Sunday Reflection: May 3rd, 2020
On Sundays I reflect.
I didn’t drink alcohol this week. I quit over two years ago, and with a few exceptions have not been drinking since my 28th birthday.
It’s weird being 30. Thankfully, my acupuncturist returned and was able to see me the other day. As I get older I have been paying for my bad habits (my posture) that my father warned me about all of my life. I guess I never thought I would make it this far, which I’m sure is what everyone says when these things culminate.I don’t love needles and I especially don’t enjoy them being put in my body. That being said acupuncture is where I have found the most physical and emotional relief in my life, of the many things I have tried. Alicia worked on me for almost two hours, and at one point the lat muscles on my right side were vibrating from my hip to my armpit. I could feel them trying to untangle as Alicia laughed at my involuntary motions up and down my side. My acupuncturist is a good friend of mine, who delights in being able to alleviate my pain but also takes pleasure in watching me wiggle around until we get there. After two hours of intense work with Alicia, I was able to see the chiropractor who shares her office for a quick adjustment and they discussed stretching, posture, and exercise with me. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I feel like I am on track.
Cold Working in the Summertime
I have been blowing glass almost every day. We sent an order to a shop in Lincoln, Nebraska last week and they sold half of the cups the day they arrived. After buying all of my collaborations with Rob @logglass they asked for another batch, along with a handful of my solo scalloped cups with the DV logo sandblasted on the bottom. I haven’t been able to keep those in stock long enough to even get them listed on the site! I have photos coming soon from Reda from our last shoot but all the inventory I made is already sold. As I sit here writing this blog, I find myself wishing there could be more hours in the day. So I spent the week making those and trying to get ahead on some inventory for the site, including collaborations with Rob.
My friend Mal came through and sandblasted a batch of cups with little instruction. She nailed it like a pro. My dude Jensen helps me with most of my cold working but he told me stencil and sandblasting is not for him. I hate cold work myself. I have to make an effort to balance my time between things I like + I’m good at, versus things I dislike and am bad at. I recognize that my time is limited and I can’t do and master everything, and cold working is something I am definitely willing to pass off to someone better suited who can do it well. I am beyond grateful to Jensen and Mal for stepping in to help me in the cold working room. I promise if they stick around long enough I will expand the room to be bigger than a closet that barely fits a human in it.
Cups are Blowing Up
So we got the second box in the mail to The Highest Cloud @thehighestcloud9 and started making more, when I got a message from a guy I have known since early childhood Bob (@darth_dabs). He scooped up the two remaining collaborations I had with Rob, along with a few of Rob’s solo cups with wig wag bottoms. Rob just pulled some new color patterns this week, so I know we will be making more cups this week. Hopefully some of those last long enough to get photographed and listed on the site, but we are very grateful for everyone supporting our art during these times. Tune in later this week for an interview with Rob, so you can learn more about my shopmate and resident artist at Bat Country Studios.
I made my first Sake Set, from some Asian Amber tubing laying around the shop. I will post it once I get photos of it, and might make more soon. It is a gift for the local at-home-sushi-business that sponsored my shoot last week (@_shiomizu) and was a fun project (since the amber didn’t blow up). I also attempted to make a pint glass from the amber tubing which did blow up. When I tried to salvage half for a tumbler, it fell out of my claws and also shattered. That was a fun day!
Blake came through and whipped up a batch of cups for a client of his. We didn’t have time to collaborate, but hopefully we can get some freshies in soon. I sold one of the pints I had from Blake to the shop in Nebraska, so I am down to a single sunflower pint. I realized though, that I have another sunflower pint from Blake with a ring of sunflowers around the lip in addition to the large one in the bottom. For some reason it isn’t listed so I have to dig up pictures or get it reshot.
Smoothie Life
I’ve been cooking in the kitchen. I almost lost a pot of rice, but now I have an enormous pot full of cooked rice. I may have miscalculated how much rice it would make and how much rice I can eat. I am terrible at judging portions and ratios. I’m really not about that kitchen life, but my smoothies have been on point. I have about eight half eaten jars of peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter for some reason in my fridge, so I have been spicing things up in the blender. I’m thinking about releasing smoothie recipes on Patreon, but I don’t really want to deal with creating an account and maintaining it. If you want to purchase my smoothie recipe just send me a message with an offer and if it's enough I’ll hook you up with the recipe.
Yesterday, Tomorrow & Today
I have no idea what day it is for the most part and I am sure none of you know any more either. At one point this week I made the trek to Evergreen, where I hiked Upper Maxwell Falls with a friend. It was an aggressive few mile loop that took us just over an hour. I left my phone in the car, and didn’t upload the experience to social media. I found myself wanting to share what I was experiencing, but also relieved to not be carrying or keeping up with my phone. I’m working on unplugging myself more and more.
The real reason for my trip to Evergreen was to have N8 (@nathan_miers) sign his recent collaboration with SALT (@saltglass). Also needed to get the cup photographed, thanks to Sam (@thc_samuel) for photographing the legendary space mug. After my hike I popped over to Everdream studios where I parked next to an iconic Tipi outside a warehouse complex primarily inhabited by glass artists. I walked inside to find Eusheen and WJC both torching, while N8 organized his millies and prepared for the day’s projects. To my surprise, Alex (@alexubatuba) popped in for a bite and we got to chat about crushing out some cups together. He thought he might be in Denver while I was around but his plans changed and I was glad we got another chance to chat. I visited his new studio a few months ago when SALT came to town to throw down, and it's come a long way since.
So all the guys at Everdream are working on full shop collaborations right now, which includes Eusheen, WJC, N8, Adam G, & Elbo. I got a bit of a sneak preview and WOW is there some heat in the works! N8 and I chatted about a solo drop of drinkware, which will be coming after his next drop on 7/10 at Stoked in CT. Some of that release is already spoken for, but there will be some N8 solo work coming soon. I have also been talking with Eush about cups for a long time, and we made loose plans this week to get something going after their shop collabs and camping trip. I was able to get him one of my wallets from Libby (@libbygoines) for her to sew in a seam to make slots for credit cards like my newer one. I love her wallets, and I am thinking about trying to start carrying her “rig mats'' on the site to use as coasters. Would you be interested in those?
All of this brings me to a question I was discussing with a collector this week. How many items are in your arm’s reach? How many of them are handmade? How many of them could be replaced with something handmade? How many handmade objects do you engage with on a daily basis?
At every opportunity for me to choose handmade artisanal goods, I am making a conscious decision to do so. I believe in supporting artists, makers, and craftspeople. I cannot abstain completely from mass production and industrialization, but I can support people directly with my inherent need to consume. This business has taught me so much about how I want to spend my dollars and what kind of economy I want to contribute to. This time of uncertainty in the world has also shown me how important it is to support artists and makers and individuals.
CUPDATE
So we sold out of EWGG @edwolfesgotglass mugs and we’re down to two pairs of tumblers. They’re sending me a dozen mugs and a six pack of Tall Tumblers which will be a pint sized version of their 10 oz. tumblers. It will be my first batch of the Tall Tumblers, and I have already received inquiries in the DM on Instagram because they posted a sneak peak. Those probably won’t make it to the website and I will definitely be ordering more when they can make time. Betty told me she had to squeeze me in between their normal orders, but they never let me run out of stock for long and I am grateful that they keep them coming!
My Ned @nedglassman blue batch almost made it to the site this time. I got a six pack recently and got them photographed but while waiting for photo edits 5/6 sold. The one remaining will go live any day as Reda has been dropping me new pictures daily. I also got another batch of five blues in this week, but two of those sold as well. Maybe these three will last until the next photo shoot but I’m not sure how likely that is. I have ordered another batch from Ned, and he’ll get to it when he gets to it. He also told me I can get another batch of the fumed series when he gets more tubing in, whenever that is…
I’m working on the details to bring some amazing new coasters to you from Steve (@cambriaglass) that he has been making lately with his girlfriend. They feature borosilicate stringers stretched into funky squiggles and I am definitely getting some for my brother and my collections. If there are any more available I’ll have them here as soon as possible.
I released a Jake C (@jake_c_glass) shot glass this week. It sold shortly after listing but I have another one on the way. I am very excited to be working with Jake and hopeful that I can bring more of his drinkware to you in the future. His cups are incredible. We got to meet last October on my trip to the PNW. I made a detour to Bellingham to visit his studio and chat with him and his shopmates. Coincidentally, I just got my first cup from his shopmate Dosa (@dosaglass) which ended up with the same collector as Jake’s shot glass. Both Jake and Dosa are artists I plan to add to my personal collection as soon as I am able and the right cups come along, or maybe even sherlocks.
I have a secret project that I have kept under wraps until now and I am still not ready to share with you. I will say that I just got one component of the project in the mail this week that I have outsourced. This project is going to allow me to incorporate non glass artists into glass, and the first three are on deck and in process. This is something I have been working on for years and it is finally coming to fruition. I am very excited for this next project to launch, but have a few more details to get to before I can get this one into production.
I haven’t had time to read this week, and I still haven’t figured out audiobooks or podcasts. Maybe next week!
As always I am extremely grateful for all of your support. I have another week full of projects, and I may have to make a trip to Aspen one day. I’m hoping to keep up the momentum blowing glass most days this week, and maybe finally get ahead on some inventory! If you are looking interested in shopping via video I am also now taking appointments for video tours of the current inventory. I much prefer this kind of interaction to DM messages, and most of the pieces need to be seen in 3D anyways. One day we will evolve to video content. One day…
Enjoy your week and thanks for tuning in!
BB
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