Monday and Work for Three Days (Three, Three, Three Days In One!)

The day begins with rain, coffee in the Alaska skyline mug, and the alternating sounds of Ernie snoring and Ernie washing. Right now he's eyeing my chocolate donut as if trying to decide if it's worth the effort to get up, saunter over and demand some. He has already been working his magic on the occupants and guests of the house, I can't wait to see what he does to the customers in the Glass Resource Center. Just with a look he'll get them to sign up for five classes and buy $1,200 in glass and supplies.

Last night I finally gave Dave his birthday present--a checkerboard and checkers. Lest ye think it was some little project, let me assure you that this was a checker set worthy of my effort! The board is five sheets thick with squares (transparent and opaque) on the top and bottom and it has a clear edge strip all the way around. To make it perfectly flat on both sides I hand lapped it for a couple of hours and then sandblasted it. The checkers were cast from powder in my copper tubes and then sliced with the tile saw and ground on the lap grinder.

The board is opaque white and true blue, and the checkers are clear powder (which, of course, comes out white because of the grain size) and a mix of 10% cobalt blue (transparent) and 90% clear. By casting them instead of fusing them from sheet, they have a silky mat feel that is augmented by the fine coating of oil J put on them (and the board). Dave loved the set and is looking forward to playing checkers with J on it. I'll post pics of it when I remember to bring the camera back from the studio.

Now off to get the Bullseye order in (finally!), fax the revisions of the loan application in to Chase for the ARC loan, send the photos of the studio and me to Bullseye for the press release, send a high-res photo of the cover of the book to Delynn at Glass Craftsman mag (they are reviewing my book in the December/January issue), and write-up final class descriptions and prices with Lee for the glassblowing classes. Oh yes, and pump the water out of the basement/crawlspace AGAIN (the sump pump leaves about five inches), and fire two kiln loads, and redo the firing schedule (I slacked this weekend), and ship 5-6 orders when Becky gets in.

It's Siyeh Studio. It's ALWAYS busy!