And Summer has arrived!!!!

You can't live on the East Coast of NC and not look forward to the summer, but you can if you are a Glassblower!! Especially one that has a retail shop in a tourist town!! Glassblowers generally shut down during the summer months and do maintainance on the equipment but when the tourist don't come till the middle of June through Sept. you have to do what you have to do.
I have an observation area in my store where you can watch (in the comfort of A/C) the activities of the studio(not in the comfort of A/C!!!)so people sometimes don't understand the heat we are dealing with. When you have a furnace that stays on 24 hours a day at 2100 degrees plus a glory hole spitting fire and heat out at around 2800 degrees plus an annealer that stays on at 1000 degrees Plus a pipewarmer that is on (which is equivalent to a gas grill being lit with 4 burners at high!) it gets a little warm.
As soon as school lets out my phone starts ringing for people wanting to take lessons and I try to explain to them about the heat but they never understand until they step foot in the studio. I tend to blow early in the day before the heat has built up too much and try to tell everyone that when they come in. Yesterday was a good example, I had a woman come in on Wed. with 5 kids in tow, wanting to know when i would be blowing. I wasn't on Wednesday because I had just had someone fix one of my fans and hadn't put everything back yet, but told her i would be on Thursday but she better get there before noon because of the heat. So yesterday at 10 minutes till 12 here she comes with all her kids. I had just finished working for 4 hours with NOTHING to show for it (which isn't alltogether unusual) and I saw her walk with an excited look on her face. Before she could even open her mouth I said, "I told you to get here before noon. I just finished for the day!" She was okay with it but I hate it when someone does that! I heard one of the kids apologizing for taking so long, so now I know what happened. I did have a student coming in for studio time at 2 and told her she was welcome to watch him, but they didn't.
I felt really sorry for my student, he was soaking wet after about 20 minutes!! i have to keep checking on them to make sure they don't faint!!
Its not an easy life!!

p.s. here's a few treasuries I am in from Etsy. Please check them out!
>
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=64175
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=57024
and my baby angel fish was shown on this page:
http://www.handmadenews.org/article/index.php?id=1492

I finally made it to the Front Page!!!!

Well, it only took me 5 months but I was finally on the front page last night. Granted it was at 2:00 am but at least the folks on the West Coast got to see my red roses!!

It was indeed a great treasury and I am so thankful that I was included. I didn't see any immediate sales from it but who knows, its a start.

You know the making of glass items is hard enough, but trying to get people to buy them is even harder. There is so much that I want to make and each time I go to the furnace, I know what I want to make but I know in this hard economy, few people have the money to spend on what I want to make. I love to make the larger vases and bowls, but then they end up sitting on the shelves. Even with me pricing them to where I am barely covering costs. Its just a good thing I love what I do!!!

When I make the larger items, I usually lose two or three before I get one I really like and thats a lot of money to throw away. I don't think people realize how hard it is to make one of these pieces. At least for me anyway. Since I have an observation area in my studio that people can watch the glass being made, there are times that they will watch a piece go from the beginning to the end only to see the bottom crack when I knock it off the pipe or it fall on the floor from the punty getting too cool. That's when they realize, no matter how easy it may look at the time, that its a dance of time, gravity and luck sometimes.

PayPal users beware!!!!

As I have posted before my husband has a site on Etsy as well, (www.anangryamerican.etsy.com) and he has not had a lot of luck with it. He has gotten more views than most of my stuff but no sales. :-( Until last week. He was contacted by some guy in Nigeria that wanted 15 of his GWMA shirts. he wanted them quickly and was willing to pay for express shipping ($250.00 with the USPS) beacause he was opening a new store After many convos back and forth, my husband finally told him they were ready to ship but he had to have the money first. Normal, right? Well, then he got an email from (supposedly) Paypal saying that the funds had been deducted from the guys account and as soon as my husband sent them the tracking number they would deposit it into his account. Thinking that sounded reasonable since that would stop people from scamming overseas sales, he went to the post office and mailed the shirts then came back and gave Paypal what they asked for. Then he receives an email from the customer saying that paypal contacted him because they couldn't verify the tracking number. Anyway, to make a long story short, after numerous emails and a lot of frustration and confusion, I finally called Paypal security. Told them what he had and they quickly told me it was not an authorized email and to call the Post office and stop delivery. It was a SCAM.
So I called the post office and stopped delivery, but to get the shirts back it would cost an additional $200.00. Needless to say we didn't pay for that but I wanted to make sure the guy didn't get them at least!!! Then we got the authorities involved and hopefully this guy will be spending some time in the slammer!!
My point in this blog is that if you are doing business through paypal, they NEvER hold up funds, for any reason!!! So if you are doing business with someone make sure you have recieved the money first!!! No matter how reasonable an email sounds!!!
Amazingly the customer is still sending us emails saying we will get the money on monday and even got another one from the fake Paypal account saying they would deposit the money on Monday as they were going on Holiday till then!!! I wrote them back saying "Holiday Hell, you're to going to jail!!!"
I couldn't figure out why someone would go through this for a lousy 15 Tshirts!!! Then I thought that the poor customer may of been the one that was scammed as he was the one that (supposedly) transferred $520.00 into an account. I don't know for sure as i don't want to contact him in case he is part of it and I don't want to tip him off.
My poor husband is devasted needless to say, no sales and now out $250.00 to a scam!!
So all of you out there, BEWARE!!!!

And the Circle of Life Continues

I have two children, Jennifer (31) and Alex(27) and today my daughter had her first child. Everyone had been asking me how did I feel about becoming a Grandmother, and I really didn't have any feelings about it. I don't think I do, still, I do have feelings about my daughter having a baby. When I asked her if she wanted me to be there, she said "no". Which is the same thing I would of said to my mother. Well, as I sat there and waited to hear from them, knowing she was in labor, I realized that I couldn't sit just sit there. So I went to the hospital just so that i could be there just in case!!

Anyway, her husband did such a wonderful job!!! he was so supportive and is an absolutely wonderful husband!! He did anything and everything she wanted. And she did a wonderful job as well!! She wasn't complaining or anything!! I was so proud of them both. We already knew it was going to be a boy, so that surprise was gone, but I of course was so worried something would go wrong!!
Thankfully, nothing did and Little Joshua Robert Edwards came into the world today at 12:27 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs. 3 ozs and 20 inches long. he is absolutely precious and was very interested in everything that was going on. At least until it was time for his first bath, and he didn't like that at all. Mother and Dad are both doing well and all grandparents have had their turn snuggling and cooing at him.
He is beautiful and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Please forgive a new grandmother her first pictures of her first grandchild.

Another Etsy Page!!!

Was up wayyyyy to late last night putting together my husbands new Etsy Page. www.AnAngryAmerican.etsy.com
Please do go take a look at it and tell me what you think. He is quite the character and always comes up with these crazy sayings. I love most of them, some of them can't be printed.....:-) He keeps telling me he is the idea man, and boy does he have some crazy ones sometimes.
Thanks for looking and I would love some feedback, good and bad.

Yeah, Daylight savings time is coming!!!

Boy i can't wait. i hate it getting dark at 6 o'clock!!! I will actually be able to leave the studio in the daylight again!!!
I have been busy with getting some new things going on my Etsy. They aren't up there yet but one of them will be in the next day or so. I have entered into the t-shirt business. Actually its more my husband and son, I just do the work. My husband has this incredible sense of humor and having been raised in the south has some wonderful sayings that are so deserving of T-shirts. So we started printing this week. I will post again as soon as I get them up on Etsy!!!

I am also getting ready for our first Exclusive Home Trunk Show!!! We have one booked for the 17th and one for the 28th of March! We are expecting over 20 people at our first one!!! Please wish us luck

I just found this cool website, http://www.handmademovement.com/ and I am sure everyone in the world knew about it but me! This is where people anomyously (?) do a sneak buying attack all at the same time on a new or struggling store!!! How cool is that, what fun!! Go check out the sneak attack badge on the blog and join!! What a difference it could make in someones life!!! I'm There!!!

New Artist I have found!!!

One of the great things I love about Etsy is that you can see some of the most beautiful artists in the world. It's kinda like going through the Smithsonian and being able to meet and find out all about the artists, except you can purchase them!!! There are a lot of artist on Etsy so I tend to use keywords to help sort them out and since I am a member of The
designstyleguide team I thought I would use that. It was through this I found Kathyart!! She has some of the most beautiful pottery
I have seen.


She sells her home decor items on Etsy so please do check out her store.



She also has a portfolio on The Design Style Guide that lists one of my favorite vases. But I would have to say that this is my most favorites. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16180914. I could truly see this sitting in my living room.


Here is a little bit about Kathyart, My name is Kathy, and I have loved arts and crafts all my life. As my five children have grown, I found time to pursue my love of pottery and jewelry. Each piece I make is unique and one of a kind. My joy comes when others like it just as much as I!



Here is a little bit about the process she uses,

Horsehair pottery is created by the piece being removed during the heating process and horsehair carefully added. The horsehair burns into the piece leaving beautiful one-of-a-kind squiggles, creating a beautiful one-of-a-kind piece of pottery. The piece is then sprayed with a finish for protection.


These are truly unique items that anyone would be proud to have as a part of their decor.


Please visit Kathy and tell her I said "HI"..

Treasury Bliss!!!

Was trying to figure out how to snag a Treasury and as I was going through the lists I found out I was in 4 of them!!!. I'm thrilled!!! Please go and click on them so they will move up on the list!! I still haven't figured out how to get a Treasury!!!



http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=40659
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=41191
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=41143
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=41477

Sold my Avatar!!!

So now the delimma, should I change it to one of my other pieces or keep it as it is? If I change it whick piece should I use? Help me out here, what would you do? If you vote to change it, which piece from my store would you use?

Thanks for any help you can give!!!!

Etsy, Artfire, but Mainly Handmade!!

I have been going back and forth between Etsy and Artfire lately. I've had a lot of views, but sales have sloweeeeeeedddd down. I don't have anything to benchmark against since I just opened my store, but it still feels slow. Anyway, I have found some wonderful artist on both of these sites and I wonder why anyone would want to buy from China anymore!!! Is it because there is too much choice when you are buying handmade? I know I have a problem deciding which one to buy from. Its funny though when I am looking at handmade stuff, price doesn't even figure into the mix. Usually artists sell so cheap anyway!!! If you were able to buy half this stuff in the store you would pay twice the amount and still feel like you were getting a deal!!
Anyway,,,,I guess my rant is over for now!!
by the way, I was featured on a blog yesterday, check it out!!!http://youvegotmaille.blogspot.com/ there is some wonderful maille in her etsy store as well!!
I was also featured on this treasury!! Please go and click on all the pictures so it will get to the first page!!! http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=39023

thanks for reading and don't forget to vote in the poll!!!!!

Saturday Already??!!!!

I swear I don't know where the time goes!!! The older I get the faster it goes. I hope all you young folks appreciate the time you have!!

Anyway, its been a busy week at the store! See I own a public glassblowing facility and gallery in Wilmington, NC and while the holiday season wasn't the best, we held our own. But February is usually a busy month for us and this Feb. hasn't been any different! Fortunately glass makes for great Valentines Gifts. But then I had a busy day on Etsy so I was having to make a lot of stuff. Plus, I had a lot of lessons this week!! Granted, I'm not complaining, but its always feast or famine!!

Anyway, I am being featured in another blog this week. http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/ so please do go check it out!!1

I listed one of my most favorite pendant this week and they want to feature it. It's a fumed pendant and the color are not glass but from the fume of gold and silver!! The picture does not do it justice, it is one of the few pieces that I have made that I would love to wear myself if I actually wore necklaces. Other than my cross the only thing I wear around my neck are my glasses and I don't ever go anywear to dress up!!

Anyway, thanks for looking!!

Don't forget to take my poll about the Exclusive Trunk show idea!!!

Home Party Poll

So, as I said the other day, two other artists and myself are starting a home party business with our art. After years of going to HORRIBLE Tupperware, Home Interiors and other parties we thought it would be nice to be able to go to a home show where you get to look at pretty stuff, meet artists and just have fun. No silly games, no hard sell, just fun.



The artists are: Rdgdesigns-(me) selling hand blown glass ranging from $15.oo to $150.00. Including jewelry, candlesticks, vases, bowls, etc.

Pine Garden Baskets-Melanie Walter- selling baskets made from long leaf needles and clay ranging in price from $14.00 to $200.00

Sara Westermark- selling handmade metal jewelry ranging in price from $14.00 to $200.00.



So here's my question, would you want to go to, or host such a party?


Please take my Poll and let me know what you think.
Thanks!!!!!

I'm featured on a blog!

Just found out that i am being featured on this blog, http://www.craftyhangover.blogspot.com/ please go and check it out. I don't know what all this blogging really does but I'm a part of it.
I also posted a new piece today, here it is,, what do you think?
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20529529
I would love to hear comments, if anyone reads this anyway!!

In an effort to get our art out there, 2 other artist friends and I are starting a home show party called Exquisite Trunk Show. We are copying the Tupperware model in that we will give the hostess $50.00 off any item they may want and a bonus to anyone booking a party. I am partnering with Melanie Walter who makes beautiful Pine Needle Baskets (check her out at http://www.pinegardenbaskets.etsy.com/) and Sara Westermark who makes beautiful jewelry ( check her out at http://www.sarawestermark.etsy.com/ ). I was telling someone at the store about it and she couldn't wait to book one, So who knows. If you are in the Wilmington, NC area and you're interested, let me know.........
I am interested though, is it something you would do?
Thanks

Thanks for looking!

I am featured in a Treasury!!

Found out tonight I am featured in a Treasury on Etsy!! For those of you that don't know, thats a good thing. It gets your store out there for more people to see and that's what this is all about. If you get a chance, please go visit and see if you see anything you like. They have some beautiful artists on there.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=37071


thanks for looking!!!

Jeez Louise!!!

I don't know about all this blogging stuff, I don't know how in the world anyone has the time to read all of these!!! But on the off chance that they do, i am creating one. I mainly am doing it to promote my websites (doesn't everyone?) but who knows where it will go.
Anyway, I am a glassblower in Wilmington, NC and I own my own studio and Store. I teach glassblowing at both the furnace and the torch (known as lampworking). Business is down (as is everyone's) so I am trying everything to bring more traffic!!!!
I have a web page that you can go and see some pictures of the studio and store...www.rdgdesignsonline.com
and an etsy page....rdgdesigns.etsy.com.

Please come look at my stuff!!!

Thanks,

I'll be back!!!