Over the Hump!

Allow me to explain about the glass studio business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.

I finished in the studio at 11:30 tonight and celebrate with another glass of sauvignon blanc which will undoubtedly be finished before I head up to the shower so I'll have to get another one with which to share the shower steam. It was definitely a two-glass-of-wine day.

Becky the bookkeeper finished up my 2010 books in her Quickbooks 2011 for Windows last evening just in time for my meeting with my accountant this morning. She sent them to me about 9:30 am so I could import them back into my Quickbooks 2009 for Mac (from whence they originated). Already you know this isn't going to end well...

Though I could go on for several scathing paragraphs filled with blistering invective about the absolute ethical impoverishment of the Quickbooks products and Intuit's customer service, it's already all been said (ad nauseum) elsewhere on the web. If they didn't hold all our data hostage, we would have risen up and skinned and eaten every last Intuit employee long ago. Bottom line for me is that after spending *eight hours* trying to get to my own business data (does everyone remember that it is theoretically tax season?), I am still unable to even find out how much I made/lost last year.

Those eight hours were filled with entertaining anecdotes including the story of how I had to upgrade my Mac's OS from Leopard to Snow Leopard (the LAST thing you ever want to hear when you are having an application problem is that you'll need to upgrade your computer's operating system in order to run the version of the application that will fix your problem--especially when it doesn't). They were enlivened by having to spend $174 for a new version of QB for Mac (2011). But the REAL frosting on the experience was Becky being told by pro tech support at Intuit (she PAYS them in order to receive service as an accounting professional--she's not just some schmo [like me] calling in) that we would have to pay $750 for them to expedite them fixing my file which is broken due to a bug in the software. Laugh? Cry? You tell me. Pay $750? I think not.

Now, as I finish my first glass of wine, I am undaunted, of good cheer and stout heart, and slightly more mellow than I was earlier today. I taught a class tonight, unloaded yesterday's monster kilns loads, loaded all four kilns with new fuse loads, and am home in the same day I left the house. It's a Good Thing. Helen, my accountant is meeting me for breakfast Saturday morning at 9:00 to take my finished books and turn them into a business tax return. Becky is lending me her Windows laptop from tomorrow morning through Saturday morning so I can enter my last 2010 data (mileage, expenses paid from personal accounts, etc.) into Quickbooks for Windows prior to dumping the whole mess in Helen's lap.

I should get my glass order in to Bullseye now, but that's going to have to wait till first thing tomorrow. I'm too tigh-tigh. Night all!

Tuesday Was Too Long

It is the cusp of the day. I just got home from getting the last kiln loads in--37 pieces fused today. I shudder to think what time Bertha and Bettina (the big kilns) will be cool enough to unload tomorrow. It'll probably be another late night just because of the timing of the unload. Tomorrow, one last big fuse and the slump loads begin. Thursday is all slump all the time, and Friday we ship.

When all is said and done, I like when Dave is in Austin for these big production pushes. He worries when I start work at 8:30 am and end at 12:30 am with just a couple of hours off in the evening for family time (not that he won't worry now from reading this post). Of course I couldn't do it without my mother here to get the J showered and into bed while I head back to the studio.

So why am I still up when I have to get up at 7:00 to get the J up, pack her lunch, fix her breakfast, and take her to school? I have to transition. I am sipping a glass of sauvignon blanc, and in another line or two I'll carry it upstairs where it and I will share a hot shower. By the end of the shower, it will be gone, and I will be totally relaxed and ready to crash for six short hours. Tomorrow we crest the hump and start the slide to the bottom of the week. Hope I can follow McMurtry's advice in "Ruby and Carlos" and stay off that slippery slope. Night all.

The F-Word

In the old posting style: Coffee in a 1930's diner-style white ceramic mug, a lot of people laughing and talking over "It's All I Can Do" by the Cars in the background. Wow. Is the universe talking to me through music again? Is it telling me (as my mother hinted this morning) that I am already pretty (over)extended and taking on yet another project at this time might not be in my (or my business' or my family's) best interest? But then Annie Lenox comes on singing that "sweet dreams are made of these and who am I to disagree?" and so I must post on about my New Direction. I think it's finally time to bring the F-Word into my business model.

At first (as I wrote before), I didn't think I had anything to offer that would make someone want to F=word with me. So I decided to just write up a little e-how-to instead. But Dave remarked again last night how his boss--a very business-savvy man--thought I just should do the F-word, and for whatever reason, this time the idea really resonated with me. Dave also pointed out that you don't make any money writing about something (unless you're Deepak Chopra). Do or Do Not, but don't waste your time writing about for $10 a copy.

I even have the perfect candidate in mind for my first partner. She talked to me for well over an hour at the BMAC show in February about how to start. Then she called last week to see where I was on the e-how-to as she had been hoping to get it in time for her first anniversary next week. This morning I am going to call and offer her a different sort of deal.

So why has Franchising (Date Night in the Glass Studio) suddenly become so enticing to me? Two reasons: 1) I have finally begun to believe in the uniqueness and value of the business process I have created and the uses of marketing technology that I bring to the table (what's easy and obvious to me ISN'T necessarily to everyone else), and 2) I would happily pay someone else to give me this level of assistance, skill, experience and physical support to get up and running quickly, so it must be worth it.

Now I need to put it all together. What services will we offer? How much will we charge for them, and will it be a flat annual fee or a percentage of bookings? We will need to have a buy-in fee for training and initial materials, but there are advantages and disadvantages to flat fee vs. percentage ongoing. What about equipment? Marketing? Managing the calendar and sign-up? The picture upload system?

__________________________________

Even after over two hours on the phone with my proposed partner I still have more questions than answers. I also have a domain: glassdatenight.com. Now I need a nap.

Doing It For the Money

As I anticipate the great 50 year marker at which I will arrive in a couple of months, I spend increasingly more time introspecting. This morning's epiphany was about Doing It. Why do we Do It, what do we want/need/get out of Doing It, (and I'm sure you're wondering, what IS It)? Most of us know as we're growing up that we're going to have to Do It. We dream about It, we think about what It will be for us and where we want to Do It, and when we picture ourselves Doing It, it's always the most fun and exciting, novel and unique aspects of It that we see--we certainly never see ourselves being bored Doing It (though we often will be).

Our parents encourage us to choose It based on how much we will make Doing It, how much security there is, how much demand for It. They want It to be able to provide for us and our families financially--and, don't get me wrong, financial stability IS important. But when push comes to shove, as it always does, how many of us can really Do It just--or even primarily--for the money? I can't. My spouse can't. Maybe my father did, and he was often miserable--though that brings up another point to address below.

My epiphany was brought on this morning when I ran into a parent from Jessie's school here at Kavarna who works at the school in a parental representative position. She (as always) was full of energy and enthusiasm, zest and focus for her job and the rest of her life. I looked at her as an employer (more on that below) and thought how lucky I would be if I could hire her for the studio. She's educated, articulate, enthusiastic, energetic--and not at all focused on The Money. She couldn't be. Though I don't know how much she makes for the school, I know that if she thought about how many hours she works and how much she makes she would realize that she could Do It at the Publix deli counter and make more money and have more free time for her family than she does now. She doesn't work at the Publix deli counter.

Doing It, aka Working, cannot be about the money you garner from the work. If it were, you would inevitably become dissatisfied and think you are worth more than you are making--the expression of which would undoubtedly make your employer think you were worth less. As I looked at this woman this morning I realized that we do not work because we have to for money, we work because we have to to live. Work enables us to feel worth, participate in a community, exercise our brains, be anchored, have a purpose--in other words, to live.

When we start thinking about how much we're making for our work compared to how much we're working and we begin to feel resentful, it's not about the money--however much we might say it is--it's about the work. Something about the work is not or is no longer meeting our needs. The answer really isn't to ask for a raise. More money for the same work environment is a short term sop that initially makes us feel more self-worth but doesn't address the real problem. The real problem is either that the negative aspects of the job or the job environment outweigh the positives and leave us feeling down at the end of the day, or that we have intrinsic self-worth issues that keep us from being fulfilled and validated external to the job. In the former case a reworking of the job or it's environmental factors (co-workers) might fix the problem, in the latter, a good therapist would be a good start. In both cases, I really don't believe money is the issue.

A physical need for an increase in money may dictate a request for a raise or a job change, but it won't decrease our satisfaction level with our job. Instead we're more likely to regret the change that's being forced upon us by financial responsibility--and we hope we'll be lucky enough to be happy in the next job we have to take based on the remuneration for it.

So why am I thinking as an employer right now? Because we are expanding the studio again and I have been putting together salary and benefit packages for potential employees. I have to balance being fair with how much the studio can afford--and it's made me really think about how much (or in this case little) I make and what that means to me. At the end of the day, it doesn't mean a thing. Dave has always said that he'd code even if no one paid him. If he ever works for a company that goes public or is bought by Google or Amazon resulting in millions of dollars for him, nothing about his relationship with his laptop will change--he'll still be plugged in all day every day writing code. He has to code. It gives him joy that cannot matched by anything else long-term. He would wither and die if he couldn't code anymore.

I own/run a business and am not burdened with paying the mortgage, the property taxes or our household bills--Dave's salary covers those things. So because I don't HAVE to work for a salary does that mean I work less or take it less seriously? It is to laugh (as Mike would say). I work as I work because of who I am, not what I make, and I work damn hard. I am very fortunate that I lucked into Judy, my studio elf, because she is just the same. She attacks every task with zest and verve and joy. I was very, very lucky to have found her (thank you Lori), and I hope I am as lucky in my upcoming hires. If you have an employee whose first question is always "What's in it for me/what's it going to cost me?", no one is going to be happy.

Back to my father for a second. He was not happy to actively miserable in his job for much of his 30 years of service (same job, same office, US Forest Service). He was also not happy in his personal life. Was he unhappy in his job because of the job and therefore unhappy in his personal life because of his job, or was he unhappy because that's the way he was? If it had been the job, I would have expected him to be happier in the 20+ years after he retired, but that wasn't the case. There was always something that made him mad, unhappy or just discontented--illegal immigrants were stealing American jobs, there was favoritism in the ski school (he was also a ski instructor), the environment was being wrecked, Someone Somewhere getting Something they shouldn't have and didn't Deserve... (I feel a rant coming on about being so obsessed with what's fair and right that we miss enjoying what is. No time for that today. Need to stay on topic.) My conclusion is that Dad was who he was and all of his experiences were colored by his own inner unhappiness. His unhappiness did not have external causes--it was internally driven. He could be happy for short bursts by achieving some goal, but every success was doomed to be followed by a failure because of how he felt about himself.

Now back to the upcoming hires and managing the expectations/happiness of current staff. It's Not About the Money! I cannot let myself be convinced that it is. The idea of a level of experience and education being worth a certain amount of money and having that as a driving concern for a prospective employee is going to be an immediate strong negative flag for me. I need to trust that I have been fair because that's who I am. I have to trust that I do the right thing because that's who I am. I have to Trust and stick to my vision because I can't Do It for the money, and I really don't want anyone around me who thinks they need to.

Now, anyone know anyone in the Atlanta area who might be interested in teaching glassblowing, working as a hotshop assistant, or teaching kilnforming/cutting and stocking glass?

It's a Square World

Good morning wet world! It is truly spring in Atlanta. All the cherries, plums, bradford pears, forsythia, and early deciduous magnolias burst into glorious bloom a couple of weeks ago, and now the redbuds are starting to open... and it's raining. I don't mind the rain though, today is a day for getting to studio projects that have languished for too long--repairs, screen-print fuses, and the first round of orders from the BMAC. I'll probably even finish up the bills and supply orders I need to get paid and in (in that order).

A hot topic lately in the small artist world is credit card processing with a Square or similar device. Dave, my uber-geeky-technological-and financial-industry-cred-out-the-wazoo spouse got me one (and even set up the account for me--not that I plan to use it) and got himself one too, who knows why! I don't plant to use it as my card processing needs are more geared to card-not-present scenarios (over the phone, over the web sales), and I also have a high enough credit card sales volume that a real business account with lower rates makes more sense to me.

However I have been following with interest one of the recent debates as to the safety of the square that has been politely raging on Wendy Rosen's Facebook page for the past couple of days. I know (and highly respect) Cynthia personally, and Guy at TeaMac has been my credit card processor for many years. It's worth a look. (And for the record, I, too, would like more hard reputable test data provided and less the-sky-is-falling hyperbole.)

Happy Tuesday!

Hello!

It's been so long since I last posted I have almost forgotten how... I promised a post on the BMAC, but, sadly, I've already forgotten what I was going to say. (There's a lot of forgetfulness going on here.)

The past couple of weeks have been filled with studio and life activity. The new kilnroom is finished, furnished, and I have already taught three days in it. I don't say three classes as the second day was an all-day studio experience for 18 homeschoolers aged 10-15. They divided into groups of six and each group spent two hours with me, Brian and Lee/Becky H. In the Lee/Becky group, they did glassblowing with Lee and read about the history of glassmaking with Becky. It was a wonderful, exhausting day. Last night I had a group of travel planners in town for a workshop who came in and learned some kilnforming, ate pizza, drank wine and made plates. They didn't finish till 10:30 and I am wiped today!

Wiped or no, it's time to get last year's accounting finished so I can get everything to my accountant for taxes (late). It's also time to get the newsletter out with next quarter's class schedule and glass specials. Bullseye is tempting me with a special dealers-only curious sale and it could be a lot of fun to have it to offer it this spring with all the new open studio kilnformers.

Okay, though blogging is fun, it's time to work on the website!

Let 2011 Begin

It's February 23 and the year has finally settled in for me. Hawaii at the end of last year was wonderful, but I came back all discombobulated. Then there was the Week of Weather in Atlanta. Then my father's death. Then rushing to get ready for the BMAC. Now I am back from the show and FINALLY feeling grounded in the new year! It doesn't hurt that the star magnolias and the camellias in our front yard are blooming now and I had my Best Show Ever at the BMAC last week. Really. And it was the best on so many levels--fastest set-up since going to the big booth, made Great New Friends, sang karaoke for the first time ("Call Me" by Blondie--a particularly amusing choice to Todd as he knows how much I dislike talking on the phone), and both my best personal AND best studio sales. I also was tapped by Wendy Rosen to participate in a panel discussion on great outside-the-box ideas for studios and retailers (I presented Date Night). That presentation is now spinning off into an e-document for setting up your own date night--available soon for, oh, probably about $10.

Today I spent some time looking at the little 2/2 house next door to our home (which also backs up to the studio property) which has gone on the market for $62,500. It is a pestilent little pit of a place in which the rats and squirrels have reigned unchecked for several years, and the local thieves have stripped all the wire (for copper) and plumbing (also for copper). It needs complete electrical, plumbing, a new roof, new flooring, new kitchen, and structural support in the living room (the owner at some point took out a support column in the middle of the room and put in 2- 2 X 10 beams to support the entire roof system). The windows are in decent shape, the walls are nice (plaster) and the general bone structure is good, but, $62,500... Really?

As the day has gone so late (it's almost 5:00) and I still haven't done much of anything, I'll post more tomorrow including an analysis of show sales, a review of set-up and breakdown, and some amusing highlights.

Set-Up at the BMAC--Day 2

While there are still a few minutes left in this glorious day, I am going to post. We did, indeed, pretty much finish setting up yesterday. We went back in this morning about 10:00 and puttered and futzed with Todd's work, the wall pieces, the tabletop display in the center of the booth, vacuuming, adjusting the lights--in short, everything we could think of until 2:00 when we finally packed it in and headed out. I have to admit, it felt really good to walk down the aisles towards the doors between the booths packed with harried, scurrying exhibitors who were trying to get set-up.

So this afternoon I worked a bit on my website. I got my on-line payment system set-up and configured for the new class payment processing. I napped. Yes, I napped. And now, with one minute remaining before a new day, I finish my glass of pinot noir and head off to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be another glorious day--beginning with breakfast across the street at Lil Pete's Diner.

Things Come in Threes

Good Morning Campers! I apologize for the long absence from posting, it's been a hard few weeks. Thank you to everyone who has sent me private condolences on the death of my father. I will be writing to you all individually, I have just been too overwhelmed up to now. This post is for Dee (even though she already knows the contents as she is right here--we're sharing a room in Philadelphia).

It's that time of year again and we're gearing up for this weekend's Buyer's Market of American Craft 2001 part 1 (part 2 is in Baltimore in July). The past 28 hours have already been an exciting rollercoaster ride--Here's to the hope that the rest of the show isn't "Interesting Times" too. The title of today's post about things coming in threes refers to studio disasters coming in threes, as so far this morning I have had to fix three doozies.

Disaster #1: Right before I left for Philly yesterday, the studio phone rang and it was a woman who wanted more information about the DealSwarm offer. Umm, the offer wasn't supposed to go live yesterday, it was supposed to go live today. Today when the studio is open so we can answer the phone calls from people with questions about the deal (we were closed yesterday as we were open Monday for Valentine's Day). Today when I have an article about our website clarifying the deal details. Today when we are ready. NOT Yesterday! the article is up, Judy is in and answering the phone, we'll see what we can do.

Disaster #2: I noticed this morning that my bank reversed a $3,000 check I deposited in my account on Monday. The check was from one of my business accounts to another so I know it was good. When I called to ask what had happened (I have checks to my vendors and service providers out against that money), I was told that there was "an erasure" on the check so the ATM rejected it. I miswrote the first letter on the payee line, crossed it out, initialed it, and wrote the rest of the check out fine. The ATM took it, credited me, and then a day later (apparently without a real person seeing the check) spit it back out. When I called to find out how they were going to fix the error, I was told I would have to wait for the check to arrive in the mail and then I could redeposit it. I very reasonably and extremely forcefully explained that I am in Philadelphia, it was their error, I do NOT want checks bouncing from Atlanta to Athens, and they needed to fix it. With Capital One or Wachovia/Wells Fargo I would now be in a serious frustrated huff and planning to move all my accounts to another bank. But the thing I love best about Chase is their customer service. They have given me a provisional credit for the check and when I get back to Atlanta and the check arrives in the mail, I can take it to the bank for re-depositing. Business will go on as usual.

Disaster #3: The question fields on the Date Night Reservation form on the web all got overwritten with a customer's data. So instead of seeing "Date Requested" you would see a date. Instead of being asked for your name, you would be told someone else's name. And worst of all, instead of having to read and acknowledge our cancellation, clothing and other policies, you would just see the word "yes". It took some time, but I got that straightened out too.

Now it's time to have some food, get to the show, and start setting up. Can we finish today? I sure hope so...

Alright Already, I'll Post!

It's been a week since my last (admittedly lame) post, and after being NAGGED TO DEATH, I thought I'd better post again. Just a hint, if you don't hear from me it's because we're HOPPING! Since I last really posted we got the new crucible glass melting kiln from Olympic Kilns and are up and running with date nights in the hotshop again. I also taught two FULL kilnforming classes on Saturday, finished and shipped the large cast awards commission (and cracked my Dyson shelf in half in the process), put together a proposal for a local homeschooling group for a day in the glass studio, received a HUGE glass delivery from Bullseye, and we began construction on the new kiln room! The old kiln room will be the new kiln-forming classroom and kiln-forming open studio space, leaving the front room as a 100% torchwork classroom and open studio space. Now if I could just get the online class sign-up and payment processing finished, I'd be ready for the hordes of eager glass artists.

I expect the new kiln room to be finished in a week or so, right before I head of to the winter Buyer's Market show in Philadelphia and just in time for the opening of a new wi-fi enabled coffee, pastry and sandwich shop in the little commercial shopping center next door to the studio. I am looking forward to working with its owner for our classes, dates and workshops. She is interested in providing fresh hot coffee and pastries for our events, and I am interested in: a) not making coffee myself, and b) supporting another little local small business. And speaking of other local small business, I hope to meet with a woman who is the choclatier and owner of a new business in Decatur this week. She called me in December and proposed being our new chocolate provider for Date Night. With the Valentine's Day weekend coming up and us being booked solid except for one slot, we need to get moving on this one.

Speaking of the Buyer's Market, I have been asked to participate in a panel discussion on "Outside the Box Thinking: Great Promotions" there on Saturday morning. I'm going to talk about our Date Night program and its impact on the studio. Got to get the slides into the Rosen Group today. If you're doing the show, please come to the panel discussion.

One last item to bring up; we're planning an expansion of the hotshop this spring too. I would like to add another smaller studio space onto the existing hotshop so we can run simultaneous date nights while still providing a quality, private experience for all the participants. It'll not only mean another space but also another annealing kiln, another glory hole and another glass melting kiln. We love Olympic Kilns!

Okay, I'm late, the studio is open, and I have the Date Night book at home leaving Judy powerless. I also have the power cord for her laptop (which has no battery) leaving her even MORE powerless. Got to get a new one of those today.

Posting

It's Wednesday night. I haven't posted since last Friday. Should I post now? Naw, I'm too pooped. News tomorrow--hopefully after we pick up the new furnace!

Snow Day FOUR

I sit sipping hot water, having already had my 6 teaspoons of melted clarified butter and meditated this morning. The steel cut oats with craisins just finished cooking in the rice cooker, and I will have them for breakfast in the next hour or so. The rice cooker will keep them warm for me till I'm ready, and I won't eat till I'm hungry--which will be awhile even though I haven't had anything to eat other than the butter this morning (and I drank that) since noon yesterday. Ah I love detox days. I have lost 11.0 lbs this year (since returning from Hawaii), and I am only on day six of the detox! I know the numbers on the scale are illusory, but they put a bounce in my bungee nonetheless.

Today, the fourth snow day in Atlanta, starts off with 20 degree temps, icy roads where not dry, and food at the grocery store again! When Dave went last night there were no fresh fruits or vegetables, no milk, bread, or meat other than pork jowls (shudder). The bakery was bare, and the deli had no rotisserie chicken or other hot tasty goodies. Truly apocalyptic. Today, looks like we're back to normal--I might even get my glass delivery today.

In the meantime I have plenty of Quickbooks data to enter from last year (my annual sales tax report is due next week and I don't yet know what my base sales from last year were... Ooops). Welcome to another fun January.

Just got off the phone with Roadway and the Atlanta terminal has a skeleton crew on today so my glass won't be delivered today. They HOPE to get it out tomorrow! Me too. In the meantime my website and plenty of paperwork await!

Snow Day Three!

I initially had great hope and optimism that today's would be the final snow day this week. But it's only supposed to get up to 30 degrees (it's 21 now) and then plummet into the teens again tonight so I doubt much snow/slush/ice will melt. But what am I saying? Why would I wish snow days to end? EVERYTHING in Atlanta is closed. We haven't had mail, the MARTA buses aren't running, and I'm pretty sure garbage isn't going to be picked up today. Our big grocery store (Publix) was closed Monday and open yesterday only till 4:00. Today they're open now and don't know how early they'll close. J had a playdate and sleepover at a friend's house yesterday (yes, I got out and drove--and I'm glad most of the Atlantans stayed in) and these past few days truly have been like a vacation for us.

A snow almost-week is the ultimate vacation at home! For me it's impossible under normal circumstances to take a vacation at home. Think about it--when you go away on vacation, you insert yourself into a new place and the only constant in your daily life and routine is you. When you try to take time off--time out of mind--at home, you still have friends, mail, all the daily routines of life except your job. How are you supposed to break your physical and mental habits and patterns so you can relax? But on a snow day or days, all routines are broken--whether you want them to be or not. And for me, the best part is that I still get to work--I just get to work without all the interruptions, stresses, and crises of my normal "job". What a great, creative week I'm having!

Of course my last glass order from Bullseye still hasn't been delivered--the freight terminal for Roadway is also closed for the third straight day so they haven't been able to get it out to me. But there was nothing I needed really urgently (I would have liked the opaline frit, but I can wait).

Today I'll work on the website for awhile this morning, then head over to the studio about noon to fire a few pieces, and I'll finish back on the website. Ah, bliss!

Another Snow Day

I love two snow days in a row in the middle of a detox! Dave never left the house yesterday. Jessie only went as far as the yard to play in the snow. I went to the studio and worked a bit in the total solitude and quiet. Today will follow much the same pattern. I already meditated, did my breath work, and drank 6 t. of clarified butter (it was only supposed to be 4... oops). When I finish posting I'll answer an incredible backlog of emails that I haven't managed to purge since before Hawaii and put together my piece list for the BMAC--I think I'll call Todd too--it's been awhile since I harassed him. Then a midmorning breakfast of steelcut oats and dried berries cooked in the rice cooker, and off to the studio to begin experimenting with the new work for the BMAC! I don't know if Roadway will be delivering my glass today or not--I'm betting not--but I'll be there anyway. I wish I had remembered to ask Lee to move the barrels of cullet from right by the back door as that is the staging area I need to the cases of glass. Ah well, they aren't moving in the snow and ice!

Haven't heard back from Bob at Olympic Kilns yet about the new furnace--I'm sure they were closed yesterday too (and probably today). It is very weird when the whole world shuts down and hunkers in bunkers around you. I can't remember any times in Montana or Chicago where we were holed up for snow for more than a day.

The last time in memory of an event that had this effect on me was when Mount St. Helen's went off in 1980. We were told to remain in our dorm rooms, all classes on the University of Montana campus were canceled, non-essential businesses were shut down, and people were told to avoid going outside if at all possible. My not-so-perfect memory says the ash fall (Missoula is about 400 miles east of Mount St Helens) kept us indoors and out of class for a few days. Too bad that was back in the non-digital days and my pictures are all hardcopy or I'd post one here. Of course the Mass Mind (aka Google) supplied me with a retrospective from the Missoulian--my favorite quote from which is:

"By Monday, nearly everything in town was closed, including the bars.

"We certainly had a lot of responsibilities making sure places were closed down, particularly with the bars," said Missoula County Sheriff's Capt. Greg Hintz, who was working night shift in May of 1980. "Beyond that, police work was pretty easy. The streets were just vacant." "

(Some might question the Business nature of this post, but heck, I say a natural disaster (aka "snow" in the south) counts!) Now I've dawdled enough. Someone just called and registered for a beadmaking class for this Sunday--a sure sign that I need to get the on-line registration thing working. Hmmm. Maybe I should readjust my plans for the day and work on it instead of firing--especially since I don't think I'm going to have glass delivered today!

Snow Day

It's a Snow Day in Atlanta. Schools are closed, my car repair shop has the owner in answering the phone and that's it. The Atlanta Roadway freight terminal is closed today due to snow so my glass won't be delivered till tomorrow (as a result, the piece from my new series that I need to make and photograph for my Buyer's Guide ad--due Wednesday--won't get done today). I am continually amazed how 3" of snow can completely shut down a city this size. I am betting that the businesses that are open today are running with seriously diminished staffing. Might be fun to go to Publix just to see.

Ah well, enough chatter. It may be a snow day, but I still have work to do; kilns to fire, emails to send, serfs to whip (just kidding--Judy's off today).

Simple Saturday

I missed posting yesterday due to a full day. If Ernie has his way, I'll miss posting right now too--he is either oblivious to the physical realities imposed by his mass (e.g., it is not possible to fit both him AND the laptop in my lap simultaneously) or he flat out doesn't care about the laptop. I'm betting on the latter. However physically improbable his presence in my lap might be, his warm, contentedly rumbling catness is comforting. A little comfort goes a long way right now. Last night when I unloaded the four 1" thick cast award slabs, I discovered that my firing had cracked my lovely Dyson shelf in half. :-0 I should have considered the ramifications of putting 2" X 2" vermiculite dams around all of the glass and the effect they would have on the heating and cooling of the shelf. Ah well, live and learn (and pay).

______________________________

After writing that small bit I fell asleep to the cat and got up in time to teach a beginning Kiln-forming class--taking in the first of the LivingSocial vouchers in the process. One down, 143 to go! Now I am going to rest and detox the rest of the day. Tomorrow I might do a fuse load, or I might take the day for website dev--or even do something family and non-studio oriented!

Settling Back Into the Groove After Vacation/Holidays

It lacks three minutes of 9:00 am. Not actually enough time to post and start the real day's work at 9:00, but I'll pretend. Heck, what good is it to be the boss if you can't set the work hours? So far today I got the J up (the most difficult task), made her lunch and breakfast and delivered her to school, and prepped for the cleaning people (you know--the cleaning you have to do BEFORE the cleaning). Then filled the car with gas and did the paper goods grocery shopping ('tis the season of Kleenex, doncha know). Now I have just under an hour before my first appointment to work on facilities scheduling.

I realized last night as I was working through the snarl of upcoming glass date requests that with our current loosey goosey system there is a very real chance of scheduling a bead date/class at the same time as a kiln date/class. Since right now they share a classroom and each fill it when used, that would be Very Bad. Yesterday when I talked with Lee about the upcoming expansion plans I put the new kilnforming classroom/open studio room on a back burner and prioritized the hotshop. But the reminder of the LivingSocial deal (and another upcoming marketing push for kilnforming) is making me rethink that schedule. Poor Lee-everyday, when he comes in, he has no idea whether his hair will be on fire or not.

Okay, off to schedule and plan. Oh, hey, and thanks Cynthia for the casting tips! I would like to talk to you off-line about the studio casting plans and BECon!

And the Process (Implementation) Goes On

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, "The Beat Goes On" by Sonny and Cher on iTunes in honor of the morning's theme. (Just a side note--wow they were young then!). Yesterday Lee and I spent a very informative and profitable morning with Bob Hogan at Olympic Kilns up in Flowery Branch and the upshot is that they are going to build our new melt furnace for us with a minimum of muss, fuss, cost, and time. Whew! One big problem down. While we were there I also talked to him about doing a small casting kiln for me--18" X 18" with side and bottom elements (maybe top too--any casters out there have opinions on that one?) and three zone (four if top elements too) temperature control. The cost is amazingly reasonable, and I have always loved the solid durability and reliability of my current little Olympic kiln.

Also spent last night installing, configuring and testing an on-line class registration system in Joomla. I purchased DT Register back in June and was a bit disappointed by the limitations placed on it by the integration with JEvents at that time so I didn't rush to install it when our new site went live. Last night when I tried again I was VERY impressed with the improvements to their current release (2.7.1). It looks like I might even be able to move the date night registration over to it and obviate any duplicate requests by having it manage the maximum number of participants who can register. It also sends out customized confirmation letters--with attachments (liability and photo release)--upon submission and allows for integration with a variety of on-line payment systems from authorize.net to google checkout to paypal. Definitely worth pursuing.

This morning I wrote and posted a quick article on the website about our furnace issues--that's what having a content-management-based website is all about--and now I go back to slab casting for the awards project and to plan the piece list for the BMAC. That's enough, I think. (Thanks, Dee, for the suggestions on how to juggle multiple crucial projects in the same day and get to all of them). I know I'll be back messing around with DT Register tonight. Judy is also back to work today for the first open day since Christmas Eve. I hope it's easier for her today than it was for me yesterday!

It's Just Before Dawn and It's Not the Darkest

A "Zack" (Kavarna Dancing Goats coffee with a shot of espresso) in my lovely new Starbucks Hawaiian bone china mug with the colorful hibiscus on the outside, the gently curving rim and the soft butter-yellow inside. "Moondance" by Van Morrison for the morning music. Dropped Dave at the train station--he's off to Austin--and now I have 20 minutes to collect myself before I need to get the Sprout up and off to school. In the hopes of feeling better at the end of today than I did yesterday, I am taking this time to plan out the day, i.e., blog (and maybe organize my Things).

The big items on today's list are heading up to Olympic Kilns to talk to them about building the shell of a glass furnace to our specs and building the rest of the vermiculite frames I am using to cast the slab award project. If I am really good I'll even get he casting load in. Judy's big to-do item is going to be to call everyone who has a date night scheduled between now and next Sunday to cancel. Then I'll need to refund all the deposits. *sigh*.

A couple of orders came in over the break so I'll get a start on them. I'd like to start working on the Buyer's Market work (making the list of what I would like to show would be a good start) but I have a feeling that what I already have on my plate and being a single parent are going to fill the day. I would really like to have a new colorway for this show--haven't done anything new since "Peacock" last February--but I may have to settle for debuting a new piece--the 20" deep bowl.

Okay, off to create and send out the Brownie snack list to the other parents in J's Girl Scout Troop and get the small child up and moving. She's still on Hawaii time so good luck to me with that!

Tuesday Has GOT To Be Better

I am afraid, no, make that terrified. My last post was Saturday, and since then my anxiety level has only risen. Usually anxiety can be managed by judicious applications of control and Prozac, but this time I am just not keeping up. I haven't had the time or luxury to make lists and plans or do any of the other geeky little tasks that calm me and give me an illusion of control over my life, my business, my fate. James McMurtry's lovely rendition of "Ruby and Carlos" provides a background to my fear:

Ruby said "You're gettin' us in a world of hurt.
Down below the Mason-Dumbass line the food gets worse.
I can't go back to Tennessee
that NASCAR country's not for me.
Go on, if you think you must."

Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night
Ruby's standing just outside the front porch light
chain-smoking Camel straights
the sky off to the east got gray
And he rolled off in a cloud of dust.

And the gray colt nickered at the gate
She said "You're right its getting late.
You and me got work to do
we can't be burning daylight too."
She took down the long lead rope
and stayed off that slippery slope

The aspen trees were turning gold up top
The talk was buzzin' 'round the beauty shop
"Wasn't he barely half her age.
Well that's just how they do now days.
We should all had been so lucky."

By spring she'd had the run of the free born men
Ruby turned 50 in a sheep camp tent
her body still could rock all night
but her heart was closed and locked up tight

Potato fields all muddy and brown
the gossip long since quieted down

And after one more Coggins test
Pouring coffee for the county vet
Pictures on the ice box door
of Carlos in the first Gulf War
Black-eyed brown and youthful face
smiling back from a Saudi base

And then Carlos on the big bay mare
Heavier now and longer hair
Looking past the saddle shed
From way on back inside his head

And the old vet said, "One day, Rube,
that colt will break an egg in you.
Now and then one comes along
you just can't ride." And he went on home.

And the storm door didn't catch
It blew back hard as she struck a match
But she cupped it just in time
And she sent that ash tray flyin'

And holding back the flood
Just don't do no good
You can't unclench your teeth
To howl the way you should
So you curl your lips around
The taste, the tears, and the hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but you.

Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through
He rode the tour bus while the singer flew
Managed out of music row
Carlos never saw the studio
Session guys had that all sewn up.

He looks out the window and it starts to sleet
Laying on a friend's couch on Nevada Street
Lately he's been staying high
Sick all winter and they don't know why
They don't know why or they just won't say
They don't talk much down at the V.A.

And Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes
What thoughts can get out past the wine
He feels her fingers on his brow
And right then he misses how
She looked in that gray morning light
She never shaved like they all do now
He sees it all behind his eyes
and his hands go searching but they come up dry

And half way in that wakin' dream
Carlos lets the land line ring
He never guessed it was Ruby calling
The pin in her hip from the gray colt falling
Figure eight in a lazy lope
Stumbled on that slippery slope

And holding back the flood
Just don't do no good
You can't unclench your teeth
To howl the way you should
So you curl your lips around
The taste, the tears, and the hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but you.

I try to stay off the slippery slope. I'm turning 50 this year, and the introspection and life-weighing have begun already. Man, my teeth are clenched so tight, and I want to howl...

I wrote up my plan for the year on Saturday hoping that putting it down, putting boundaries and borders on it and evaluating it would make me easier in my heart. But it hasn't. Sunday was supposed to be a last family vacation day with no thoughts of work, but of course it didn't work out that way (just like the last day in Hawaii was consumed with issues of the ESPN filming and long LONG distance phone calls). Then today began as all workdays do with a deluge of phone calls, technical issues, clamors for attention and time, work left undone from days/weeks/months past... and I'm behind again/already. Right now all I want to do is flee back to Hawaii, or to Montana, or just to the couch with a box of bon-bons and a good book.

The hotshop is in complete flux with the furnace issues--new/rebuild/what kind/how much/when/who/how to finance it--and I just haven't been able to hand it all to Lee and say "This one is yours." Why? Because this one ISN'T his--it's mine. It's my studio, my growth/expansion plan, my responsibility, my liability, and my investment. As much as he would like to step in and step up, when push comes to shove I can't abrogate any of the above. Decisions made now will have a direct and consequential impact on everything I do going forward. Had I not just spent upwards of $900 on new elements, a new controller and a new thermocouple, I would feel less tight on the whole control thing for the new system, but I just can't get there.

I sit, almost in the pit of despair, and "Get Lucky" by Mark Knopfler comes on:

I'm better with my muscles
Than I am with my mouth
I worked the fairgrounds in the summer
And go pick fruit down south

And when I'm feel them chilly winds
Where the weather goes I follow
Pack up my traveling things go with the swallows

And I might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

I wake up every morning
Keep on eye on what I spent
Gotta think about eating
Gotta think about paying the rent

I always think it's funny
It gets me everytime
I wonder about the happiness and money
Tell it to the breadline

But you might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

Now I'm rambling through this meadow happy as a man can be
Think I just lay me down under this old tree
On and on we go through this old world of shuffling
If you got a truffle dog, you can go truffling

But you might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

Why this song comforts me, I don't know. Maybe it's because I can't help but feel that if I just keep pushing, I'll get lucky. I'll win some. Heck, right now I'd settle for I'll get caught up.

Is it okay to write all this here for anyone to read--to show such doubt and weakness? Heck yeah. This is what it IS to be a small business owner struggling with bills and employees and vendors and customers and expansion and websites and life in this very fast millennium. This is what it is to be The Owner. Yes, I understand now exactly what it means to say "The buck stops here". I always thought it was about the money, but it's so much more.

What Lies Ahead?

Fireworks and champagne at the studio started the new year for me. Are they harbingers? What will the upcoming year bring? Last year was... difficult, and from a business standpoint this year is set to be even more complicated. Am I exhilarated? Terrified? Both? 2010 ended in a rush of projects slipped in just under the wire, partially completed, and left hanging in the wind. Bookkeeping falls into the latter category as I haven't done any for either the business or us personally since, oh, March. Money came in, money went out. I did tiny window analyses of profitability on segments of studio activity, but what I wouldn't give for an entire *month* to do nothing but crunch numbers and plan the expansion for the year! Yeah, right. Time to dig out those big girl panties again, suck it up and do the best I can--I leave for the Buyer's Market show 46 days from today and that's only one reason I don't have a month to crunch and plan.

Instead, here on this fine January 1, 2011, let's jump to some big-stroke goals, plans, dreams, projects for the upcoming year--then back to enjoying a final couple of days off before the world, the week, and the year begin for real.

1) Equipment: This year--heck this week!--will bring a new glass furnace. With the last element failure in the current little furnace and resultant lost week (+) of date night and class revenue--not to mention the expense of fixing it... again--it's time to go new, maybe gas, definitely bigger. The little furnace--with it's new controller and new thermocouple--will be good back-up/secondary color or alternative glass pot. I also hope to add two casting kilns, another annealer and a small gloryhole. Oh yes, and 200 amps more electrical service to manage it all!

2) Facilities: Time to add on 1-3 new spaces in the studio. First will be a new room to house the big sister kilns and the new casting kilns. We're going to remodel the back deck--expand and enclose it with screens (kilns are just as happy outdoors here as in). Currently there are French doors from the kiln room onto the back deck and once we've moved the big kilns out through them onto the new deck, I can turn the current kiln room into a kiln-forming classroom/open studio area--which frees up the front room to be set-up full-time for torchwork. Second will be an expansion onto the back of the hotshop for another bench area, the second gloryhole, and the back-up furnace. Third is a potential splitting of the front screened-in porch into porch and additional front room (indoor) space. This process entails moving the front door and putting in front windows--and maybe an architect (not putting in an architect, just hiring one)--but I think we can do it.

3) Techniques: Time to add casting to the studio repertoire. I have two artists waiting for me to start casting their work in glass for them, and I want to both get good national instructors in to present workshops and to start teaching basic casting as part of our class offerings. Along with casting comes mold making, plaster and lost wax. Wheee!

4) Professional development/Personal Work: The almost two weeks in Hawaii and away from the studio gave me time to think about my own work and develop some new design ideas. I don't know if I'll have time to do much on them before the Buyer's Market--it'll certainly be hard to both make the pieces and to create the promotional materials for them before the show. Bullseye is also facilitating my creative process by hosting BECon again this year. I am very excited about the theme: Crossover: A Material Exchange. I will turn 50 the week before the conference and two weeks of professional development in Portland will be my present to myself (a pre-conference workshop, the conference, and then a post-conference workshop!).

5) Process Development: The Siyeh Glass website is coming together, now it's time to get the Siyeh Studio website of my work back up and tied into it. Also need to finally pull the trigger on the POS software integration for Siyeh Glass (supplies, classes and materials). Then there's the process for bookkeeping... A real business needs a real accounting solution, and I am *NOT* it. Time to officially hire someone who likes data entry and clean looking ledgers. I look at this hire as analogous to finally getting a cleaning person for our house: Once you've made the switch, you wonder why you resisted it for so long.

6) Staff: I am hopefully expectant that the new year is going to bring an increase in the demand for classes, open studio, and date nights at the studio, and I would like to add additional glassblowing and kiln-forming staff to our family to pick up the work. It takes a village, and it's also nice to be able to support a village. I am looking forward to turning over much of the teaching to someone else so I can get on with the next book...

7) Book 2: There has been enough said about writing another book that I don't need to go into it here. Book 1 comes out in paperback this year, Amazon has already dropped it's price to under half of list, and the publisher is really, really, REALLY interested in Book 2.

And there you have it--2011 at Siyeh Glass, An Intimate Urban Studio. Let's see how it all plays out.

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!

In the better-late-than-never category, I am finally getting around to posting that Siyeh Glass is going to be featured in a a spot on ESPN tonight during the Chick-Filet-A Bowl. They came by and filmed us yesterday as one of the Hot Spots in Atlanta on New Year's Eve. I am particularly excited to see how the filming turns out as we had to do it all without a glass furnace! The little pot furnace went down again Wednesday morning--another element burned through (one of the three new elements I just purchased) and yet another one looks like it's going to go soon (there's a blob of drizzled glass/muck on it).

I am continually amazed at how blessed I am by my Village (you know, the village that it takes to raise a child or support a glass studio owner). Yesterday while I was on a plane winging back from Hawaii, Lee, Carol, Austin, Amy and Brian were working out how to pick up pre-warmed (1000 degree) cullet on a blowpipe from the pick-up oven and melt it in the gloryhole for blowing out. Judy was decorating up a storm with all the New Year's bling we got for our New Year's Date Nights--and then Judy and Carol evened starred as our kiln-forming date couple inside. I arrived 20 minutes before the ESPN team--just enough time to put on make-up, change clothes, and check everything out. As I had been more or less awake for 26 hours at that time I *think* everything went well... We'll see tonight.

As we here in the Griffith household do not have live tv, we will be watching the game (or maybe just the commercials :-) on ESPN's live streaming sports page. I am relying on the kindness of strangers--or at least geeky friends--to get a copy of the spot so we can put it on our website. Oh hey, It's almost game time! Got to run. If you miss it, I think it will be on the replays page on ESPN3 tomorrow.

And It Begins Again

I am in Hawaii--hence the great amount of time since my last post. The pic of the sea turtle at right was taken by the J on our first day here. Tonight at 10:00 we begin the long journey back to Atlanta--where I understand there is still some snow in the shade--and to the the studio where I further understand that the glass furnace went down AGAIN last night. Apparently the new lower element fried. We had to cancel/reschedule all our glass blowing dates AGAIN for the next several days--including the New Year's Eve special that I just spent another $80 advertising.

All of the above is business as usual and part of the everyday peril of the small business owner's life. What is not business as usual is that ESPN is going to come into the studio tomorrow afternoon to film our date night experience for a couple of hours somewhere between 3:00 and 5:00 so they can show it during the Chick-Fil-A Bowl the next day... Our flight is due in at 1:38. I will have been on a packed plane for, oh, several thousand hours at that point having had little or no sleep. We will take a quick cab home so I can freshen and prep for filming. (Judy and Lee will have been wrangling everything till then). As the furnace is down, we are going to Wing It (appropriate for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl) even more than usual.

If I live through the day before New Year's then I will cover the morning glass date from New Year's Eve who decided kiln-forming would be fun since they can't do glass blowing. See the post below and marvel at the continuity in my life! Could be worse, I could be in Montana (my parents' driveway at left).

Disaster

Allow me to explain about the glass studio business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster. So what do we do? Nothing. Strangely enough, it all turns out well. How? I don't know. It's a mystery.

The furnace was down again when Lee got in this afternoon. After two hours of calls to tech support, reading of the manual and futzing in the freezing cold in the hotshop (and getting Austin to read the teeny tiny model numbers on the controller), it looks like we might have both a workaround and a new thermocouple on order. Let's cross fingers and toes.

Jessie's First Blown Piece

There are advantages to being the studio owner's daughter... Jessie started kilnforming at age 3, she did vitrigraph at 6 (shown at right), and now at 9 she's taken up glassblowing. The shots in the slideshow below are not staged! (And I am not the photographer--thanks Carol).

The Morning Begins With McMurtry and a Lapful of Ernie

Coffee in the Chicago skyline mug, "Bayou Torture" (should be Bayou Tortous--Turtle Bayou, but there's apparently a mistake in GraceNotes) from James McMurtry Live in Europe on iTunes, Ernie taking up most of my lap (necessitating typing at an angle with the laptop on the arm of the chair). The Erns has turned into a lap cat--and at 20 lbs, he's quite a lapful.

The week--and by extension, the studio year for me--winds down with the final three days of the Siyeh Sleigh Ride. (Get It While It's Hot takes on a whole new meaning when you're talking about Siyeh Glass! :-) Today I create and send the gift certificates people have ordered, put up the New Year's Special Date Nights on ZVents, and promote the ornament blowing and the Sleigh Ride one more time. I'll also put up the Valentine's weekend special events--someone already tried to reserve the Date Night on the Saturday before Valentine's Day yesterday before I even got the calendar set-up for it!

Yesterday I had so many more things I wanted to post about this morning, but now that the time is at hand, I can't remember any more of them. Maybe my senior moment will be over by Monday when I come back to post again. If you're in the neighborhood today or this weekend, stop on by for some hot apple cider and great glass gifts!

December? Really?

Almost finished with a medium mocha in a Kavarna go-cup, listening to Gillbert O' Sullivan "Alone Again, Naturally" and a couple of other of his songs over the sound system, and recovering/regrouping from the first weekend of the 2010 Siyeh Sleigh Ride. We are entering the homestretch of 2010 and I, like the groundhog in February, pop my head up, look around, and say "What the hell?" I mean, October, November, five days in December--where'd they go?!?

Now Simon and Garfunkel are singing and I can't help but concur that, indeed, leaves are brown (though there isn't a patch of snow on the ground--not in Hotlanta on Dec 6), and the sky *is* a hazy shade of winter. Wasn't it just August? Didn't I just voice this same time-loss lament recently (i.e., five months ago)? Ah well, the beauty of time is that there's always more of it--till you die anyway.

As it's now December, it's time to update the open studio hours and January/February class lists. As I add the additional lines on the Google Docs spreadsheet which is the open studio sign-up sheet I am faced with a dilemma: Do I continue the Children's Studio full-time, do I keep it as a once-a-year activity, or do I tie it into the school calendar and offer it whenever the local schools are on break?

Right now our open studio space is a bit tight (at least in theory--in reality the demand has only once completely filled it)--but I have a plan to address that need (an expansion! an expansion! It's time for another expansion!). Maybe the smartest thing to do is take baby steps (didn't I say that's how I was going to proceed from now on anyway?) and offer the Children's Studio when we have the new space. Or I should offer it until the demand for Open Studio overwhelms the space... so many options! Okay, for now I'll just leave it as it is (offered full-time)--it's easier than editing the spreadsheet. :-)

Time also to look into hiring someone to teach intro to kiln-forming. I have been thinking long and hard about adding a lot of classes, and, while it fits the business model in terms of optimizing the use of the space and the equipment, the last thing I need to do is add regularly scheduled evenings and weekends to my already full-time business. Smart thing to do is make a little less by hiring the work out, but make more than not doing it all. Regular classes lead to sales in supplies and use of open studio--both of which bring revenue into the studio (and thus are a Good Thing). I feel a bit like Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams--I'm building it, will they come?

Enough mid to long term musings. The rest of the week and through the weekend the Sleigh Ride is in full swing and the studio looks great! Everyone has really nice work this year with price points from $3 (I kid you not, $3) to $585. Access Atlanta/ZVents did us well--we had several people from Friday through Sunday who came in because they saw our event on one of those sites. I didn't get as positive a response about our emailing--think I'll send out the December newsletter today or tomorrow and put in both the Sleigh Ride and the Glass Project Gifts I put together for a holiday offering.

I close with some pics of the Siyeh Family taken during a lull on Sunday. They got a bit squirrely with the elf hats and the blown ornaments (check out the ornament hanging from Austin's pierced ear--ouch!).

Opening Night Siyeh Sleigh Ride 2010

Glory Glory Hallelujah

Coffee in the New York skyline mug, "Where'd You Hide the Body" by James McMurtry for the morning music. Day One of Siyeh Sleigh Ride 2010 has dawned and I think I might finally have my groove, optimism, joie de vivre, je ne sais quoi back. Whew! There are--as usual--a million and one last minute details to take care of (not least of which are creating a gift certificate template and putting together the class and project packages to offer during the Sleigh Ride).

"Hurricane Party" just came on and I was struck again by the realization that you just can't listen to too much McMurtry. Why did we move from Austin again? (And the bigger question: Why didn't I ever see him when we lived there?). Okay, enough distractions! Judy, Carol, Lee, Amy (our little hotshoppie and the latest addition to the studio family), Dee, Todd, and Becky (V) are all showing up between 10-10:30 to Whip The Studio Into Shape (or blow roll-ups for an order due tomorrow).

I think Dee and Todd are expecting/hoping we'll be further along than we are in clearing off the flat surfaces for display space. Judy and V have been there in the thick all week and know exactly what they're in for, and the other three will be blowing glass in the hotshop and ignoring our indoor frenzy. Some time later today Brian and Becky S. will arrive with their work--by which time we will be calm, ready, and sipping toddies. ROFLMAO (Mom, that means rolling on the floor laughing my ass off.)

Still have to buy the food and wine for the artist reception tonight from 6-9. Got studio lights yesterday--24 8 ft florescent tubes--and I am afraid I might have gotten the wrong ones. They only had one kind at Lowe's but I think they said one pin... Maybe they all fit in all the fixtures. Guess I should go find out--and start clearing off tables, and find the white tablecloths...

Hope to see you at the Sleigh Ride if you're in the neighborhood!

Ernie and 4:00 AM

Where to begin the 4:00 am post? Maybe with what I'm doing up and awake at 4:00 am (couldn't sleep). Or maybe I should note how difficult it is to post--or do any work at all--with a 20 lb cat smack in the middle of one's lap--Ernie gives a whole new meaning to the word "laptop".

The countdown to the Second Siyeh Sleighride (it's going to be SSStupendous!) is well underway. I was planning on getting a food sign-up sheet on-line for the participating artists yesterday, but instead I spent the majority of the day fighting with Internet Explorer. Come to find out my website was not displaying correctly on IE browsers. The site has been up for over a week and I finally found out on Tuesday that neither the Home page, the Sleighride Events page, nor *any* of the class pages were displaying to people using Internet Explorer. Since there is no IE for the Mac anymore, I hadn't tested it. *sigh* Leave it to Microsoft to make my life more difficult.

In spite of IE, I have been making progress on coming up with creative ideas for kiln-forming (and beadmaking) packages to offer for gift-giving. First I have a whole series of Project Packages--e.g., The Orchid-Pot Melt: Get a signed copy of A Beginner's Guide to Kiln-Formed Glass, an orchid pot filled with glass, and a coupon to come in and fire it, all for $65. I still need to work a bit on costing and color options, but these packages have a lot of potential.

Yawn. Okay, I am ready to go back to sleep. I'll hit the ground running again at 7:00, but now it's time to snooze a bit more.

Tuesday Prep Day

Ginger tea--an attempt to ward off the umpteenth viral cold attack of the fall/winter season--in the Chicago skyline mug. The ticking of the breakfast room clock and the soft whoosh of the furnace for morning music. J is successfully delivered to school with Girl Scout dues, fieldtrip permission form, lunch, and umbrella in hand. The pets are sleeping snorelessly (except for the bunny who is rampaging on the front porch having spent the past couple of cold days in her cage). And I gear up for another day's fret and toil. Dave is in Austin for the week and most of the weekend...

The Siyeh Sleigh Ride is this weekend, and we begin to prepare. The glass furnace has been repaired with new elements, love, mortar, wine and pizza by Lee and Carol (Judy's husband) so we can resume Date Nights, get our roll-up order done (10 pieces for Saturday), and make more ornaments for the Sleigh Ride. As usual I find myself going in a thousand different directions at the speed of light--and whining about it. No Whining!

November is over today. It went in less than the blink of an eye--along with half of October. December, January and February really need to be slower, more thoughtful and contemplative months. Good luck with that!

Now the ginger tea is cool enough to sip so I'm going to close the post, sip the tea, and start slogging through the email and admin part of the day. Becky H. will be over later this morning to continue assembling gift packages for the Sleigh Ride--flower dishes with jewelry kits or cookies prettily wrapped together, slumped wine bottle cheese trays with cheese (the kind you don't have to refrigerate), crackers and little cheese knives all bundled up, and etched martini, margarita and wine glasses filled with chocolates. Becky has been promoted from bookkeeper to manager of retail packaging and design. :-)

Tea shmea--I want some COFFEE! But I have a sore throat--which coffee doesn't help--and we're out of coffee in any case. Maybe tomorrow if I'm good and slug down several gallons of hot tea today, thus vanquishing the cold virus.

I Give Thanks For Two Days Off!

Before I got up this morning I asked the spouse to make me a BIG pot of coffee. Then I showered and quickly dressed in warm fuzzies as it is a cold one in Hotlanta today. Thus prepped, I opened my laptop for the first time since Wednesday night at 6:00 pm. I have been trying to figure out how long it had been since I went two days without checking email, puttering with a spreadsheet, reading the news, or any of 100 other things I do on the computer every day (blog), and I have failed. The last time has already passed out of memory. But I did it for Thanksgiving (and the day after--aptly called Black Friday as the computer screens were black) as did the spouse.

Instead of working--at all--we had two full family days with just the three of us. We read. We cooked (rather Jessie and Dave cooked), we walked, we gathered leaves and made holiday placemats. We ate, we played games and watched movies. We even went out for a double-feature yesterday "Mega Mind" and "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows". Then we ate some more (ham, ham, ham, ham, ham, ham, ham, ham, hammity ham, ham, ham!), watched another movie, and played Carcassone before heading off to bed. What a great time out of mind/studio!

But all good things must come to an end, and when I woke this morning filled with dread at the prospect of all I had ignored, I almost regretted taking the time off. I mentally girded my loins to wade through an ENORMOUS pile of email, date night requests, voice messages, and art emergencies which I was sure had been languishing unattended for the past two days. I armed myself with the first cup of coffee and... I'm already done! In less than an hour I read or trashed all the new email (answered where appropriate), updated the Date Night calendar, and left the voicemail for Judy to pick up today at 10:00 when she gets in and the studio opens. Wow. I didn't think I'd have time to post, but here I am! Apparently everyone else also had other things on their minds than an Intimate Urban Glass Studio for the past couple of days. Boy am I not complaining.

Now off to publicize the hot ornament making opportunities we're going to have in the studio starting next Friday...

The Rollercoaster Rides On

It's a banner day here at Siyeh Studio. The new website went live yesterday, the newsletter announcing the second annual Siyeh Sleigh Ride went out last night, and the LivingSocial deal for two-for-one bead-making or kiln-forming classes went live this morning. Wheeee! No time for a long post--got to get the Access Atlanta listings done for the Sleigh Ride, the ornament making during sleigh ride (might as well set it up as its own event) and the bead-making and kiln-forming classes!

The pot furnace went down again yesterday and the new elements haven't arrived yet so we're trying a back-up plan of a crucible in my side and top firing Olympic ceramic/glass kiln. It's deep and it's built to go to the higher temps required to fire pottery. We'll see what happens. In all honesty I expect to lose the elements in it from firing it too hot, too long, but we'll see.

Okay, off to tackle the day!

Open Studio On-line Sign-up

It has been a webful week so far--and it has no sign of slowing down. Today I finished the on-line sign-up for open studio and children's studio times. Next is the November newsletter announcing the upcoming Siyeh Sleigh Ride and the open/children's studios. Then I need to do a quick website overhaul. I need to put so much stuff up on the website right now that I have decided to just put up a quick new site to handle it all instead of trying to work through a comprehensive rework of the current site right now.

The pot furnace went down last Friday night causing a cancellation of all glass-blowing dates for the weekend. Lee and Carol worked tirelessly on it Sunday and, fingers crossed, it's back up now on a band-aid and a prayer. New elements on order, and furnace options going into next year under consideration (another? bigger? smaller? electric?).

Debbie Suchy from Eclectic Galeries was in a couple of weeks ago (did I write this already?) and I am still processing her review of the studio workflow and procedures. I think the word that will drive us going forward is "tweak". Oh yes, and "incremental". Tweaking the existing processes to optimize them and making incremental changes in the business of the studio. It's a great theory anyway. Hope I can live up to it.
Now off to newsletter!

Online Date Night Form Created!

Oh Sergei Brin, we love you. First you brought us Google, then Google calendars, then Google Docs (and let's not forget GMail!). Now we have... Forms!

Open Studio Policy

• Available to anyone who has taken an Introductory Kiln-Forming Class at Siyeh Studio or who has been cleared for proficiency by Brenda (the Head Kilnformatrix).

• You supply all your own materials, we supply the tools. We require that you purchase the glass you use in Open Studio from us so we can continue to offer this Great Deal to the glass community. Use of some coldworking equipment is available for an additional charge.

• No charge for normal firings if worked into our regular schedule. Firing on demand and special firing schedules available starting at $10.

• No instruction is provided during open studio. Brenda is happy to dispense technical advice and answer questions if she is in and her hair is not on fire. Otherwise private classes are available more detailed instruction.

• Space is extremely limited. Please see our on-line calendar for current availability.

• Cost is $5 per hour with time purchased on an Open Studio card. Open Studio cards are $50 and expire one year from purchase. (They can be shared between two people.)

• Allow us to improve your experience by being ready for you--ADVANCE RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. Please, no later than the prior day.

Once a Year for the Holidays!

Children's Studio is our once-a-year before-the-holidays event during which we open the studio to children (and their adults). It is their chance to come in and make beautiful kiln-formed ornaments, dishes, plates, etc.--perfect gifts for all the Grammas, Grampas, Uncle Joes and Aunt Fannys in the family.

• Suitable for ages 6-10 with parent supervision. Responsible, focused children 10 and up may be dropped off. Irresponsible and/or unfocused children will be given a shot of espresso and a puppy and sent home.

• No prior kiln-forming experience is required.

• All materials, tools and kiln firing provided. The glass is our mixed studio frit (crushed glass), scrap glass, and a clear blank for the base. Additional glass is available for purchase.

• Space is extremely limited and advance registration is required.

New Week, New Wonders, New Woes

Welcome to a New Week! I start of the week with a meeting for the Waldorf Holiday Fair (happening this Saturday from 10-4) as I am the grade 3 holiday fair rep. Then it's off to another meeting with my insurance agent to review the studio coverage and make sure I have adequate coverage for everything we're doing--and everyone working in the studio. By afternoon I should be on to the creative part of the day--juggling what will go in what kiln and casting the first award slab. (And beginning to build the mummy's tomb for the holiday fair).

Biggest project of the day--mummy's notwithstanding is--the award slabs which aren't exactly eating my lunch, but they are stretching my brain in ways it doesn't usually (and tries hard not to) go. In a nutshell, it's too early (in the day, the week, my life) for specific gravity. Last night it was too early for some water-quantity divination (the formula for how much water to use and then how much plaster/silica flour to mix in). I don't remember it being so difficult, but it has been awhile since the last time I built molds. My notes (from Linda Ethier and Bullseye) require lots of weighing and multi-decimal numbers (and decimal points too!) to figure things out. Sigh.

If you have little artists in your house, next time they ask you why they have to do all that dumb math, and confidently state that they'll never use it, send them my way. I've gone from having to muck around with sin and cosine in order to make an angled stained glass window to discounting and repricing product (percentages) to this whole volume, weight and specific gravity thing. When it comes to math, I know I'm not smarter than a 5th grader.

New milestone in the studio today--got the first call from a wife who wanted to verify that her husband and his girlfriend had been in for a date night in the hotshop. They had. :-(

The Frabjous Day

Caloo Calay it's my favorite day! When I was young, my favorite day was Christmas or my birthday (whichever was closer). It was all about the "stuff". But now that I am older and wiser, today is my favorite day. Oh it's still about the presents, but today I (as do we all) get a gift that can never be purchased and cannot be given any other day of the year. Today I get the gift of time--one extra hour of it to be precise. I take this gift and I revel in it, I luxuriate in it, I roll around in it and hug it to myself... and I inevitably squander it. Ah well, all good things must come to an end--even time.

Today is another class day in the studio--kilnformed glass ornaments from 1-3, and we have a full glass blowing date slate starting at 10:00 and going till 9:00 tonight. That long time is not as impressive as it sounds as we only do three dates per day (which uses the max amount of melted glass we can have in the furnace in a given day). It's also a casting day for me--plaster today, glass tomorrow for the first of a series of thick slab awards I am doing this month--and a fusing/slumping day for gallery orders. I can think of a couple more things I would like to add to today but 1) it IS Sunday (not a workday for me), and 2) an extra hour only gets you so much.

Maybe when I am even older and wiser I will be ready to forgo both stuff AND time. One can hope.