YAY!! Blowing Glass Again!!

Well I am very fortunate indeed, and there are truly some very kind individuals left in this world. A friend of mine whom I haven't seen in about 3 years has been very hospitable to me recently. After he found out that I was longing to blow glass again he offered me some space in his studio, to come and blow glass with him. This is such a wonderful opportunity for me, and I am truly grateful for the kindness this Friend has shown me. His studio is a short drive from my house, and I am able to go blow glass a few days a week for a few hours at a time. I Really LOVE to blow glass. It is so awesome to get back behind a torch and dance with the flames the torch produces. Blowing glass is truly my artistic passion. It is so nice to be able to blow glass again, and not have to worry about having to produce glass to pay the bills. This opportunity is allowing me to really enjoy glass once more.
The more time I spend behind the torch the more I remember about how glass moves; as it transforms solid glass into liquid glass, and then back into a solid. Glass is such a unique artistic medium. With glass an artist can create 3D forms which are only limited by the artists imagination and skills. If a glass artist has enough skills the glass grants him or her the ability to create anything imagined.

I have decided for now to focus on making glass pendants to be worn as jewelry. Glass jewelry is so beautiful; it is even more stunning when viewed in the sunlight. The color combinations are endless. There are so many wonderful and beautiful colors to chose from, and most artists enjoy mixing these colors together with a plethora of techniques to get the effects they envision.

Glass Blowing

I have a real passion for art, and I am so ready to get back to blowing glass. I am jones'n to get behind the torch and dance with the elements of fire, solids, liquid, and gravity. I started blowing glass in 1999, In the mountains of North Carolina just west of Asheville. I was 24. Working in the medium of glass was very addicting to me. I spent 12 hours nearly every night for the first few months of my learning curve. I was fortunate to work with, and be taught by 4 of my friends who were all at different levels of experience. They were willing to teach me the ropes while lending me the supplies I needed to experiment and create with. I am very thankful for those who provided me with the opportunities to blow glass with them.

Being able to spend that much time blowing glass, day in and day out, I soon started to develop the skills that provided for me to run a small yet lucrative glass blowing business. I spent the next five years learning about, and creating with hot glass. I spent a lot of time making production pieces ,that would take between 10-25 minutes; these I would sell at wholesale prices. This was one avenue of bringing in income. I would also make glass pieces that I would spend 6-12 hours on. These pieces would be very intricate, consisting of lots of color patterns and very unique shaping. These were my favorite pieces to make because they would stretch the limits of my knowledge of glass. I always enjoyed pushing my limits to see where I could go with it.

I have only blown glass a few times over the past few years, mainly because I don't have a studio set up currently. I do like to spend time blowing with my friends though from time to time. But the urges to get behind a torch and being creative are really boiling up inside. I am making plans to build a shop and equip it with all new ventilation and glass blowing equipment. I am very much looking forward to making new glass art.

Check out these videos about creating glass art

Milon Townsend



Acroduster

I have done a lot of vending over the years, and I wanted to give some input to this topic. This is just some of my experiences with a variety of different shows, craft fairs, and festivals.

Vending for me has always been first and foremost to make money. However the reality of making tons of money by selling every item you take usually is not the reality. I have rarely (relative to the # of events I have attended, & amount of items I brought to sell) come close to selling out.

Vending can get expensive. I have paid up to $400 dollars for a booth, and have driven 13+ hours for an event. Then add the cost of hotels and food, multiplied by the number of days you are away from home, then multiply those days by the fact that you are not at home producing your products, and things can get expensive quick.

Vending is tricky. Just like the location of a storefront is everything, the location of your booth at an event is crucial. So contact the Event staff to find out if you pay for vending, where your spot will be. This will help you to determine whether or not it is worth the vendor fees. Also depending on the size of an event, vending fees may differ depending on there location within the event. High traffic areas may cost more than vendors around the perimeter are paying.

Know what you are getting into. Do some reasearch on the event so you know how many people, and other vendors will be attending. Also know the local laws about vending. Some places don't have any requirements, while other places require fees and vending licences. The best place to get all this information is from the event staff. They should know the local laws and info on attendees and volume of vendors. However they are always trying to promote their event so they may stretch the numbers to make it sound more inticing. Another good place to get info on local vending reulations is that locations chamber of commerce.

Variety is probably the key to greatest volume of sales. Also having enough of everything is very important. When preparing for a vending trip I plan on taking way more product than I expect to sell. The last thing you want is to sell out of something that is really selling well that day. Having to much of something isn't to much of a problem because you can always store your extra stuff under a table, and restock your tables as nessasary. There is a trick to selling most of the stuff you have left over after the event. I will get to that later.

When you get your booth set up at your event, be sure to take a good look around. Take along a helper or signifigant other who can stay at your booth while you go see what everybody else brought to sell. (A helper comes in very handy when business really picks up:) It is a good idea to know what the comps are in your area. By this I mean it is important to know how much the other vendors are selling their products for. This may help you gauge the best price to sell your items for. You know the value of your craft or art, and you want to get the most money possible for each item. There is a fine line you walk as a vendor. You don't want to under cut all the other vendors prices, so that you are the only one selling anything. Yet you also want to sell as much of what you brought as you possibly can. So what do you do. It is up to you to decide what is best for you. I usually start off asking high prices for my items. Potential customers are going to try to bargain with you anyway so the high price tactic makes them feel like they are getting a deal. If the high price thing isn't working because your not selling much, then drop your prices accordingly. I usally decrease my prices throughout the day ending with sale type pricing by the end of the event.

Why try Vending?

Through the trials and learning processes of running a small artist/crafters business I have recognized the value of hitting the buyers market on all fronts. In fact this is one of the reasons I started my etsy store. The buyers market includes all potential buyers which include your customers, wholesalers, store owners, galleries, and web shoppers. A lot of the work I do vending is actually marketing.
Selling your items at retail prices is the best way to make money. To sell at retail you must have some type of storefront, or vending booth. Craft fairs and festivals are a great way to get your products directly into the hands of your customers. People love buying things at these events because they get to actually meet the person who created the special thing they are spending their hard earned monies on. They see the value in buying something handmade from the artist or crafter. Getting retail or full value for your art or craft gives you the most profit.

Sore Owners and Wholesalers always enjoy visiting craft shows and festivals, because they know these are great places to meet (in person) crafters and artists, they might like to commission for wholesale orders. Store owners and wholesalers are the best people to meet because a good percentage of your potential earnings will come from these two sources. By wholesaling you will be able to transcend your craft or hobbies into a small business. (Most manufacturing businesses primarily utilize wholesaling practices.) You will not make as much money per item, but you will be able to sell in volume, creating long term earnings and job security.
Remember you set the price that the final customer pays when you set up your wholesale pricing list. Store owners will double whatever they pay for your items, insuring them a profit. Keep that in mind while you make up a wholesale pricing list. If you know that your item sells to the final customer best at $10, you should sell those items to wholesalers and shop owners at $5. If you price it to high then the wholesalers and store owners might still buy them, but they won’t be able to sell them as quickly. And, that hurts your potential earnings, because you won’t be selling to them as much as you probably could. Wholesalers are selling to stores also, that they have accounts with so they are marking up your price a little and making their money off of the sheer volume of their sales. You might like to give your wholesalers a better price than store owners making it easier for them to sell your items.

A tribute to BEE-BOP

Creating is my passion. Heavenly Father has blessed me with many talents, as well as the desire to create. For this I am grateful. Art is just part of who I am. It rests somewhere deep within my soul from time to time. There are also times when it boils over, and all I want to do is be creative. Right now I am applying most of this creative energy into painting and networking with other artists; who are passionate about there work also. I have only been painting for a short time. I have always wanted to paint. I took art classes in high school and knew that making art was part of who I am. My grandfather Karl Baumann, was a very well known artist in San Francisco in the last half 0f the 1900's. All he did was paint, teach art, walk through Golden Gate Park, visit the aquarium, and raised his family. He painted a lot. I grew up admiring his art. Everyone in my family has many of his paintings. To us they are priceless. His art is of a style all to its own. I see many different influences in his work. And he has definitely influenced my art. When I was very young he spent time painting with me. during the few times we visited San Francisco. While traveling across country in a Station Wagon.(those trips across this great country from South Carolina to San Francisco and back is a whole blog in itself)
My grandfather taught me how to create organic shapes by drawing many smaller geometric shapes. In a way these lessons have shaped my life. At least my artistic side. Much more I am Sure. I recently read an article in a magazine devoted to California artists where BEE-BOP (what we call our grandfather) shared how he viewed the pictures he painted. He described his work as "his love for nature, and the conflict of mans impact on nature." What a profound statement. What an awesome ideal to attempt through painting. He loved Nature. He took my mother and her siblings on walks through Golden Gate Park countless times. He was very fond of his garden and house plants. He also tended to his room full of fish tanks over fifty of them at one time. Bee-bop was born in Germany between the World Wars. He was able to come to America to live with his father as the onslaught of World War 2 was beginning. He started drawing with colored pencils as a child in Germany. He would draw pictures of landscapes and nature, for his grandparents. He lived with them for some time, up into his youth.
As an artist in San Francisco he painted with mostly oils and water colors. He also did pencil drawings. He painted on many different surfaces. Canvas was expensive so he painted a lot on board. He also would make and paint frames for his paintings, out of an assortment of random types of wood materials. He painted a lot of different things. He mostly painted landscapes, still life's, and abstracts. He used a lot of geometric shapes with heavy dark outlines. His use of vivid color expression is probably what stands out most about his work. His use of color is is amazing, which is something I wish to learn, and attempt to emulate.