Things to work on

The new year is almost here so I think I'll start my New Years resolution list.

1. Learn to take better pictures of my pieces
2. Clean my studio (isn't this on everyone's list)
3. Post more consistantly
4. Add items to my etsy site http://www.etsy.com/shop/hauteglasser
5. Do another show in the middle of the year
6. Mark my calender to start holiday items towards the end of summer

Stay tuned for more.

Now that the New Year has arrived, I'm adding getting a resale license and committing to doing 1 show this year.

Lessons from my first show

This was my first show and the first time a friend did a holiday boutique.

I did better than expected but not as good as I hoped. But I was so happy I sold some items and I was glad for the learning experience. Now I have my feet wet!

I was so glad that my first customer was a friend who has been a recipiant of my glasswork as gifts. She's said before I should sell my stuff. Now I have and she was my first one! Thank you Hope.

Here are my random thoughts and reflections.
Since it was a "Moms" group, kid-focused items such as night lights might have done well

I needed more than one table which is good to know for the next show. I was surprised how quickly I ran out of space and couldn't display everything I brought.

I need to display the cuff links differently since they were getting lost - mixed up with other/ items

I should have had some displays with a white background

My key clips would have shown better clipped to a display

BRING MY BUSINESS CARDS NEXT TIME

Have prices displayed a little better

I had a suggestion to check out a local consignment shop so I'm going to do that shortly.

I didn't have time to make platforms to raise some of the stands but it would let the plates show up better. I need to get this done for the next time!

This was at night so a day show will have a different lighting affect. Maybe black tablecloths for a day show and white tablecloths for night shows....

Another Sacrafice to the Kiln Gods

No words needed

Results of custom program and more holiday pieces...

This was a pre-programmed full fuse setting in the Skutt kiln.

And here's the result of my "custom programming". This was supposed to be a slump at a fire polish setting.

The kiln was on for over 36 hours at 1350 deg. Apparently I didn't program it correctly and it overcooked. That was going to be a nice piece...key word is "was". This might be saved if I sand blast all the devit off of the surface and firepolish, but....

First fuse reults

This was a firing in the small kiln, but I didn't hold long enough at 1450 so it's more like a partial. Starting temp - 63 deg. Lo for 1:30 to 700 deg L2 for 1:30 to 1000 deg. L3 for 45 min to 1225 deg. AFAP to 1450. Hold 20 min. Lo for 20 min. while I try to figure out how to program the bigger kiln :) Off and cool to room temp in kiln (overnight).

Holiday Plates

Since I'm doing my FIRST show, I've been struggling to 1. get things produced, 2. come up with ideas to produce, 3. figure out how I want the table to look 4. figure out what might sell the best... So I put it out to the group and got the advise that jewelry will probably sell the best. This, unforunately, is my least favorite thing to make since I'm not really a jewelry person, so it's been tough for me to get motivated and most of my pieces aren't coming out how I had envisioned it in my mind. Now I have less than a week to go. But today I had an epiphany...why am I trying to produce things that don't interest me? Why not just make things I want to make. And that's when I came up with these 3 (actually 4 but I don't have a "before" picture of it.) I've been told I make great, fun eyes using Glassline paint and I have fun with it to, so my new outlook came up with these pieces (these are before firing)

TANGLED CAT

BUSTED!

TOO MUCH TINSEL (I'm going to add a string of lights to this piece since I can now see it needs more color) I figure I'm not going to get rich doing this, and this isn't going to be my major source of income, so if my first show is a flop, I'm ok with it. It will be a learning process and I'd rather have fun making things I want to make rather than struggle to make things that I "think" others would like to see. So along with the epiphany, I also programmed the kiln for the first time. I'll see tomorrow how the pieces turn out. I'm trying to slump and fire polish a few pieces. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed tonight and find out tomorrow morning if I was successful.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I've been in scrambe mode lately since a friend is hosting a craft show in a few weeks at her place and I'm going to have a table there. This would be my first official show! Now I need ot make an inventory! Here's the first phase of this plate. It was fused as a full fuse, medium speed, using the preprogrammed setting. This will eventually be slumped into a tray.

1st Firing results

Here's the results for the first firing. It came out exactly how "Tack" should look. So I set the kiln to Fast and Full Fuse tonight. I'll see the results tomorrow. The pizza stone cracked so now I'll need to get a kiln shelf.