I Do Work Around Here You Know

Coffee was in the Austin skyline mug (Dave comes back home TONIGHT!), "Bad Things" by Jace Everett on iTunes (for the same reason). Airplane and hotel reservations for Vegas are done, new work for the show is planned. Next weekend Bill, Elaine and I will get together at their house in Charleston to plan the display--the exact pieces and placement for them. Maybe by extensive planning on the front end, we can avoid the 23-hour set-up we had last year...

In keeping with the economic theme we started at the Buyer's Market in February, we are debuting several new pieces at ACRE in the $100-$200 bucket--glass and metal together. We had eight new pieces for the Buyer's Market that were under $100, now we're unveiling a slightly larger rectangular stand format with five new designs and four stand pieces with small rounds (our current smallest round stand piece uses 16" glass, the new ones have 7-1/2" glass).

However we aren't neglecting the higher-end work either. We have a new abstract glass and steel sculpture called "Primitive" that looks (to me--I didn't design it) like a bone and obsidian ax head circa 2000 BC. I am seriously inspired to do a really cool glass for it; maybe something in "stone"... I will also have the fused and blown (roll-up) vessels. Finally I'm thinking that I didn't give the Cloudstone pieces enough exposure and it might be time to do a bit more of that glass (the purple was especially yummy). Heck, I have two weeks to get it all done--and only one order to get out in the meantime (at least for now).

I end the post today with a response to all the "Gee, you didn't do much in making the roll-up pieces" comments from the previous posts. The roll-ups are COLLABORATIVE work. I didn't show the process of making the glass in the first place (my part) as that's just what I do--and let's face it, watching someone cut glass, piece it together and put it into the kiln isn't all that... sexy. Glass blowing is sexy. Watching Johnathon swing the pipe with a molten vessel on it around in the air and past his cute little bare legs... that's sexy! Would you rather watch someone clean house or throw a fabulous party in the clean house? Can't do one without the other. Which is not to say I wasn't doing anything during the glass-blowing part of the work. The original video was 45 minutes long after all. I cut it to 16. Most of what I cut was my boring behind moving back and forth, and me directing the shaping. I did cut repetitions of blowing movements and glory hole time too, but my philosophy was if I was the main action in the shot, it could be cut.

I also didn't shoot the two days of coldworking on the finished blown piece that I gave it so it is satiny and lustrous and you just can't stop stroking it when you pick it up. The doing of that wasn't sexy either, but the (almost) finished piece? Oh my, drop-dead sexy.

In 50 Words Or Less...

A quick post before I dash off to bathe a Sprout and get her to bed. Then lots of on-line work to do tonight (tools to plan, book to read, ACRE, bills and who knows what else). Coherent and comprehensive post tomorrow.

Artist AND Videographer!

When I was actually drinking the coffee and contemplating posting, it was in the Alaska mug. It took so long for Blogger to load this morning that I drank it all before getting here. "No More Buffalo" by James McMurtry for music. Not Blogger's fault about the lack of speed though--I'm uploading the new versions of the roll-up videos to YouTube right now. James McM is for Dave who is planning to drop by the Continental Club tonight at midnight to see him. *sigh* I am so envious. I'd stay up for James McM.

I was very disappointed in the quality of the roll-up videos I initially put up--especially as the quality before uploading was very good. Last night I did a little technical research on the mahvelous interweb and discovered that you are supposed to upload the highest quality video you can to YouTube--you should not compress it yourself first--as they will compress and "optimize" it when you upload. So a little more time on the front end for me results in a much better video for you. Unfortunately, the article I read said the maximum size for uploading was 100 mg. I spent a couple of hours last night trying to get each of mine just smaller than 100mg each with no success. This morning when I went to YouTube to upload my compromise size (I finally ended up with iMovie's pre-defined cd-rom quality of 35 mg) I saw that YouTube now accepts up to 1 gig and 10 minutes of film per video. Re-exported to 250 mg each, and am sloooowly getting them up. Note to self: make sure to be connected to the DSL through a cable--not wireless--to upload 250 mg files...

Who knew as a glass artist I'd have to learn about the nuances of video formats, compression, frame rate, aspect, bit rate, etc.? I just want to press a button and have the darn thing show up on that there Internet instantly looking great. I don't think that's too much to ask. But technological savvy is increasingly important for artists. Going back to the discussions several of us had at the Buyer's Market in February, the venues of the past for promoting our work aren't enough. I don't know anyone now who just does the annual retail festival circuit (Florida in the Winter, the deep south for the spring, then up to the Midwest or west to the Rockies for the summer). Likewise, I don't know anyone who is making it just doing the wholesale arts shows--certainly no one who started in the past five years.

More income streams (i.e., production work, art work, teaching, writing, etc.) and more online marketing venues (not just a website but Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Plaxo--and I'm not taking on-line sales here, that's a whole different subject) are becoming the norm for the successful artist--and each of them requires new skill sets and time. It's only Wednesday and I'm ready for a nap (or to go become a pool cleaner).

Enjoy the (New and Improved!) videos. Don't forget to put the sound on, and--as always--please support the musicians who inspired me both in my artistic endeavors and for the videos (Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Jace Everett, John Carpenter and the Coupe de Villes, and Creedence Clearwater Revival (links are to buy the MP3's on Amazon--how great is that technology?).

Bonus Post! Bonus Post!

Let's skip the whole coffee (there isn't any) and music (it's James McMurtry, of course) thing and get right to a Bonus Post! I didn't get to gardening (or firing yet--bad me), but I did get the second half of the roll-up workshop video done. I am wistfully missing everyone today and wishing we were getting together again so I thought I'd put it up. And, okay, I have an ulterior motive: I want ANOTHER workshop like that one, but this time with Delores Taylor on Pate de Verre. There, I've said her name. Now she must come! Thanks to Jace Everett for "Bad Things", John Carpenter and the Coupe de Villes for "Big Trouble in Little China", and Creedence Clearwater Revival for "Green River". Go buy them, you know you want to. Enjoy the video (and make sure your sound is ON).


*****VIDEO REMOVED: Putting it up again with better quality on 4/29***************

Too Much For One Tuesday

Coffee was in the Atlanta skyline mug--scarfed it down already, "Waste a Lifetime" by BoDeans for music. Today is less about wasting a lifetime and more about the crammed fullness of possibilities in one, and my wish for two simultaneous lifetimes (or to live on a planet with 36 hours in a day) to get to everything. The problem, if indeed there really is a problem, is that everything I'm working on is time-sensitive. The masks in glass summer camp is scheduled to start on July 6th whether I am ready or not, and the garden is bursting into summer with all the pent-up vigor of spring, again, whether I am ready for it or not. Glass on the left, gardening on the right, stuck in the middle with you blogging through my paralysis.

It's going to be another hot day here in Atlanta. We had a cold, rainy spring that gave way in a day with no transition into full, glorious hot summer. Shrubs, trees and vines still need pruning and staking (and boy am I late on THAT task!). The weeds must be addressed before they take over everything (first kudzu sighting this morning). Fire ants must be wrangled (out of existence) and bedding and potted plants tucked in before it's just too hot... and none of the preceding have anything to do with glass.

Because it's going to be another hot day here in Atlanta I need to get the kiln loads in this morning while it's cool. The beginning of last week I had nothing scheduled for this week, then starting Wednesday the orders began trickling in at a steady one a day through yesterday. Just that easily my firing schedule is full for the week.

Then there's all the non-glass glass work to be done: website, sales tax (still. I am bad.), gallery check-ins, ACRE planning, info card design and ordering, and the pièce de résistance--summer camp curriculum. The reading alone I have accumulated is staggering (everything from Johnathon's oeuvre on coldworking to all the reference books on the significance of masks in various cultures I got to prepare for summer camp).

So how do I get the gardening AND the glass done in the 24-hour days I have in this earthly lifetime? Is the solution really more hours in a day? I think not! I think I know the answer (pick me! pick me!). How about I get the kiln loads in right now in the cool morning before it gets too hot. Then, while it's still not scorching, I spend an extended lunchtime puttering in the garden. Finish with an afternoon in the skychair sipping lemonade and webbing/curriculuming/planning. Sounds like a good idea to me. Wash, rinse, reppeat tomorrow and Friday and I could find myself in front of the eight ball by the weekend. (Now why is in front of the eight ba;; better than behind the eight ball? Hmmm. Something more to think about.)

A quick note and query as I close:

The glass roll-up workshop was such an incredible, invigorating joy and success that it looks like there may be another workshop offered at the same studio the end of August/the beginning of September by a renowned pate de verre artist/teacher. I have been charged with scoping out interest in taking the workshop and specific techniques/information that people would like covered. Please comment or email me if you might like to participate and/or have suggestions for specific content. Happy Tuesday!

Projects End, Projects Begin

Coffee in the University of Montana Grizzlies travel mug, "Goodbye Earl" covered by Me First & the Gimme Gimmes for music. Started the morning by taking the 7th graders their re-fused mirror for signing and trying to find the mask reference books I lent to the Waldorf auction committee to promote the summer camp item. Need to get curriculuming! Back home to post then off to ikebana to use my roll-up nageire vase for the first time.

The week ended with a couple more orders coming in so I have about a half week's firing to do--just the right amount to leave enough time for ACRE travel arrangements, Georgia sales tax, summer camp planning, studio maintenance (getting the gas back on and the hot water heater working again) and website updating. Oh yes, and enough time to finish Johnathon's most excellent book and put the finishing touches on my nefarious coldworking studio plan. Who knows, I might even get more workshop editing done. If I don't do it now, it's going to languish forever.

Four months into permanent showroom leasing and I am not too excited about it. I had reservations about doing something so far from home where I wouldn't be able to check up on it at least monthly, and my trepidations are being realized. I have had one order for one piece from a designer equaling about 1/3 of one month's rent. Part of it is definitely the economy, but I think another part is that nothing sells itself. People have to see it through advertising and other marketing activities--and seeing it in person is the best of all but that means going to the showroom and shopping.... something I don't think many people are doing these days. It might have been better to start in Atlanta, but I wasn't impressed with the permanent showroom space I saw at the Mart when I did the Atlanta's Mart winter show. It felt dirty, dingy and dark--the three big dings.

Time to motor. I leave with pics of happy 7th graders signing their mirror.

Friday is for Finishing (Otherwise Known As Coldworking)

Coffee in the San Francisco skyline mug, "Kathy's Waltz" by Dave Brubeck for music. Picked up a new fax machine last night. I wanted just a plain, basic fax--no frills, no other features--but the HP all-in-one (printer, scanner fax with phone) was $10 cheaper ($49) than the lowest plain fax at Office Depot. Got home with it just in time for an earthshaking thunderstorm. Mindful of the last two fax machines I lost to lightning, I am still waiting to set-it up--even though I was smart this time and got a surge protector that has input jacks for the phone lines as well as the electrical outlets so I should be safe. I *can* be trained.

Today I go back to Lori's and grind some more--I am clearly addicted. I am so addicted that I spent about an hour on HIS Glassworks drooling over lathes, grinding wheels, grinding pads, diamond points... Diamonds ARE a girl's best friend, some of us just prefer them plated to a wheel or a disc or a pad :-). They carry a couple of lathes designed by Steve Klein for Covington; one of which tempts me mightily.

Today is also the day I order Hang Your Glass components and prepare to venture into the realm of public installation. Fortunately I do not have to install the glass, all I have to do is mount the hanging hardware. The gallery that is in charge of the project will do all the display. I'll be back on a lathe or a wet-belt or somesuch.

Happy Friday, all.

Better Late Than Never!

La Croix blue fizzy water in the can, giggling little girls for music. The day has come, the day has gone. But what a day it was!

Hi, My name is Brenda and I'm an addict. I went up to Lori Schinelli's Glass Garage at Glass Inspirations today and coldworked one of my roll-up vases from last weekend's workshop on her wet-belt sander. Now I've used a wet-belt sander before--I have an old, green, tabletop one from a well-known vendor and my reaction to working with it has always been "Meh". Lori has a big CRL machine with a 4" X 106" belt, a one-step belt tightening lever, and an automatic water feed. I think I'm in love. It was very hard to tear myself away to go pick up J and a friend after school for a playdate (child? what child?).

Tonight after I get J to sleep I'm going to settle in with another fizzy water nightcap and treat myself to more of Johnathon's book (ah the perks of fellow authorship--advanced copy ;-). The department store (whose fourth-store order shipped today) had better pay up from the first three stores quick--I've got me equipment to acquire and a state-of-the-art coldworking studio to finish!

I am very envious of my fellow workshopper Simone Kestelman for taking a kilncasting/coldworking workshop from Richard Whitely at Pilchuk this summer. While she is in the cool Pacific northwest on the beautiful Pilchuk campus, I'll be in the inferno that is summer Atlanta doing two weeks of kilnformed glass summer camp (the Masks camp). Okay, so I'll be having as much fun as she will, just a different kind of fun.

I close today with a sigh for the joys of an urban studio. If I had been just a bit faster, I could have gotten the license plate number of the silver camaro-like car loaded with hoodlums that idled in front of the studio this afternoon--music (or something that could possibly be called music in an alternate universe) blaring--while waiting for the light at the corner to change. They were so impressed by my yard that they were compelled to add their own decoration to it in the form of a beer bottle in a paperbag tossed and smashed onto the driveway. Heard the "music", heard the glass smash, ran out, but they were too far down the street for me to get the number. I shook my fist impotently and wished in vain for super powers. It did not make me feel better.

Mid-Week, Mid-Work

Coffee in the Los Angeles skyline mug, "My Friends" by Red Hot Chili Peppers for music. It's late to be starting to post so I have given up the dream of having the second half of the first video ready for today. Something to look forward to tomorrow. Yesterday I was so smug about getting four kiln loads in and I woke with a start at 5:00 this morning to the realization that I hadn't turned the first one on. Doh. It holds a bowl to be slumped and shipped today. Well that's not going to happen. Good thing I was early on this shipment and have a week or so before it really has to go.

Studio production is slow, slow, slow right now. I still have a lot of invoices out so I have income for a few more weeks, but ACRE and new orders can't come soon enough. I got an order yesterday afternoon and have already done the first firing on it. Of course in the way of life and the universe nothing else about the studio is slow. I *still* have my sales taxes from 2008 to file (late, late, late), my website is dismally abysmal again it is so behind, and I have a summer camp to put together. One step at a time. I'll get all that--and my travel arrangements for ACRE and my new artist info cards--done in the next couple of weeks.

Today I have one treat scheduled: Lee, my glassblower friend, is coming by the studio at noon with another glassblower friend of his who's interested in learning some kilnforming. I have parts of three days scheduled with Tadashi in May (Lori and Licha are sharing the studio time and kiln space) to prepare some new roll-up pieces for ACRE, but it would be nice to have even more resources to dedicate to this line of work. I still haven't given up on the idea of having a small hotshop behind the studio...

But first things first, time to call a plumber about getting my gas and hot water back on at the studio. Ciao all.

And the Glass Goes On

Coffee was long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Music is movie soundtracks--Mission Impossible, Mask of Zorro, Jaws... It's movie day! But don't be fooled, I have all four kilns loaded and firing, and as soon as I find my Bullseye invoice, I'll pay it and a couple of other bills--and make a deposit to cover them all--all before the end of the business day. I spent two and a half hours this morning editing the first of the my videos from the roll-up class, got to the end, and the application crashed. Guess who hadn't saved and had to start all over again...

But it's done, and I share the first half of the first piece edited down to seven minutes. Each piece took 30-45 minutes to do so I cut about 2/3. In the video it looks like the glass goes in the glory hole and then comes right out. It wasn't that fast. There were also additional repetitions for some of the steps that were cut for the sake of brevity, and any time the screen was taken up by my posterior, well, that part was cut too. Thanks to Johnathon, Tadashi, and the other participants in the class for graciously allowing me to film them. The real soundtrack was hilariously risque (who knew glass blowing had so many... 'creative' terms) and has been replaced by music to preserve everyone's modesty (you're welcome, Licha and Simone ;-). More tomorrow (good thing it's a slow week!).


*****VIDEO REMOVED: Putting it up again with better quality on 4/29***************

Only the Beginning...

Coffee in the San Francisco skyline mug, "Roundabout" by Yes on iTunes. Both are in honor of Johnathon Schmuck, now winging his way back home to California after whipping some old glass artist butt for the past four days. I'm tired to the bone (and I'm not the only one!), but totally exhilarated. I may suffer complete sensory overload and shut-down this year with all the mind-expanding (mind-blowing) professional dev I have scheduled.

I know people who love to go from class to class and workshop to workshop, but I frankly couldn't do it. Four days of fusing to blow, blowing (or having blown as it were), and preparing for coldworking have given me so many new ideas for my own production work that I think if I took workshops more often my head would explode and I'd completely lose any shred of "my" in my work. But the past weekend was just right--I even hope to have a new roll-up line ready for ACRE at the end of May.

_________

A few hours have passed since I started this post, and in the interim I have booked my plane travel to BECon, booked all of Dave's flights to and from Austin through the end of May--and booked three more days at Duckbill Studios working glass roll-ups with Tadashi, Licha and Lori in May. No reason to let the grass grow under my feet. I think this is a very under-served area of collaboration in the wholesale show niche (and speaking of Niche... don't be too surprised when September rolls around if there's a bit of a "roll" to my submission!).

Tomorrow--in addition to all the regularly scheduled studio activity of firing, shipping, sending off invoices and quotes, preparing for shows, etc.--I will edit some of the footage I shot over the weekend at the workshop. I tried to video everyone's roll-up pieces from start to finish--eight people times two days times about 45 minutes per project... I have a lot to edit.

I also have my own pieces from the workshop to coldwork--and a draft copy of Johnathon's new book, "The Joy of Coldworking" to read and review. The timing couldn't be better for me with the work I need to do on my pieces--thanks to Johnathon for letting me do the read. The book will be out in May and I'll post a link to the pre-order page as soon as I get it. Johnathon is a great teacher--his seriously comprehensive knowledge is combined with a quirky sense of humor into one relaxed, easy-going package. I can't wait to read this book!

Now for a key to all the pictures: The top right is Johnathon using a shaving brush to wipe the schmutz off of the shelf-side (the outside) of my first piece after it was initially rolled up. Like the way the bristles flame from contact with the molten glass? The next two pics are my first piece before fusing and after fusing, midway through the roll-up. The shiny happy people are the glory-hole team for my roll-up--Johnathon on the pipe, Tadashi and I on doors. The last pic skips ahead (way ahead) till all the pieces for the day were rolled up, blown, safely tucked into the annealer for the night (and much of the next day), and then cooled off. The My piece is the one on the bottom right. More pics of it as I coldwork.

I'm Getting There!

Where have the days gone?! There will be a post this morning, it'll just be later as I need more sleep. Much more sleep. A weekend in the hot glass studio filming everyone's projects (and doing my own) wore me out. More in a couple of hours...

Blending Hot and Warm Glass Techniques

Too tired to drink something (or eat anything more than Easter candy), Magic Treehouse wafting down from upstairs as J goes to sleep for music. Had a *great* class today with Johnathon Schmuck that ended in an impromptu happy hour at the picnic table in the backyard of my studio. I am really looking forward to tomorrow--and am more convinced than ever that I need a hot glass component to my studio. Pictures and a longer post (from on-site!) tomorrow.

Talking With the Taxman

Coffee in the Los Angeles skyline mug, "Greetings to the New Brunette" by Billy Bragg from Talking With the Taxman About Poetry playing. Happy Tax Day! Glad it's all behind me for another year (though I am pretty sure V has some sharp words for me about getting her my Quickbooks file so she can keep me up to date). I spent two hours on Monday morning bringing my accountant up to date on both the business and personal rats' nests (two hours!) and then I just walked away.

As I wrote before I left for Spring Break, I got a big glass delivery in the pouring rain--the same continuously pouring rain that has flooded the basement/crawl space at the studio Pics are of the rainy delivery and the subsequent flooding (the flooding pic was taken a week later--after the initial soaking. It's all been under water since then). See how the hot water heater is under water? I have a pump in there now and hope to have it emptied out today. And I finally have the name of a good plumber who will come out and manually light the hot water heater once it's all dried out. This is what it's all about, this small art/craft business ownership, keeping afloat.

It's a beautiful day in Atlanta and tomorrow I start a four-day workshop with Johnathon Schmuck on the roll-up technique hosted by Glass Inspirations and Duckbill Studios. I am so excited! Even though Dave will be home from Austin for the weekend and I won't see much of him (the class will run long), it's still going to be a great weekend. Jessie is looking forward to some one-on-one daddy time so it will all work out well.

This is truly a year of professional development for me--first this workshop (the second one I've taken in about ten years--and the first one [for a variety of reasons] doesn't really count), then BECon followed by a post-conference workshop on lost wax casting, finishing up with a week long Bullseye Instructor workshop. Bliss. Just bliss.

Back Where I Belong

Coffee will be in the Austin skyline mug whenever it's finished perking (or whatever it does to turn from water and grounds into the nectar of the gods), "The Power of Two" by the Indigo Girls on the Apple TV. Okay, that's just spooky. Out of my entire library iTunes picked That song. The song our friend Andrea sang at Dave's and my wedding. Yep, the spouse is back in Austin. We miss him.

It was a *wonderful* spring break. For the first vacation in memory I did almost no planning--even when I was trying to plan. I lived in the "now" and basked. Basked and played Diablo, and flew kites, and built sandcastles, and drowsed in the sun. A really wonderful vacation. I did ponder some techniques for experimentation (and possible book 2 inclusion--yep, haven't given up that idea yet), but I didn't do much more than that.

Now back into the studio refreshed, rejuvenated and re-energized. Sorry for the lack of post yesterday--it was a transition day. A damp, chilly, grey transition day. I still have no gas (and so no heat or hot water) at the studio as the crawl space where the hot water heater and the furnace are located keeps filling with water so I'm not able to get a new sump pump in. Hope it gets sunny and hot this afternoon (and stops raining!) so I can take a look at it again.

Today is for communing with art partners, organizing the firing schedule and starting on upcoming orders--of which there is a new series of big wall panels for a corporate space and another store (I think I might have already mentioned this one...) order from the department store to fold in (they are adding the collection to one more store).

ACRE is coming up--time to get travel reservations and exposition services booked, and it's time for a big summer camp promotion push. In other words, back to life! See you again, Hilton Head...

Monday at Java Joe's

Coffee is a Milky Way (espresso, caramel, chocolate and whipped cream) in a big blue glass mug, there is music playing, but it's drowned out by the cacophony from the people driven in out of the Hilton Head rain. We're at Java Joe's... working. Today is the one and only day I plan to really work, but it is a real day as the taxes are not to the accountant yet (I know, I know!) and there are a couple more things that need to be mailed off before we get back home. Dave is working all week--his first proof of concept on working remotely with the new company.

Almost got all the glass from my delivery last week put away and, in the process, lined up another highly qualified instructor to teach in the studio. That brings me to a firm count of four and a potential count of five primary instructors and two regular teaching assistants. As I have said before, I am not really interested in teaching basic fusing and slumping. Nor do I want to teach on the weekends (I get little enough time with my traveling spouse as it is) so having other instructors interested in filling in those spots in the curriculum and schedule is excellent!

Now off to the taxes so I can get on to the FUN! Happy Spring Break all.

Friday!

Coffee will be a mocha from Kavarna (when it's made), music is a spacey new agey thing on valium. I have ten minutes to post. Ten minutes before my laptop battery is dead. Ted minutes before we have to leave to go to the Waldorf School for Grandparents and Loved Ones Day. D's Ps are here and J is basking in the extra family attention.

Big studio news (BTW, there shouldn't be any big studio news the day before vacation starts....) is that I turned the gas off to the studio yesterday because we didn't have any hot water. We didn't have any hot water because it has been raining for 40 days and 40 nights and the crawlspace/basement under the studio has over a foot of standing water in it. The hot water heater and the furnace both live in the crawlspace/basement, and the hot water heater was partially submerged. Submerged enough that the pilot light was out. The safest thing to do was just shut off the gas, wait for the water to recede, and deal with it when we get back. Or build an ark. One thing's for sure, there is definitely a new sump pump in my future.

My department store client ordered the collection for another store yesterday. They haven't sold any of the first pieces yet, but they like them so much they want to expand the number of stores carrying them.

Okay, out of time, out of battery, off to school!

Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

Coffee in the Alaska skyline mug, "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks on Apple TV. April Fool's Day is over and it's time to get back to work. I played several good tricks yesterday on my assistant, my bookkeeper, and--of course--on the web. The Spouse staunchly maintained that he was Not Fooled (in his words, my husband scaring tactics failed miserably).

Glass from Bullseye arrives today (it's raining, of course) as do my in-laws. The cleaning people are coming this morning--and I'm disappointed because I actually wanted to show off how clean the house is already to the in-laws. "See? I *can* muddle through without Dave to do all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry!" (That statement would carry more weight if I didn't have a big pile of clean sheets still to put away from Saturday when he was home and did laundry...)

But back to glass. The last fuse loads for a few weeks were fired yesterday. Today is for slumping and firepolishing (two different loads) and tomorrow is the last shipping till mid-April. I would be concerned, but the dearth of orders coincides nicely with J's Spring Break, and Dave will be home from Austin for nine days starting tomorrow night so we can have a little family vacation together. I plan to spend the time... Planning. It's time to lay out the curriculum for the mask summer camp, read all the books I bought for resource materials, make a list (and maybe even a schedule) for other classes--including ikebana containers (both nageire and moribana), birdbaths, fountains, windchimes, table tops, plant stakes (time to be in the garden...), etc. And time to tweak the studio layout for a formal materials and supplies section.

Even if it rains every day next week, I can't wait. Long, quiet walks on the beach with just the family and the gulls for company, new directions in glass to explore (and maybe a few website updates while I'm at it)--I couldn't ask for more.

Time For a Change...

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, " 'Round Here Somewhere" by the BoDeans on the apple TV. It's raining. Again. Yesterday saw yet more papers sorted and appropriately filed (i.e., mostly recycled), kilns fired, glass cut, pieces made, pieces shipped. Yawn. I yearn to be in the garden. I have been dissatisfied with the necessity of subverting my creativity to economic realities--something that happens to all production artists at some time in their careers--for awhile now. Finally last night I came to a momentous decision: I am done with professional glass--it's time to move on to the next step in my life.

Before we moved to Atlanta we lived in Austin, and I went through the 10-week training and certification program (including 50 hours of public service work) to become a Master Gardener. I specialized in the incorporation of native plants in the urban landscape and ecological gardening--no pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers or regular watering. I loved it, though the only outlets I had were our home yard (and I had to fight the neighborhood association tooth and nail as they wanted me to plow all the native vegetation and buffalo grass under and put in Bermuda grass--something the people who bought our home when we moved have done. *sigh*) and some friends' yards.

When we moved here, I had a blank slate again. The backyard was a sea of red mud, and the front was full of boring, inappropriate builder plants and some sod which died before I identified it. Now the front has a curving pavestone walk, a traveler redbud, a witch hazel, three quince, a small pond, a moss "lawn", jasmine, gardenias, camellias, a service berry, ferns, a flying dragon (tri-foliated native orange), and assorted other wildlife-friendly plants. The back has a weeping cherry, a ginko, a weeping elm, an ironwood, a small Japanese maple, a weeping deodora cedar, two Texas persimmons, an American smoketree, a fragrant tea olive, and a bamboo forest--and that's just for starters!

I designed the entire backyard including adjusting slope and soil and accommodating drainage and existing light. I even put in the circular stone patio with a low wall surrounding it myself (with help from two contractors I hired to grade and spread the 15 dump truck loads of topsoil I purchased). And I did it all in two weeks from start to finish--playhouse and bamboo to soil, sod, a dry "creek" bed for drainage, the afore-mentioned patio, and all the trees and shrubs... then I had to get back to my regular job, and I have done nothing back there since other than the annual mulch and thrice-yearly major weedings.

Now the bamboo is shooting, the grass is getting ready to sprout, the pond creatures are stirring, and I want to to get back to my yard and to help other people with theirs. I thoroughly enjoyed the general contracting and materials ordering and coordinating that came with the project, I was very good at it, and I love the smell of dirt.

Practicalities: The College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia offers two degrees that interest me--Master of Landscape Architecture and Master of Environmental Planning and Design. The existing studio building is a perfect place for a discreet professional office--and if we end up moving to Austin for Dave's job it will be easier to pick up and move a landscaping career. Plus it gives me a lot more time to sell off my existing materials and product inventory from the glass business because I start NOW.

Oh I'm not saying I'm going to sell everything and never do glass again, but it's time for it to take a back seat and become the enjoyable hobby it was when I started over 20 years ago. I'm too tied down by all the "stuff" that goes along with being a production glass artist. It's time to Move On! Off to the studio to start tagging everything for sale (too bad I have that big Bullseye order coming this week--but at least I am on the downside of my production cycle). Final thought--that artist who was copying my work now has a clear field and I don't have to worry about it anymore!

Happy April 1 everyone.

Too Little For Tuesday

Coffee in the New Orleans skyline mug, waiting for iTunes to reboot for music. Ah, there it is, "Moondance" by Van Morrison on the Apple TV. It's another dark Tuesday. Last week it felt like we lived in Seattle it rained so much, and this week is shaping up to be more of the same. April showers indeed. Grey weather makes me want to hibernate, not go forth and conquer the glass mountain.

Speaking of glass, my latest order shipped from Bullseye last Friday so I should have it later this week. Good thing too, as I am completely out of clear irid--again! I still have enough frit to sink a battle cruiser, but I sure go through the clear irid quickly.

Got a call yesterday from a gallery owner I met at the Dallas show and she would like to propose my work to a corporate client for a series of eight large wall panels--short-term timeline. The work would be interesting, and I'm getting to the end of the Buyer's Market orders so the additional income would be welcome--as would the opportunity to put off the inevitable shift back into cerebral glass activities--like planning the teaching I would like to do and new directions for the studio that comes at the end of the heavy production cycle. Direction shifts--like all change--are very hard. My body in production motion prefers to stay in production motion. Or it prefers to curl up on the couch with a good book. Neither are viable options so I heave myself out of my chair and head to the studio.

Office and Official!

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Leaving on a Jet Plane" covered by Me First & The Gimme Gimmes on iTunes. Yes, it is a sad Monday. The Sprout and I took the Spouse to the airport this morning. But he'll only be gone for four nights. He'll be back to us Friday night (for the entire following week!--It's spring break, doncha know).

Finally today I get to share pics of my main super-secret project of the past couple of weeks. I did it as a surprise for Dave but he said J and I dropped hints like anvils and he had pretty much guessed. But the visuals are still pretty impressive. Some might wonder why photos of the home-office re-do would show up in a glass business blog. The state of the home office for the past several years has had a serious impact on my ability to actually run a business. I thought businesses had to have files, file folders and file cabinets--as did well-run households. Turns out I was wrong.

For people like me--people who don't even bother to take the time to put on make-up in the morning, much less regularly file all the scraps of paper that accumulate on our desks--the optimal solution to having all the paper I need, having it in a place where I can put my hands on it without too much troubles *and* maintaining the organization with minimal effort is to have paper-sized plastic boxes labeled with home or business and the year. Sure I need a couple more boxes than that (like ones for owner's manuals, J's medical stuff, J's school stuff, J's art, Christmas cards, and photos) but I don't need all the fussy little manila folders I used to have languishing almost empty in green hanging folders in a dust-and-paper-covered file cabinet.

Both my bookkeeper and my accountant convinced me I need to keep all the old invoices and receipts from previous years, but I didn't need to sort them by vendor or month or anything other than year. If I get audited (knock on wood) I can deal with sorting the appropriate years. In the meantime, I can get on with Real Life.

The craftsman oak furniture that used to fill the office is mostly now over at the studio (where I do have a lot more "stuff" I need to store--like trade publications, more office supplies, etc.). I need nifty surfaces over there to put stuff on, and there was exactly the right amount of room in the office for everything but the old desk. Never fear though, it found a good home as a donation to a non-profit.

Now for the big news of the day! My partners Bill and Elaine Snell and Todd Briske have come through again (though Todd doesn't know it yet--he'll find out when he gets back in town on Wednesday). In June Bill and Elaine are going to Dallas to represent Siyeh Studio and Black Cat ArtWorks at the Dallas Market summer show. When you have a showroom there you have to be on-site for the two big markets of the year in January and June. Bill and Elaine are going instead of me because the market overlaps with BECon and I am attending it for the first time ever--and taking a really cool looking workshop on lost wax casting, "MYSTERIES OF LOST WAX REVEALED with Linda Ethier". But this is not the big news, this is old news (it's still big, it's just old and big).

The big news is that I have been invited to participate in an instructor workshop at Bullseye this summer. Bill, Elaine and Todd are making my attendance possible by taking on the entire set-up for the summer BMAC themselves--the instructor workshop is only held the week before the BMAC. I wish I were attending BEFORE I teach two sessions of summer camp, but I will at least have the summer camp to talk about in my 10-minute presentation on my studio, teaching, experience, etc. (they would like a presentation with slides or visual aids of some sort and everything. Wow.)

The instructor workshop will enable me to continue expanding the scope of my studio from solely production work and writing to teaching and even retailing and wholesaling glass. Yes, I think it's finally time to step up to the Big League and start selling materials and supplies and teaching regular classes. Gulp. Now off to get today's production kiln loads in and shipments out.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, SUNDAY!

Coffee in the Atlanta skyline mug (cause my sweetie is coming back to Atlanta TODAY!), "Going Home" by the BoDeans on iTunes. It's part of the all "home" playlist--which also includes Eddie Money "Take me Home Tonight/Be My Baby" with Ronnie Spector. There was no post yesterday. I didn't have time to make coffee yesterday. No coffee, no post. Simple, little, equation. On the other hand, I had three kilns (including both Bertha and Bettina) loaded and firing and two shipments labeled and out for UPS (I can't take credit for packing them--Becky did that the previous afternoon) all by 10:45. 10:45 AM. Really.

The rest of the morning/afternoon was spent on taxes and making a dent in sorting the boxes filled with five years worth of papers. Maybe the reason Dave and I moved so often in our first years together was so that I didn't have a chance to accumulate a truly staggering amount of (so my bookkeeper and accountant tell me) indispensable unsorted papers. I was forced to sort and purge regularly in order to move. I almost wish I were Jewish just so I'd have the ritual of the annual pre-Passover sort, clean and purge as an ingrained part of my life. Sure, it wouldn't be just chumetz that I'd be getting rid of but paper and all other "things" accumulated during the year and littering the house.

_______________________________

That was as far as I got on my post Friday before the whale of the day swallowed me whole, and it took till now to fight my way from its belly back to Blogger. Of course I stopped on a tropical island (metaphorically) for a little paradise with my newly home spouse and that delayed me too. And then there has been the weekend-long marathon replaying the old computer game Diablo II on my Mac. I clearly have an addictive personality and need to avoid computer action and adventure games if I wish to get anything else done.

So I post better late than never for Friday (a post which was already a catch-up post for Thursday), and I save my Big News to share tomorrow....

Jam Yesterday, Jam Tomorrow, but Never Jam Today. Taxes Today.

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug. "Digging For Your Dream"--new Indigo Girls!--on iTunes. I still can't believe the spouse didn't go see them at SXSW. Shame on Bryon and all the others who weren't up for going with him (I can absolutely see why he didn't want to go alone--without me. Too sad.)

Tuesday was a trial, and it's over. Last night at 6:45 I was still loading the first of two kilns and had a tired, hungry, 7 year-old tugging on my shirt and asking when was dinner going to be ready. I finished the first load and had dinner on the table for her by 7:05. While she ate, I went back to the studio and started working on the second load. She came over when she had finished eating and hung out with me till just after 8:00 when the second kiln was loaded and firing. Then we went back to the house and had ice cream and talked to her dad. Ice cream was followed by a shower for her and putting laundry away for me and the evening finished with her tucked into her bed listening to Magic Treehouse and me updating my accounts receivable/reconciling invoices till bedtime at 11:00. Days beginning at 7:00 am and consisting of continuous work till after 10:00 at night have got to stop. I am not cut out for this kind of life.

At least I found some money as I desnarled my paperwork. It turns out that not only do I have a lot of checks due to come in, but I also have several credit cards that I never got around to charging for shipments sent in March. And it's a good thing I found some cash as I am going to have to pay for my biggest Bullseye glass order ever in a couple of weeks. Let's hope the check from the department store comes in in the meantime too. I think I'm going to have to set V on wading through their e-biz registration forms, etc., because I don't think I'm ever going to have the time (or interest).

Tired today. J came in to sleep with me about midnight and coughed and sniffed for the rest of the night. Poor little mite is completely stuffed up with a horrid cold, but she neither had a fever nor seemed particularly lethargic this morning so she went off to school. I am going to hit the Cold Eze hard today in an effort to head off getting sick myself. It's not a substitute for lots of rest, eating well and avoiding stress, but it's the closest I am going to come this week and I don't want to be sick when I see the spouse for the first time in three weeks (3,578 minutes from now).

Now off to do the final number pulling from the finances for last year's taxes. Really. really, really.

Tuesday at Kavarna... Alone

Dancing Goats Coffee with two extra shots of espresso in a Kavarna mug, something weird for music on their sound system. Why I am at Kavarna alone while D is in Austin, you might ask. Well, superwoman ran out of coffee beans. Went to load the coffee maker last night and, whoopsy daisy, not enough beans. So I dropped J off at school and headed to a place where there are always enough beans. I figure I'll get he rest of my orders, invoices and scheduling done in a place with no distractions... except Facebook. Oy.

So far having a bookkeeper seems to mean it's that much easier to ignore the taxes and financial paperwork. I'm no closer to getting them done (sorry Vero!), but I no longer have anxiety attacks about them either. My big accomplishment yesterday was organizing everything on the To Do list into days that I hope To Do them. I managed to get most of Monday's things done, though a few did ook over into today. Yes, the word is "ook", pronounced ooh-k. It was not a typo missing letter. There is a lot of ooking in my life right now and I just thought I'd share.

Blessed quiet--the weird music has stopped and I can concentrate. Sounds like a good time to start desnarling the invoice accounting spreadsheet. SURE AM LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT ERP SYSTEM that the spouse is building for me in his spare time (hint, hint).

Blow It Out

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Hurricane Party" by James McMurtry wafting in from the living room. I'm in the office. It's the first time I've sat at the desk in here in, oh, years I think. The morning and the week started with a bang. Fed the J, made her lunch and got her off to school. Put away the clean dishes, did the grocery shopping and put away the groceries, sorted the laundry and started the first load. Now it's almost 9:00 and I'm ready for work. I begin to see how my mother did all this every day--grim, focused determination. Hit the ground running and don't stop until you collapse in bed at night. There's a certain pioneer beauty to it--which is not to say I do not long for my spouse's return with every fiber of my being.

In addition to working in the office and hosting a pajama party sleepover for the J this weekend I also fired full loads in both big kilns Saturday and Sunday. For once on Monday morning I can say I am caught up--with everything except paperwork (taxes, invoicing, accounts payable, etc.). But the kilns are going to need a few hours yet to cool--I didn't get them started till 8:00 last night as they were still cooling in the early evening from Saturday's firings--so I have time to work on the paper mess. "Right Here Now" by James McMurtry plays in the background. That's me today. Right here now in the nest of papers.

Friday, Enfin

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Walk Between the Raindrops" by James McMurtry on iTunes. The SXSW Music Festival goes on. Wonder if the spouse did see Tori Amos last night at La Zona Rosa or if he bailed. It's the first year he's worked in the mornings (new job ya know) and spent the afternoons, evenings and nights at the festival. Now me, I'm just workin'. Each day I get one or two more things crossed off the list. Some of those things have been there for *months*. If he stays in Austin long enough, I might actually get all caught up (not much else to do in the late evenings besides work and read).

Today I take another load of glass to Todd, fire, ship, and get the glass order in to Bullseye (finally!). Breaking pieces with slight flaws into chunks and firepolishing those chunks into pieces for ornaments, keychains, base pieces for wire men, and garden stakes is a lot more difficult than I had thought it would be. Were we selling them retail, it would be simple. But wholesale adds a whole new level of complication--we have to be consistent in our sizing. And I gotta tell you, it's very difficult to get consistent results from smashing large pieces of glass into shards on a concrete driveway! This week we instituted a sizing chart and sorting bins and Becky went through everything we had fired and put it all into buckets for Todd. The pre-sorting before it goes to him serves a two-fold purpose: he doesn't spend an entire day going through glass, and I have a good idea how many pieces of what sizes I have made for him so I can make sure there are enough appropriate pieces to complete our orders.

As I look at my list of things to do I find that I am most behind in money matters--and not just the reconciliation kind. I am also behind in paying and collecting. It would be nice to get a few of those done today too. And maybe I'll have some extra time for it as Jessie is being picked up from school by another mother for an afternoon/evening (dinner and a movie) playdate with one of her friends. I look forward to an evening by myself to watch a non-Sprout-friendly movie, have a nice salad for dinner and a couple of glasses of white wine--but only if I get caught up on sending and receiving (or at least rebilling for) all the money I have outstanding!

Thursday and the Week Winds Down... Hah!

Coffee (microwaved from yesterday) in the New Orleans skyline mug, "Maybe World" by Mary Chapin Carpenter on iTunes. Microwaved coffee eh, so it's going to be THAT kind of day. Yes, I'm afraid it is. I'm off to Commerce to meet Bill and Elaine and exchange work--and to talk a bit about our booth layout for Philly this summer. Didn't we just do this? The neverending story...

Good news: I have more orders than I thought I had. Several came in through email in February and I just hadn't had a chance to process them all into formal orders and put them on the firing schedule. Yea! The bad news: Most of them are due tomorrow. Hope Monday will be soon enough and sorry I am going to be kissing a firing-free weekend good-bye.

The piece that I shipped to the gallery up north overnight on Monday... was broken by UPS in transit. The box was crushed. On an overnight package! Oh boy. Yet one more piece to fire today.

I am going to stop reading CNN. Not only did they have the bad sense to lay off my spouse, but they seem to have a vested interest in whipping the public into a frenzied panic about the economy. Recent headline: 45% of people polled think we're heading into another Great Depression within the next year. Well, yeah, if you get the herd scared enough to stampede it *will* happen. Panic, catastrophe, death, doom all sell. But you can only maintain an adrenaline rush for so long before you have to settle down and just get on with your life. We all mill around wailing, tearing our hair and gnashing our teeth... and then we wander back home to do laundry, make soup, feed the dogs.

Now I'm off to sign pieces and pack them to take to Bill and Elaine. Starbucks at 10:30. Yum!

Waste Not, Want Not

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" by the Allman Brothers on iTunes. Yesterday was a good firing day--two full big loads in Bertha and Bettina--but a lousy paperwork day. Becky the Wunder Assistant has another job mornings now so I get her in the afternoon and my whole schedule is upside down. It's not a bad upside down, mind you. In the same way pineapple upside down cake isn't bad, having Becky at the studio to bound and cement the afternoon work hours isn't bad. She arrives an hour or so before I pick the J up from school and stays an hour or two longer. Her being there helps keep the end of the school day from making my brain think it's the end of the work day too.

So I filled the kilns yesterday full of little pieces, the self-same little pieces that are going to get me through this pesky economic downturn. Right now the way to keep an art/craft business afloat is to have a small-sized series of work that efficiently uses materials (keeps waste to zero), has a quick turnaround time (is not labor-intensive), and can be--because of the first two--priced lower than other styles of your work. Oh yes, this series also has to be of the same quality and made with the same care as the rest of your work so as to put the finishing touches on your customers perception that it is a very good bargain and will sell well to their customers.

The time that you have freed up by doing less labor-intensive work can be put to use teaching, reselling supplies, or doing a host of other income-generating activities. The secret is flexibility and openness to change. Now I'm going to head off and polish up a class schedule for the studio. There are fountain classes, birdbath classes, ikebana container classes and who knows what else to create.

(The playlist for today's post is everything in my music library that has the word "waste" in the song or album title, or in the artist's name. It includes lots of good songs and the entire album "Too Long In the Wasteland" by James McMurtry--a fitting kickoff for the SXSW Music Festival Dave will attend today in Austin. I finish writing to "Song For a Deckhand's Daughter". It doesn't get better than that.)

Where Has the Morning Gone?

Coffee in the Atlanta skyline mug, "Right Now" by Van Halen on iTunes. I am grounded in the here and now and plowing through work. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. Tuesday morning there are still four work days left in the week to get things done and Monday is behind me, what could be better than that? Add the weather--the rain has passed and the sun is shining--and all is (almost all--15,048 minutes till Dave is home) right with my world

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I have just diddled two hours away editing the video from the hemisphere set-up that I wanted to get posted today. *Sigh* so much for being ahead this morning, er, afternoon! I'll have to post video tomorrow or whenever I have more time to futz with it.

964 Miles From Home

Coffee in the Denver architect series mug, "3,000 Miles" by Tracy Chapman on iTunes. I'm off the melancholy playlist even though the spouse is still 964 miles away. But I made it through the first weekend alone, holding together home and hearth with adequacy if not grace and verve.

As the spouse likes to say, every scrap of cloth in the house is clean (or in the washer), and the Sprout is off to school--only a teensy bit late this morning. Shouldn't have tried to empty the dishwasher, move around laundry, fold laundry, make her breakfast (though cutting a couple of slices of danish and pouring some juice isn't terribly time consuming), make her lunch and supervise her chores (oh yes, and get dressed and teeth brushed myself) all on a rainy Monday morning before school.

Now it's 8:30 and thoughts turn to glass. A piece didn't turn out last week and I had to refire it over the weekend. Unfortunately the customer for it is driving down from Canada to one of my galleries up north to pick it up on Tuesday. I shipped the stand out Friday, but now I have to overnight the glass today and it's a big, heavy piece. I won't make anything on this sale other than the continued goodwill of the gallery and hope for more orders from them. Just the cost of doing business--and it wouldn't have happened at all if I weren't running the firing schedule right up to the wire.

BRB--got to take a break to fill the bird feeders in between rain showers. The little birds are out there right now and looking quite put out that they made the trek and there's no food...

Though I'm still behind from starting the year with three big shows and set-up of a permanent showroom (all before St. Patrick's Day!), today I finally feel rested and like I can see the tasks ahead of me in a coherent order. There are a daunting number of them from finances (invoice reconciliation, bills, taxes, sales taxes, oh my) to getting the Bullseye glass order in, to planning and promoting summer camp, but I can see them all now--no more too-swamped-to-see-ahead-past-next-week. Wow. It's a scary view! But there's coffee, quiet, peace and time--and only 16,571 minutes till Dave gets home.

The Longest Week Ends

Coffee in the New Orleans skyline mug, "Home" by Marc Broussard on iTunes. I sense a theme... It's Friday so the work week ends. Wow. No work in the studio scheduled for the weekend. Of course that doesn't mean I won't be working--I have mileage and other data for taxes to do, a slideshow to figure out, wholesalecrafts.com to update, and a mountain (literally) of paperwork to sort and file.

I am reminded of an incident with my advisor in graduate school. I kept waiting and waiting to get a paper back from her and finally I went to her office to inquire about it. It wasn't that she didn't pay attention to or read our work--just the opposite. She was so intense and meticulous in her evaluation of everything we turned in that it would take her forever to get through reviewing it. Her husband, as a way of dealing with the mountains of paper her style engendered, used to periodically go through their apartment and put everything in big green garbage bags for later sorting--all the papers on this chair in one, all the papers on that table in another. I don't think they ever got sorted, and I never did get that paper back (I got a decent grade though).

I truly have four years worth of personal and business papers stacked in drunken piles on the desk, file cabinet and floor of the home office and squatting on every available flat surface in the house and studio office. Even the cleaning people don't go near them for fear of being ingested by the paper monsters and disappearing forever. Four years of now-dusty papers. Blech.

On the plus side, technology is my friend today--whatever gremlins had the reins at Blogger yesterday are sleeping it off today and I was able to upload my time lapse slide show of the Hemisphere Design Gallery showroom set-up. You enjoy the banjo music, I'm off with a trusty stick (and maybe a box of matches) to attack the paper monsters. And if you see my spouse this weekend, give him a hug for me. I miss him.

Coherence is Overrated

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug, the traffic outside the studio for music (and the tap tap tapping of the keyboard). I am rushing around again this morning (chicken, head cut off, what's new?) and don't have time for a long--or even mostly coherent--post. I wanted to leave you with a time lapse slideshow of the Hemisphere Design gallery show room set-up from Monday in Dallas, but slideshows are apparently my bane this week and I failed. So I tried to upload it to my Joomla webpage. DENIED! Short post, no slideshow, what's the world coming to?

Siyeh Does Dallas

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, the silence of the morning for music. J is off to school--I survived my first morning of single parenthood. Dave is in Austin for the next two months with weekends home starting in three weeks (I will be counting the minutes as soon as I can figure out how many there are). I am back from setting up the showroom in Dallas and exhausted. But the day--and the week--marches on. There are taxes to file, orders to prepare and ship, schedules to update, finances to wrangle--in short, all the little things that make up a business. Oh yes, and now there's dinner to figure out, school transportation to wedge in, and a child to raise

Yesterday morning at 7:30 in Dallas I started the following post:

"I sit on the Hemisphere showroom and enter my post into a text edit window as I have not had Internet access in *36 hours*. The reason I am sitting and typing instead of drinking coffee and driving back to Atlanta is that I am waiting for my image slideshow to finish burning to dvd. Last night technology and exhaustion (and frustration at the lack of Internet due to hotel equipment problems) kept me from finishing it. Now I chomp at the bit to get On The Road!!! (Elaine is just as anxious as I am to get home, but she's far too polite to chomp.)

Set-up of the permanent showroom in the Hemisphere Design Gallery went extremely well. Thanks to Todd's and Elaine's creativity and general artsy-farstsiness, the space is filled with delightful, accessible eye-candy. There are cans of spilled paint (glass) scattered on the white table cloths (which pose as drop cloths), little wire men waving frit-covered paintbrushes and frolicking around the pieces, and bright clean white lines and light throughout. Oh yes, and there are beautiful glass and metal pieces in just the right number."

I never did get the dvd to work before we left--I'll work on it this week and mail it. The drive back, accompanied by the audiobook of Stephen King's "The Gunslinger", was uneventful and Elaine and I were safely in Atlanta by 9:00 pm.

Tomorrow I'll post photos of the renovation--we took 15-minute-interval time lapse photos all day--and maybe a video of the final state. Today I need to concentrate on Organizing My Life and Work to meet the demands of our family's new separation state.

How Much Internet is Too Much Internet?

Coffee in the San Francisco skyline mug, the sound of little girls giggling as they get ready for school for my music. A friend whose daughter is in J's class dropped her off this morning because she has an early meeting up north. Dave will take both girls and Becky the Wunder Assistant to school (Becky needs to see the drop-off routine so she can do it next week).

Substitute "Blogger" for "LiveJournal" in the XKCD cartoon to the right, and this has become my life (click on the cartoon to make it larger so you can read it). Dave's vacation chant used to be "Live, don't commemorate!" as I snapped picture after picture, absorbing the experience through a lens. Now it's all fodder for the blogs. The day I come up with a way of dictating on the fly, the world as we know it will truly have ended.

And what does blogging have to do with glass art or business? Everything--or, rather, the Internet has everything to do with them (and I'm not talking about an on-line store).

At this winter's Buyer's Market show in Philly I had dinner with a group of fellow artists--many of them long-time show participants--and we commiserated with each other about the Decline of the Show. I have heard lamentation after lamentation that this show used to fill an artist's order schedule for most if not all of the year. Those days were over by the time I started doing it and paying my dues. This year I got enough orders for a few weeks, maybe a month--and I did well. Since I started doing wholesale shows my first automatic reaction to slow sales was to consider adding more shows. But no matter how you slice it, it is very difficult for wholesale shows today to be profitable. I keep trying to convince myself that they are, I keep wanting them to be, but for me, they aren't. The best thing they do is introduce me to new potential buyers, and they have a pretty high cost in terms of time, money and energy for that low return.

It used to be that the only way a gallery owner could see an artist's latest work--and could discover new artists whose work would be a good fit for their galleries--was to go to a show or two. But now with the proliferation of the Internet and the abundance of good, cheap digital image technologies, it's easy for gallery owners to discover new treasures from the comfort of their chairs with a laptop warming their legs. I want to get a piece of that action and have them discover me and my work.

The trend of shopping from the comfort of your own home existed before the economic winds of woe blew in, but it has been seriously exacerbated and accelerated by them. My big spring orders are not coming from the show this year. They're coming from people who currently carry my work who did not attend the shows. They would probably have been better orders had I been able to talk to the buyers ace to face and personally to show them the new work and colorways, but I can work on making them better next time--without having to count on an in-person interaction. I need a better web presence.

The work I do daily here on Blogger and the work I did setting up a Siyeh Studio page on Facebook this week was easy. The people who created the interfaces for them made them quick to create and update and I was up and running in no time. This is not to say that's what I want for a website. I want my website to be unique--not an obvious template--and still easy to update and navigate... and I'm not there yet. Joomla is good, but it's still cumbersome and restrictive.

I also want an easy-to-update on-line catalogue with fully-featured image manipulation. I have a catalog at WholesaleCrafts.com, but the interface for updating it is so bad that I am never up to date. I just don't have the days necessary to make changes on it when I have a new colorway to add or items to edit. Joomla's VirtueMart plug-in doesn't seem to be much better so I keep searching.

Right now I spend a minimum of a full, exhausting week and $5,000 to do a show. I can't help but think that if I took that money and that time I could come up with something more lasting and with a higher return on investment (the all-important ROI). The Internet is a good research tool too. I could spend some of that time identifying good gallery fits for my work. I could write targeted letters to those gallery owners and send them digital portfolios. I could make my work more accessible to them on the web, and I would have the time to follow up on the relationships I have already made that have languished since the other people in them have stopped coming to the shows. I would have more time with my family and I wouldn't be so tired. I just need to be disciplined about using the week that would have be given to show wisely.

The post this morning has been rambling and not at all as tight and coherent as I would have liked. But I wanted to get the beginnings of my process re-work out onto page before it just slips away. The studio is uber busy right now, but soon (really, soon!) I'll have time to come back to the ideas I let go here, and maybe others of you out there will have ideas of your own to add... And we can have a revolution when I get back!

The Snow Angel Cometh

Coffee in the Denver skyline mug (and a Samoa!), "On the Table" by AC Newman of the New Pornographers (Dave is streaming Pandora radio to the Apple tv) on iTunes. It's cold again this morning (will winter never end?) we have a cocker spaniel shivering on the back deck and J's snow angel still decorating in the back yard (J doesn't make snow angels the way other kids do--she's forming the wings on the angel's back in the picture at right). It's supposed to be 76 degrees Saturday. Everything is topsy turvy now from the economy to the weather and it's really shaking up our lives.

And speaking of shaken up, the day was so upside down that at 5:15 I am just now finishing this post. *sigh*

I wrote a few days ago that it takes a village to run Siyeh Studio, and if anything shows the veracity of that statement--and provides concrete evidence that Atlanta is where I should be right now--it's what I have organized for next week. Dave starts his new job--in Austin--on Monday. I have the Hemispheres showroom to set up in Dallas also on Monday. And the Village steps in. Elaine is driving down from Greenville on Saturday to come with me to Dallas on Sunday. Todd is also coming in on Saturday because he will be taking care of Jessie till I get back on Tuesday.

Dave and I have the Waldorf auction to attend on Saturday night and Elaine and Todd are jointly babysitting for it. Though Todd is taking care of Jessie while we're gone, he doesn't drive. So Becky offered (and I ecstatically* accepted) to drive J to and from school every day. Yes, it sounds more like a circus than a village, but I am so grateful for the friends I have made here! They have just stepped in since Dave was laid off and enabled us to keep everything together without sacrificing the child to the tentacled jaguar god and without me disemboweling the spouse (or anyone else) from undiluted stress. And they did it because we are a community, friends, and that's just what friends do. Wow.

So it's now 5:30, and I got a lot accomplished today. The Waldorf auction project for the 7th graders proceeds apace (I am fusing it all together today). Orders continue to come in post Buyer's Market (the buyers I did not see but have been meaning to call have been calling me, how great is that?). Dave has taken a hand-off of all the database description and use case data for the ERP system--another thing off my plate. (Is that the first time you've heard the phrase "use case"? It's certainly the first time I've used it, but now that I'm working with a high-class software developer, I have to learn the lingo.) Tonight I finish entering and scheduling orders. Tomorrow I put the final touches on the props for the Hemispheres showroom and start making the dvd slideshow of all my work that I am going to leave playing there on continuous loop. Oh yes, and I will make V happy by getting to the *final* bookkeeping items that she has assigned me. Happy Thursday all. It's Manhattan time.

*Dave provided the word 'ecstatically' as I needed a substitute for 'gratefully'--too much grateful in too short a space. Then he buffed his nails on his t-shirt and said, "That's Mr. Thesaurus Boy to you."

Is There Any Way We Can Speed This Up?

No coffee yet, "Hands Like Rain" by James McMurtry on iTunes. Quick, quick, quick post this morning before I take J to school. No, it's not a test run, I *do* know how to do it, but I have to pick up the 7th grade auction project to I can fire it this morning so I might as well drop her off too.

The first run of the new small stand pieces will come out this morning and Dave will drive them halfway to Greenville (to Starbuck's in Commerce) to meet either Bill or Elaine with them. Had a little panic attack at 3:00 am (oh no, not them again! Second night in a row) that I had used the wrong firing schedule for the second firing on the mullite shelves. Fingers crossed they came out. (See? Even after 20+ years at this I still worry that kiln loads won't turn out!) New technique for me--making multiple organic pieces from one fused slab. I usually make all my work one piece at a time. But economic necessity has forced some changes this year to stay competitive. It won't be very economic though if I've blown the whole load.

Okay, getting ready to head out the door. The next two months (Dave officially starts his new job in Austin Monday) will be... interesting. I'm Chinese cursed.

Back To Work!

Coffee in the Austin skyline mug "Drifting" by Sarah McLachlan easing into "You Can Sleep While I Drive" by Melissa Etheridge on iTunes. "So come on baby, let's get out of this town. I've got a full tank of gas with the top rolled down..." well, maybe not the last part. The set started with "All That We Let In" by the Indigo Girls. Now it's "Change" by Tracy Chapman. Are the songs this morning just tuned perfectly to my life right now or what? There is dry path between piles of ice so I can get to the studio. The sun shines brightly on a freezing cold world. Life goes on.

All of Siyeh Studio right now is compartmentalized into before Dallas (setting up the Hemispheres showroom next Monday) and after Dallas. Before Dallas includes such diverse things as getting the books to the accountant (probably won't happen), finishing the auction projects (both my mask example and the wall piece for the 7th grade), organizing and scheduling all the orders (Dave has accepted the ERP assignment again--we have ping-ponging it back and forth and it's his turn to ditz about it) and finding out my spouse's travel schedule for his new employment. It is thought he will need to be onsite, out of state for at least the first two months and then a week at a time every month after that.

After Dallas I have Frantic Firing. Becky has asked me to stagger the completion of the orders due to ship on 3/15 so she can pack them in a more leisurely, less physically exhausting way. I can always try. (snort) After Dallas I also have single parenthood, and let me tell you that's not going to be an easy one. I have an amazing partnership with an incredible spouse. I am not a woman who does almost all the child care and feeding and runs her own business too. I am a woman who does about half of the care and none of the feeding (I don't even feed me--Dave has taken to making me lunch every day since he's been home on the dole). I am truly daunted by the prospect of taking on everything, keeping my business growing, and neither warping nor killing Jessie in the process. You think I'm kidding... (Well, I am--at least about the killing part. The warping is entirely possible.)

But that's all After Dallas. Nothing exists After Dallas--it's all about the Here and Now. Here I am, Now off to the studio for another fun-filled day.

Coffee in the Atlanta skyline mug, "Where the Devil Don't Stay" by Drive By Truckers on the Apple tv. It's a random choice as Dave controls the music this morning, but it is so incredibly appropriate I can scarce believe it. I posted first this morning on Stranded in the South because this fine Snow Day (J's school and pretty much the rest of Atlanta is shut down this morning due to the snow that fell yesterday) so far is more about family than studio.

But studio looms as the snow and ice begin to melt. Yesterday I cut and prepped all the glass cylinders that the Waldorf 7th graders made and they are going to combine them into a really nice wall collage or mirror. As there was no school today, they will have to do it all tomorrow and it might be a bit rushed (I may even need to go and help), but there's no way the end result won't be spectacular.

The kilns will warm the studio as I fill and fire them all, and today and tomorrow I will ship the last two orders I have going out between now and mid-March when the BMAC orders start. I do have some pieces to get to Black Cat ArtWorks by Wednesday (hence some of today's kiln loads), but most of my work for the rest of the week will consist of a mask (as an example for the glass summer camp sessions I have donated to the Waldorf Auction--if you're at all interested, the online one is way cheap...), fusing the 7th grade project, and a final few pieces for the Dallas Hemispheres showroom. Then it's time to tackle the piles of paper again before they consume me.

Okay, off to face the snow!

Snowy Sunday In Atlanta

Coffee (with hot chocolate!) in the New York skyline mug, "Beautiful Racket" by Mary Chapin Carpenter on iTunes. It's Sunday, Elaine, Bill, Katie, and Daniel have piled into their car and headed off into the storm towards Greenville and home (it's snowing! Big Fat Flakes!) and the Griffiths repose for a tiny bit before I head to the studio to cut all the solid glass cylinders made by the Waldorf 7th graders into 1/4" think round slices. It is my optimistic hope that these 2" wide circles will be laid out by the class into a beautiful wall collage/mirror frame and then fused solid by me... in time for the auction next Saturday. Nothing like leaving things till the last minute!

This weekend the Snells came down form Greenville so Elaine could help plan the display for the permanent showroom in Dallas. This project has been very exciting as it is a completely new marketing departure for me. When it was first proposed I thought of it as an extension to my show schedule, but it's really not--it's a completely different market. Now I think of it more as a retail opportunity to work with designers and less as a stocking-buyer market. Given the redefined focus, a display with a bit more art, a bit more flair seemed in order.

Todd's original idea for the layout was to have fabric draped on the displays and swirling around the floor to soften the starkness of the plain pedestals and the brown carpet. He and Elaine have extended that idea and now we're covering all the display elements in heavy white cloth to look like the room is being painted (we ended up using table cloths for the purpose as the paint cloths I found are a dingy brown and other fabric from the fabric store is either too thin, too expensive, or both).

We have empty, bright silver paint cans to scatter around the space that have chunky frit glued to them like paint drips and Todd's little wire men hanging, sitting, standing and waving long, thin paint brushes with glue-and-frit-dipped tips. Elaine even made two long "paint spills" out of pieces of blue and yellow cathedral glass sprinkled with various sizes of frit. I tack fused them yesterday and they look great!

I posted last week about the IKEA red chair, and sadly it is too big for the space. It's not a big chair, but it's a really small space (10' X 10' goes fast). Luckily, I have an old, rusty iron stool in the studio that I will clean up and paint black this week that is the perfect size. The 19" tv is just the right size for the space and the dvd player will give me a an opportunity to hone my mad slideshow skills. The pedestals are out--the contemporary gallery look they provide is not conducive to the art-filled-home-in-the-midst-of-being-painted look we are emphasizing now (and they're too tall for the walls), but the dollar store flat pack furniture is perfect and will be augmented by a couple of cloth-draper cinder blocks.

I am taking down my pipes and track lights and replacing them with six floor spots--one of which might even be placed in a paint can (if it has enough clearance around it for the light to cool--don't want to start any fires...). They are 50 watt halogen narrow-beam floods and the lights are only $15 each from Lamps Plus (good online lighting source-cheap, fast, great customer service).

The vinyl lettering for the wall sign came and it looks great--I don't know why more people don't use this kind of signage at the BMAC and ACRE shows. It is relatively inexpensive, looks easy to put up, and has a serious dramatic impact! The final thumbs up/thumbs down will come after we finish the real showroom install.

Now I'm off to trudge through the snow (Snow! Really! On the ground in Atlanta on March 1!) to the studio so I can finish up work and still have a little family time today.