Depot and an office supply store (Staples, I think) just down the street from the hotel in Phildelphia. I will buy a snow brush/ice scraper at a gas station further north where they are common.

I did get the order for the Art Institute of Chicago boxed up and scheduled for pick-up tomorrow with UPS. I did not get the dinnerware commission fused, which will make Tuesday and Wednesday after my return from Philly before leaving for LA exciting (the dinnerware must be in Wisconsin by 3/4 and I will be in California drinking heavily from 2/23 -2/28). I made a cool display stand out of PVC and spray painted it black this afternoon. It is a bit wobbly, but I will cable-tie it to a table and it will be fine.

So I sit here after a few glasses of sangria and I organize my lists. I have a list of glass pieces to show, a list of tools to take, a list of display materials... a list of everything and anything I might need for seven days away from home At The Show. Andrea, my savior, has offered to help me with my website after The Show and I am going to take her up on it. There are just some things woman was not meant to do alone. She and her husband will also be in LA from Chicago for the long weekend of debauchery (2/23-2/28) and I am so looking forward to seeing her.

So back to the show. It is tightly timed, but I think it will all work out. I will take my laptop and printer and finish the catalogs in the hotel and print them all out there. I bought yards and yards of red organza today to drape my booth with. I have white foamcore walls and they have a tacky potential that I hope to mitigate with the red organza. My carpet is also red and my display pieces are black and white. I have a 10 X 15 booth all to myself this time, and I am a bit afraid. But Nancy and Sara will be there, and my Mom is coming with me as my faithful assistant--Igor, Tonto, George AND Bess (get that reference, I dare you), Robin, Toto, Laurel, and Jerry all rolled into one, that's my Mom.

And when I get back I will worry about book contracts and kiln lid replacements and how to get all the orders from the BMAC out while writing a book and building a pond and preparing for a busy art fair season. Tonight, I have my tunnel vision on and all I see is the BMAC...and lots of snow.

D-Day

D is for Doom. No mug and music report this morning--no time for either. The new website is up. At least the front page is. 14 hours yesterday and all I have to show for it is a front page which looks great in Firefox, not so great in IE and is untested in Netscape (though I would love feedback from anyone out there who has Netscape and is willing to give it a gander). Hard though I tried, I could not get the pop-up menus to work. Many tears of frustration and despair were expended yesterday... and there are undoubtedly more to come. I keep thinking I will just hire someone to do it, but every time I go down that route the person I interview for the job scares me away. He (no, I have not interviewed any women willing to take on the project) either is too expensive or disparages my design and wants to do it in his own style. Whose website is it anyway?

Now off to Ikebana, a gallery pick-up, get new front tires on the van and a snow scraper at Sam's Club, buy the lights from Home Depot and dog food from Petsmart, get frufty flimsy drapery at the fabric store for my display and black fabric for a tablecloth. Then home to pack and ship the pieces to the Art Institute in Chicago, build and paint the hanging panel stand, put in the first fuse load of a dinnerware commission, pay bills and finish my catalog... Sound like a full day?

Saturday in the Studio and in Denial

I am back in the groove. The Starbucks Barista Barcelona mug waits patiently beside the coffeemaker for it to stop gurgling. The music is the morning hum of the furnace on this dark, wet, winter day (my mother is still sleeping upstairs and I am sure does not wish to be woken with "Marry Me" by the Drive by Truckers). Dave is off to supervise parent Workday at Jessie's pre-school in my stead. I am the chair of the Buildings & Grounds committee, but I have the Buyer's Market of American Craft next week. Into the breach, Dave. Then he is off to NTB to get new front tires for the van for me. True Love.

The coffee steams by my side now, and we officially enter the final leg of the race. The book contract is firmly Pushed To The Back Of My Mind. There is no room for it this coming week.

Today I do the last fusing for the show, tomorrow is a client fusing, Monday is the show slumping, and Tuesday I will slump the client pieces. Or I will wait till I get back and slump them then ship them. I have never had a relay go on a kiln, but there have been some really horrific stories on warmglass.com recently that have me nervous. I can just see setting the kiln for a regular slump cycle and heading off to the BMAC only to find a burned out kiln with puddles on the bottom on my return from it having gone to full power and having stayed there all week. And then having to sell my child to pay the electric bill. No thanks, I have enough unlikely things to worry about without adding one more.

Also today are postcards up and out, pick up a replacement glass shelf for a display, pick up all relevant work from two local galleries (the best reason to do some consignment work is because you have an emergency back-up supply of pieces for times like now), build and paint the hanging panel stand from pvc pipe, make the catalogs and pay the bills.

Tomorrow is the website and I absolutely, positively MUST get it done! I am in a visual business. The majority of people who are in this business--as artisans, buyers, customers, what-have-you--are visual people. If you don't have many visual reinforcements for your work--business card with a picture, color catalog, website with photos, brochures, etc.--to remind the buyers and customers what you do and how much they like it, they will buy from someone else.

I believe a website to be a business essential, and a complete website is critical. It is not enough to have a few pics and a bio up. I am at the point where I need to have up a list of the galleries which carry my work. It serves a dual purpose: to show prospective galleries the long list of other galleries which consider my work worth carrying and to show if there are other galleries in their areas which already show my work, avoiding overlap. I also need to keep a list of retail shows up so clients know where they can find me in the upcoming year.

This is where DENIAL comes in.The chance that I can get a website almost completely done in a day or two when I haven't been able to get it done in Months is seriously fill-in-your-own-preferred-word-for-completely-insane. But I am flawed. I am not wrong about the need, just about the probablility/possibility. Check back Monday.

So off to get through today--the actual making of work--so I can get to the more important task of displaying the work... Is this a skewed world or what?

Another Day No Response

Well this blog is purportedly about the trials and tribulations of writing a book. It is another day of trials. Nothing in the email box from the Publisher. However through another artist friend I found another artist who wrote a book for them. Hers came out last year and she is still waiting to see if she gets a royalty check. They sold out of the first printing and she was told the royalties for the first printing just cover the advance... Maybe she will see royalties in April. I hope so.

The postcards are still not back from the printer. I stopped by this morning to see if they were ready and saw one from the run: it was on the wrong cardstock (too light weight and matte) and had the wrong version of the back text on it. *sigh* If they do not go out today there is not much point in them going out at all. I ordered 300 printed both sides for the BMAC--200 to mail and 100 for in the booth, and another 200 with blank backs--just the studio name, my name, return address and the website and email addresses--to have to hand out in case I run out of the printed ones (not too likely). I ordered 2000 in all: the last 1500 initially have blank backs and I will have the backs printed on an as needed basis to use for my summer shows. All 2000 have already been run on the wrong cardstock. They are going to redo the 500 I need for the BMAC on the higher quality paper and they will have them for me tomorrow morning. I went ahead and bought stamps and ran off the labels. Either the ones I mail out will get there just before or just after the show and either way the gallery owner will have two views of my work--one in print, one at the show.

I put a load in the kiln last night by 11:00 pm and I am wiped today. Part of that is because I *finally* unloaded the two cases of glass late yesterday afternoon. 1000 lbs of glass all unloaded and moved by hand by me. I am getting too old for this. I was so sore this morning I could barely walk. But before you feel too sorry for me I had an incredible full-body massage from Tim at 11:00 this morning. Talk about a sensual splurge! Dave got me the massage for Valentine's Day last year and I just got around to having it. Now I may make it a regular thing. And Tim really liked my tattoo...

The First Thing To Go

I should be on my way to drawing class right now, but instead I am beginning my post as Dave heads to Melton's for chicken tenders and fries for dinner (he got home early last night so it was burgers from the Kirkwood Aces Bar & Grill--is it any wonder we can't lose weight?).

The drawing class is the first casualty in my schedule. And if I am honest, it is not entirely or even primarily due to time constraints. Nor is it all about the fact that last week the instructor never once stopped to peer over my shoulder and evaluate my work as he did for every one else in the class--multiple times for the females 16-24. When I arrived late last week (late but not last so that wasn't it) he asked my name and what I do for a living. When I said glass artist he asked me if I show anywhere. I said yes I will be in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks and I do several other shows a year, and he didn't say anything to me for the rest of the class. Really. I am not making this up.

So tonight it came time to get ready to go and I just said no. I am going to watch Tomb Raider, drink cheap red and eat buffalo tenders and fries. Then I am going to work on my website. I have a feeling it will go better after a bit of cheap red.

The postcards did not come back from the printer today: The press broke down so the earliest I can get them is tomorrow. So that is one more thing off the list (there won't be time to mail them out to galleries before the show). I will just have them to hand out. That is the postcard at the top of the page. The back is to the left.

Finally today, thank you to everyone who posted a "what would you do" about the contract from the Publisher. I ended up writing them a short note expressing my confusion and asking for clarification on some points before sending it back. They are "reviewing them" and will be back in touch. So we'll see what they say. (Do you have baited breath? Are you waiting with it?)

The Homestretch

I sit in the dark again this morning, but in contrast to the gloom and rain of yesterday, a rosy dawn is peeking in through the kitchen windows. I still don't have any coffee--Dave is out of town till tonight so I am On My Own and haven't started it yet. Likewise there is no music as the Sprout lies still sleeping in my bed. She made the morning pilgrimage and came in about 4:00 am. But wait, the music of the morning is birdsong! Somebody out there in the backyard is trilling about the day. A Sign! A Positive Sign of Hope!

(The dog at the right comes into the story later... just wait.)

As we come into the last week before the BMAC I begin to acknowledge the possibility that some things will not get done again this year. By Friday it will be a probability and by Sunday (maybe Monday if I am really optimistic) it will be a certainty. I acknowledge it, I do not accept it.

I got my postcard design finished and to a local printer yesterday so I should be able to send out postcards to galleries by Thursday and have enough left to hand out at the show. Postcards are good as they are big enough to show a lot of visual information and not be easily lost, and small enough not to get tossed aside for later which catalogs and sometimes even brochures are.

Yesterday I also chose the pictures I wanted blown up to 24X36 and got them to another printer. They have been run off and mounted on foamcore and are ready for me to pick up this morning.

The client that I am doing dinnerware for got his samples in the mail from Friday and picked his colors. I sent him the designs last night late and we are going to finalize today. Then I am going to get those pieces mingled into the firing schedule with the BMAC pieces and pieces for... The Art Institute of Chicago! They have requested a couple of pieces to evaluate for their catalog and need them right away. It is my Quest to be in the Chicago Art Institute catalog.

And speaking of catalogs, I need to finish mine today and Get It In The Mail for the galleries that requested it from my January Crafts Report ad. This is the second year in a row I have fallen down here. I like to advertise in the regional showcase of the Crafts Report, and my region comes out in January. I put in the ad "Catalog available on request". And I do have a catalog, but I change it every January to include the new designs and series I am doing and to remove things I no longer wish to do (e.g., my horrible but brief flirtation with slumped wine bottles... there are some things that leach the soul, and for me slumping wine bottles is one of those things). So there is always some lag between getting a request for a catalog and actually having a catalog to send. It just isn't possible to get it done in December. Maybe the solution is to move to another region.

So what does that leave to get done? Well, actual work for the BMAC would be nice. Finalization for the book contract and a signature on a dotted line. Oh yes and all that damn glass I still haven't unpacked which sat in its crates in the rain all day yesterday because the dog pulled the plastic cover off for a chew toy (big dogs, big chew toys. That's the dog at the top of the page. Not the dog that pulled the cover off the crates. No, that's the She Devil Dog's brother. But the She Devil Dog looks just like him).

Then there are a few little things that still need attention (business cards, all the printing for the show, counting and buying new lights, getting a hotel reservation for the show, getting the car tuned, etc.). But the biggest thing yet undone (untouched now for weeks now) is the website.

I have one sad little front page on my website which has never had any friends. I have been meaning to add friends for over a year now (at the bottom it has said, "The top navigation bar is a placeholder, but its pages will come live over coming weeks" since 2004. I am pathetic). I have a feeling that it is the website that is going to drop off again this year. I hope I am wrong and can pull it off. The optimist rises and goes off into her day to make coffee and rouse her Sprout.

Fame and Glory or Folly and...?

Breaking the whole one-post-per-day rule I have imposed upon my self I post again. If you are just coming in today, read the post below this one first. Trust me. I initially wrote this post as a comment on the last one, but it is so intrinsic to my dilemma that it deserves its own space.

In response to my last post my friend Bill wrote: "That very much depends on whether you want to be able to say on your resume that you are a published author, and that your artistry is on record. It might just be worth it in terms of increased exposure and sales..."

And that is exactly what my husband Dave says, and it comes under the category of "less tangible". And if it were a big coffee-table expose of my achievements and artistry LOL), well that would be a nobrainer (and not bloody likely). But let's be honest, this is going to be a little craft "how-to" book.

Am I really going to gain "artistic" cred from having it published? We all know what an effort it will be to do it, will the kind of cred that comes from it (even if it is very well-done) be worth it? And that is a serious question. I will be sinking an incredible amount of time into this endeavor almost to the exclusion of the rest of my business--shows, commissions, new projects and techniques. Of course I will be learning as I validate the techniques I write up, but I won't be intentionally trying anything new.

But if not now, when. I know if not me, who (anyone else). Seize my moment and see where it goes, or don't do it because I know the publisher has set this up to entice me and take advantage of me. How long has it been since I was last seduced? I can answer that--last spring when I bought the gutter covers from the guy who promised me that they would keep out the Georgia long-leaf pine needles and water oak leaves and my gutters would run free forever. I was screwed then too. In that scenario there was no upside--unless you count that it is easier to clean the clogged gutter tops than it is to clean the clogged gutters. Both require a ladder. The only upside here really is Fame and Glory.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Is there enough Fame and Glory? What would YOU do? If you have time, post a comment and give me your opinion (anonymous posting is allowed, but I would appreciate a name).

Defining a Legal Relationship

I sit in the office in the dark, only the glow of the laptop screen and the faint grey dawn creeping in through the windows pierce the gloom. My music is the sound of the furnace doing the morning heat-up. It is the one time of the day when the house is toasty warm, almost too warm. There is no coffee yet, I might microwave some from yesterday if Dave does not make any before he leaves for work, or I might treat myself to one at Jupiter Coffee on the way home from taking the Sprout to school. There are many possibilities. And that is the thread of the day... Possibilities.

The contract must go back to the Publisher today and I still have not decided what changes I am going to request, if any. The more I read it, the more I feel that it is written not just allowing but encouraging them to rip me off. And I wonder, should I try to change that or just accept that my benefits from having a book published will be less tangible (fame and glory, fame and glory--and maybe some additional commissions, outright sales, or new gallery connections because I am a Published Author).

I tend to take the moral high ground--which can also be called biting one's nose off to spite one's face in the vernacular. Dave is more pragmatic. He is a perfect discussion partner for this issue, and still, I am unresolved! The contract was reviewed by an Intellectual Property lawyer and he put so much red in it it looks like a checkerboard at the beginning of the game. And that is why we have lawyers review things for us--so they can take the existing amount of skew and twist it back into our favor. There is no way in hell the Publisher will agree to even half of what he has proposed, but that is not the point. The point is to highlight the inequity of the deal. And he has. But we knew it would be inequitous. Turns out there is actually no such word inequitous, the word is instead inequitable meaning unfair. Maybe because it would cause confusion with iniquitous, meaning wicked.

One of the things that bothers me the most is that it is actually in their best interests to sell the book for under wholesale because then they only owe me pennies in royalties--they more than make up their losses from the distributor by stiffing me. So what checks are there in place to make them not want to cheat me? I mean, they don't know me personally, and if they are just looking at the structure of a deal and how much they can make on it, and they see that they can actually make more money by selling the book at a 54% discount than they can at a 50% discount, why wouldn't they jump at it? Yeah, so I don't make anything, so what? I hear Dave grind the coffee beans and I know that for yet another day I am saved from swill and effort.

Then there is the issue of Rights. It used to be that when a book went out of print the author would get all rights to it back--rights for a new edition, a revision, a whatever. But in the electronic age books can be published on-demand and thus never go out of print. This sounds good at first pass, but it also means by the structure of the contract that an author never gets the rights to the book back and the Publisher gets to do all revisions, new editions, anthologies, compilations, etc., at their sole discretion and whim. And the royalty structure is seriously diminished.

So what do I, the first time author, really get? The very small advance which does not even begin to cover the time it takes to write the book at a wage made by the grocery baggers at Publix, the knowledge that I will never see another dime in income--there will always be some Publisher's expense which is offset by my royalty (picture the Ebeneezer character from the Simpsons as the Publisher rubbing his hands together cackling with glee), and a book. They get us because we will do anything to see our names in print and they know that if we say no, there are dozens of people lining up behind us who will say yes. They (the iniquitous Publisher) encouraged me to read the contract carefully, take my time, all the while knowing that all I was going to get out of the exercise was a thorough understanding of how I was going to be screwed--there would be no changes. Now the question is, can I manage not to let the knowledge bother me?

TGIF (not)

Coffee in the Alaska Skyline "Last Frontier" mug is cold, fitting. Music is "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf. What are the odds? Friday, it's Friday again. I feel like it was just last Friday. Most people look forward to Friday. For me it marks another week of too little done and too much to do...

OK, stop right there. It was only too little if I think it was too little. I am doing great. I am one of those people who will die with things in her Inbox and I just need to GET OVER IT.

*********

I left the post above on the screen and went off to meet another glass artist who is also relatively new to the area and Have Lunch. Oh what a creative inspiration it was! Talking about art and quest and motivation and technique and NEVER ONCE about BUSINESS. It almost motivated me to finish cleaning the studio when I got home. Instead I answer email (galleries interested in my work, caloo calay!) finish this post and add one of the pics I got back from the photographer yesterday...

I keep saying "the photographer" as if i need to protect his identity. Yes, he is a superhero to me, but I can share him with the world: Thank you Bart Kasten of Bart's Art Photography in East Atlanta. Go Bart!

I Feel the Bite

There are insufficient quantities of coffee mate so I had to mix it with 2% milk. It is a harbinger for the day. There are (counting today) 12 days left to the BMAC. Today I have got to come up with a piece list and put together the completely unrealistic firing schedule for it (too many pieces + too few days = totally unrealistic). I also have to finish the postcard and have it printed somewhere, choose the pictures I will have blown up to hang on my stark white walls and get them to the large format reproduction place. Then there are samples to fire and fedex to a client, glass to unpack, palpitations to have...

I got the contract edits back from the lawyer yesterday. They make me anxious. Instead of feeling incredibly honored and excited about being chosen to write this book I start feeling like the publisher is a greedy Ebeneezer chortling madly, claws extended to rip out the heart and soul of my effort and creativity and sell it for parts on the black literary market...

Dave thinks I am insane. He gently reminds me that I am not Stephen King or J. K. Rowling and thus will not get control over the edits and choices the publisher makes on the way to getting the book out the door. I am depressed. I would be much happier not having to think about whether someone is trying to gouge me for every nickel, dime and right. I would rather continue to be a PollyAnna--but then I hark back to having a gallery stiff me for work they sold and never paid me for and how burned I was (and still am). I hold grudges for a long time...

And then the coin flips again, it lands tails--for turn tail and run. I think of what a contract really is: basis for legal action. If you have a contract you must enforce it for it to mean anything. Enforcing it means, at best, arbitration, at worst, court and legal fees and more anxiety than a heart can stand without bursting. If you get to the point where you need to worry about the details of a contract, then you have already lost. So why bother? Really shady and unethical people are not going to be stopped by a contract. Do I want to get involved in anything I need a contract for? Maybe I don't even want to do the book. I forget all about Fame and Glory...

The coin jumps back in the air for the last time and it lands heads--for full steam ahead. A contract exists between honest people to explicitly spell out their rights and obligations so there are no surprises on either side. They are not written with the intent to litigate, but to guide and provide answers to questions that may arise in the process. I know that the contract the Publisher gives me will be heavily skewed in their favor and I should not be insulted by this fact. The Publisher does not have my best interests at heart--they are a Corporation (part of Barnes and Noble, to be exact). They have Shareholders, and Employees, and Directors who all come before me. It would be criminally naive to think they are looking out for me when they write the contract (or should). It is my responsibility to weigh the allocation of rights and rewards they propose and to counter-propose a contract more in my favor.

I also must decide what proposed changes in the contract I cannot live without. I need to do that calmly, alone, not in the midst of the negotiation, and not as a response to their counter to my counter. For heaven's sake, I have bought five houses! If I can get through that--dealing not only with someone who does not have my best interests at heart but who is also not a rational human being--then I should be able to sail through this.

Waiting for Godot in a Big Van

The coffee maker gave it's last gurgling sigh and I am up to fill my cup: Starbuck's Skyline Alaska, "The Last Frontier". Random shuffle on the iPod ushers in the day with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas "Nowhere to Run". Is it a sign? For whom? On to the day!

With any luck at all the new kiln lid for Big Bertha will be delivered this morning between 9 and 11. It was supposed to be here Monday between 1:30 and 5:00. Monday at 3:30 I called to find out the status and after much transferring and hold time was told my delivery was next in the route but 1) the two shipments in front of me had been refused and the driver wouldn't be able to get it off the truck, and 2) the driver didn't have a liftgate or pallet jack (or both) and so wouldn't be able to get it off the truck (my shipment weighs 418 lbs).

This is my first time dealing with this particular freight company. I have so far not been impressed. I wondered aloud why I had not been called first thing in the day and notified of the lack of the equipment I requested and paid for to get my stuff off the truck (lift gate and pallet jack) thus freeing me up to Get Something Done instead of having to listen for the door all day (I cannot hear the doorbell from the studio, a flaw, I know). The harried dispatcher asked if they could bring it back Tuesday and I said no, appointment with the photographer. She asked when I want it and I gave her the 9-11 window today.

Normally you don't get such tiny windows for delivery but they screwed up, she was grateful for my understanding, and she probably has today off anyway so won't have to hear me scream when it gets Screwed Up Again! (A side note: there was a voice message waiting when I got back from the photographer yesterday afternoon--the driver from the freight company had tried to deliver while I was gone. Is it any wonder I lack confidence in the potential for a smooth hand-off today?)

So why the tight window? Because my wondrous spouse has procured tickets for the new aquarium! J is staying home from school today so we can leave as soon as the kiln lid is delivered or at 11:00, whichever comes first. Our tickets for the aquarium are for noon, you see. It is so popular that you don't just buy tickets, or buy tickets for a specific day. No, you get a tiny window--an hour--in which to enter the aquarium. The you can stay as long as you like. I see fish-inspired work in my glass future.

But back to my delivery. I am still trying to figure out how the kiln lid weighs 418 lbs even in crating. I have removed the extant lid and repaired it once with the help of another person. I am strong, but I do not think I could do over 200 lbs. And I still haven't unloaded the glass from Bullseye which wouldn't fit into the garage so had to go on the parking pad under plastic. (One might uncharitably wonder why I was in such a hurry to get it last week. The answer: The frit.) So now when the 418 lb kiln lid gets here where am I going to put it? Answer: further back on the parking pad!

Martha Stewart moment: Good thing Dave never wanted to park in the garage (it was lost to kilns, molds, display equipment, workshop and crap). Good thing he didn't want to park on the parking pad either. Maybe I could get Home Depot to come out with a shed and just put it together over everything on the parking pad...

That would have been the end of the post, but Jessie just came running into the room yelling "Madagascar!". I didn't get it. She caught my quizzical look and said, "Madagascar" and pointed to the iPod which was playing "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees. "That song was in Madagascar." From now on I will have John Travolta in a white suit morphed into four cartoon zoo animals striding down the streets of New York City whenever I hear that song. Any residual edgy sexiness I might have clung to in my memory of it is just gone. Yet another casualty of Growing Up, Real Life and Kids.