Born 10/24/09

Made 10/10/09 Cobweb in Cobalt Blue with Irridescent Spray

1st week of October

Here are some shapes I made this week at the glass shop where I am renting studio time to get back into the motions.

well, Im in LA and working hard at my day job. Realestate in California is expensive, as Im sure you've known. Im kinda finding it dificult to find a home for a shop that is inexpensive. Im afraid a shop may have to wait till it can be in a garage at my house. Im currently in an apartment till I learn more about my new surroundings. Im looking into some glass classes to feed my passion.

Los Angeles Bound

I put my 2 week notice in at my day job. The shop is boxed up and in my frontroom. I am in the process of relocating to California. Im going to work to get situated and get the shop running again, Ill keep you posted.

4/3/09

I have 12 paperweights on the floor that need to go to the polisher. Im thinking of what is the best way to sell these, i.e. maximum sales price. I can't come up with anything, i may try ebay for a couple. We will see.

New Paperweights

Here is a pic of the weights I made over the past few days, they are enroute to the polisher.

I mailed 14 paperweights to the polisher on monday. Those should be ready next week sometime. I turned on the furnace this morning at about 4:25am on the way to work, I stopped by the shop. Im going to be in the shop all day friday and the goal is to fill up the annealer - about 10 paperweights. I need to get some pics posted here and Im working on it. May you all have a good week.

guys, sorry I havent posted in a while. I havent been in the shop, Ive been picking a lot of overtime$. I will be in the shop sunday and tuesday making paperweights. Will report back

what happened today

This morning I ordered some colored glass, a new pair of jacks, and also a pair of diamond shears. Spent a nice bit of change on my passion, but I dont care.

I went to the shop and swept and cleaned, Im getting ready to turn the furnace back on and will make some more weights. Im really looking forward to this, I have a nice floral design Im going to create.

I called my friend Angelo, I asked him to call me the next time he is pulling cane, I want to drive up to his shop and watch him pull Bellatini cane. Its a nice spiral cane with twists in it.

When I got home from the shop, the weights were at the door from the polisher, a nice surprise.

Tools

I called Cutting Edge Tools today, Im going to order a pair of these shears, they are used to create the flowers and leaves, the pair I have arent cutting it and Im due for an update. These are expensive but nice and will last.
Right now, the furnace is cold and Im awaiting the return of the paperweights from the polisher. If I can develop a strong avenue to sell my glass, yes.........I will price them reasonably, I'll be in good shape to keep the furnace on year-round.

getting polished

ok, I got a call from the polisher yesterday and he got the paperweights. The question was to polish the bottoms to a high gloss/clear, or just grey but flat - $2 cheaper. I went with flat and grey because these weights will be lower price tag items.

Next thing, Im really at a loss about how to sell my glass. To quote my friend Angelo Fico "the easy part is making it, the tough part is ...........how do I sell it".

Soon Ill have a house full of paperweights, a collectors dream but pain in the butt for me.

Im gonna roll and go see a movie with my girlfriend, I wish you all a good week.

9 new members of the family

These are the nine I made yesterday. Next is the polishing of the bottoms.

Made 9 paperweights today

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Made Glass Today!

The long awaited day has arrived. I made 4 paperweights today in the shop. I'm fortunate to have my own shop running again.

Furnace is running!

Today I installed the new controller and started the furnace. It will be up to around 1800 degrees over a period of 18 hours. It was -14 degrees in Chicago this morning. Im not kidding..................I wanna move! So far the choices are : Seattle, Chapel Hill, Durham NC, or Jacksonville Fla.

Today in the shop I added dabs of mortar to the element shelves. This will keep the elements from creeping of the shelf as they soften from the heat. I also added a 40watt light bulb and socket to the inside of the electrical cabinet. This will add some radiant heat to, hopefully, keep the temperature near the digital controller above the minimum 15 degrees to operate. Im projecting that within 2 weeks I will make the first batch of glass.............God willing.

fired up the annealer

I was in the shop today and figured out how to program the controller for the annealer and also brought the annealer up to 950 degrees F. This is a small but important victory. Reminds me of a saying I heard "how do you eat an elephant.......one small bite at a time".

This is the control panel for the annealing oven. I finished it today. I am heading back to the shop to weld the yoke stand together.