Sunday 10/11/20
On Sunday’s I reflect.
I didn’t drink alcohol this week.
A friend of mine told me recently that he likes me sober. This is a friend that I did a lot of drinking with when we hung out in the past. As a person who never gave a fuck what other people thought of me, compliments don’t often phase me and I tend to shrug them off. I’m still not sure how I feel about this one.
I would not have accomplished what I have over the last 3 years if I were still drinking.
On the flip side of that, I would also never have gotten here if not for the years I spent drinking and socializing and doing what I did. I do not regret my choices. I live with them.
I think I am a better person now than I was. I am putting in the effort, and surely I still have shortcomings.
This week I prioritized blowing glass, and got on the torch almost every day. It has been a long time since I accomplished that. I have come up with three matching twisty cups for my friend Max, and I have made another dozen that are either too tall, too short, or too wide. Today I have prep to make a few more and I am really hoping that one of them matches the other three. Most of those have sold along the way, but I have a few left for anyone wanting to own something affordable and made by me. They will not be listed on the site but friends, family, and readers can contact me directly to obtain them.
In between working on the cups for Max, I have been making a collaboration with my shopmate Rob @logglass every day. Every single one has sold the day after we make them and take them out of the kiln to post pictures. Some have even presold to collectors who have been waiting for Rob and I to release new work together. There was a time when we both had time to work together weekly, but the last few months have been so chaotic we really haven’t been able to work together lately. It has been great getting back into it.
The rest of my time on the torch has been spent making small pipes for friends and models we work with. I have probably been making the same chillum design on the lathe for 5 years or more. They have certainly evolved and they are by no means complex, but they get the job done and are nearly indestructible. After making a few thousand of them it has become a zen practice for me where I can zone in to the flow. I remember when I used to struggle with proportions or basic lathe techniques, which now feels like an eternity ago.
If I can keep up this momentum (and finish four for Max that match) I might actually get myself into some more involved projects. I haven’t made any composition notebook prep in months. I am thinking I will be able to make some this week, and while I don’t have specific plans for what to do with it yet there are a few ideas percolating. Sometimes I just have to make prep before I can visualize what it will turn into. Over the last few months I have depleted a lot of the prep I had, which provides a feeling of a new beginning.
The end of the year is approaching and I have been taking mental inventory of what I made this year. The Trashterpiece consumed me for many months, and there are a few collaborations that I made before quarantine. I sprinkled a little bit of solo work throughout, but overall I would like to increase my personal productivity this year which means I have a lot of work ahead of me in a relatively short time. Typically I think I operate best under the gun, but maybe that is just because that is where I always feel like I am.
I am too tired to provide a CUPDATE this week, but you can check out the new cups we added to the website yesterday when Skinny got back from his trip to Utah. I am also running late for a meeting at my studio, so I have to cut this short.
Thanks as always for tuning in,
BB
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