Holiday Shopping

I have a few friends who have a kiosk in a local shopping mall. They were kind enough to stock some of my glass wares. There are currently earrings, pendants and bracelets there. The most interesting thing to me is the largest sellers are earrings and bracelets.

I am curious regarding the following: "If most women (or at least the women I interact with) wear necklaces more than any other piece of jewelry, why then are the other items selling better?"

The instant answer would be, "Well, the designs aren't as attractive." The interesting thing is that the designs are in fact the same because I created matched sets of work so people could have coordinated items.

Just something to think about.

Glass Shows :(

This year was the first holiday season where I provided glass art for seasonal fairs. It was a bit disappointing because a lot of work went into these events and the return was miserable. I have more inventory than ever (but that is a good thing) and less investment money. The better question I wonder about is which shows are best for my type of work. This year I have work at a Company craft fair, a kiosk in a local popular mall and a private home show. So far, the craft fair was best.

Time to make more inventory and work on the website.

Company Holiday Craft Fair

This past Wednesday, I had a Company holiday craft fair. It amazes sometimes what people do.

I had a table full of glass beads embellished with silver findings. Other vendors included an English toffee vendor, custom scented hand lotions, herby olive oils, custom wreaths, custom flower arrangements and many others.

What I found amusing when people visited my table wass the following:

1. People don't believe the beads are glass.
2. People don't believe they were made by me.
3. People who have no clue regarding glass are trying to toss "glass-like" words at me to create a connection.
4. They can't believe my prices (this is in a bad way). For Pete's sake people, it's a handcrafted item!

I have posed the following question to many of my friends: "How are the Arts perceived in the United States? And, has today's education dumbed down the general public enough where art is not appreciated?"

The sale was better than expected. (I sold stuff!) Now I'm preparing for a private homeshow this Sunday.

Glass up in the Hills

I currently live in the Santa Cruz mountains in Northern California. My studio is a nice little metal shed that used to be the property Workshop. (There's a great little sign labeled "Workshop" over the door.) When I torchwork, the sliding door is left open and the back window opened. This has provided enough air circulation.

Last night I started working with matched sets. Friends who sell my work have asked for matching necklaces and earrings.

Egads! I currently make earrings and usually make around 30 beads in the same style. Usually, this will result in 10 pair of earrings with around 10 beads remaining for bracelets. I challenged myself by trying to build two beads on the same mandrel. If you currently are a lampworker (torchworker), try this. It wasn't impossible, but did take some serious concentration. The end result was six attempts with five successful sets. In addition, I made a pendant to go along with each set.

It's raining cats and dogs right now, so it looks like a jewelry night tonight.

Feeling a Bit Uninspired....

I created around 30 beads last night and I feel as if something is missing. As I finished the night off, I was feeling extremely uninspired. This is of course something that any artist dreads. Art comes from inspiration.... Inspiration comes from many things. Nature, beauty, a perfect green lilypad, a bird migration, etc. It is different for everyone and often changes.

I'm throwing this out to the readers of this blog..... If you have lost your inspiration, what did you do to get it back?

Glass and IKEA

Last night I made a trek to the local IKEA for a glass case to display jewelry in. I'm not a big fan of IKEA due to its massive size. If you've never been in an IKEA, BEWARE! You can truly get lost in it.

An awareness fell over me while I was walking through the throngs of Swedish designed furniture and housewares...... IKEA is the furniture equivalent to what The Gap is to clothing. I'm not a big fan of The Gap either. (I prefer bowling shirts.) I once had a roommate call clothing purchased at The Gap, Banana Republic and similar clothiers "Garanimals for adults." Interestingly enough, he was a big fan of the Banana Republic.

For those of you who don't know the wonders of Garanimals, it was a marvelous concept designed for the latch-key Gen X-ers. Mom and Dad didn't have to be around to ensure your clothes matched, Garanimals did it for you. The tag for a piece of clothing was shaped like an animal. If two of the puzzle piece-like animals fit together, you had a matching outfit. What a great concept! It was a sad day when Garanimals were no longer found on the shelves of the local retailers.

As you can imagine, due to the trek through IKEA, there was no time to work on glass. Though, I did receive in the mail a fuel flash-back arrestor from Arrow Springs and silver findings from Rio Grande. It was a happy night for me. My Thanksgiving weekend will now consist of eating turkey, making glass objects and if time allows, creating jewelry. Good times.....

Begin in the Middle

People have been asking me to start a blog for about a year now. So, to please the public, and allow me to get some thoughts in cyberspace, here we go.....

Last night as I was making glass ornaments, I began to get frustrated. Frustrated at forgetting how to make glass ornaments from borosilicate tubing and just a general frustration of not having enough time to work on what is important to me.

Then, as I was separating one of the successful ornaments from the tube..... CRACK! When I looked down, the ornament had shattered in my hand and a small pool of blood began to collect on my thumb. Well that was it for the night.