Well, some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been around much recently. There are a lot of reasons for that…

First, we have been working a LOT recently on things not involving glass. First of all, we got a new puppy. His name is Eddy (named after the greatest cyclist of all time, Eddy Merckx). He’s mostly hound, but we think he has some pointer in him too. Here is a picture of him and Hayden (Eddy is the black one):

Oh, and it looks in the picture like Hayden’s paws are bleeding, but they aren’t. We gave them some dog treats that looked like bacon strips, and apparently they had some red dye in them or something so she got it all over her.

We have also been working on our store. We had an article written about us in our local paper: http://www.roanoke.com/community/salem/neighbors/wb/165397

And, we just got back from a trip to Chicago. We went there for a conference for Amanda’s job, so while she was in conferences all day, I went out and explored the area. One of the best places I visited was Prodigy Glassworks. It’s a furnace glass studio that also has a gallery of finished work. I got to meet Matt, Alex, and another glass blower (sorry, can’t remember your name). Alex I “knew” through the internet already, but it was nice to put a face with the screen name. I’m looking forward to spending more time there the next time we’re in Chicago. We had such a great time that we are planning on going back for vacation sometime soon.

Last, but not least, I recently had two of my marbles published in The Flow Magazine.

I also wanted to talk about the subject of me not working in glass any more…  Well, that’s not entirely true.  For a while, I have been focusing my glass work on making pieces to sell.  While I did okay selling my work, it was just that - work.  I have a regular 9 to 5 job.  That’s “work”.  It pays the bills, so I keep doing it.  Glass is an escape for me.  A way to get away from work for a while.  When working with glass became “work” to me, I lost interest.  I have since decided that I’m going to make what I like - marbles.  I am focusing on marbles for a while and working on new techniques and designs.  I may still make other things here and there, but marbles are what I enjoy, so that’s what I’m making.   I am also trying to become more well-known in the marble world, so I need to work on my marbles and on promoting myself.  I’m hoping to get my work picked up by some galleries, and want to do some marble shows over the next year.  I missed Wheaton this year, but I hope I can do it next year.

That’s about it for now.  I’m sure there will be more later….

I just wanted to share a few things with you. Follow the links to see more…

http://smartflix.com/blog/?cat=16

http://ameritool-inc.com/gallery.htm

http://carlisleschoolofglassart.com/MarbleFlameoff/WinnerArchive.htm

Well, this past weekend I did what will probably be my last show. We did the Virginia Hot Glass Festival in Staunton, VA. That show is usually pretty profitable for me, but this year we didn’t make enough to cover our expenses. Doug and the guys at Sunspots put on a great show, and there was a lot of nice work there, but nobody was buying anything. I priced my work lower than it should have been priced, and still barely had any sales.

It pretty much reinforces my decision to quit working with glass. There just isn’t a market for glass any more. At least, not for the kind of glass that I make.

I’ve come to the decision that I’m not going to be working with glass any more.  There isn’t a market for glass (at least the type of glass I make) and with no market, there is no money to be made.  It was never about the money for me, but money does make the world go ’round, and I need to make money to be able to continue working with glass, buying glass and tools, buying oxygen, etc.  Sales have completely stopped since December of last year, and it doesn’t look like things are going to change any time soon.

I’m not at the point where I’m going to sell my torch or anything like that yet.  I’m going to keep it for now with the hopes that sometime in the future there will be a market for glass.  I still enjoy working with glass, but to make the type of pieces that I make requires a significant investment of money and time.  I need to get a return on my investment to justify spending that kind of money and taking that time away from my family.  As it is, with no returns, I can’t justify taking that kind of time away from my family or spending money on glass.

I’m still planning on doing the shows I have scheduled for this year and teaching my classes at BeadFest.  So right now I’m not thinking any farther ahead than September.  Once I get through these two shows and classes I’ll sit down and look at things again.  Right now, however, it just doesn’t make any sense to pursue glass when it’s such a losing proposition.

I want to thank all of the people who have supported me throughout my glass “career”.  I have learned a lot and made a lot of good friends.

I apologize for not being around much.  My father has been in and out of the hospital a lot recently, so things have been crazy.  We’ve also been remodeling our teaching studio, so that has taken up a lot of our time as well.  I hope things will start to settle down soon and I can get back to melting some glass…

Due to family commitments, I have had to cancel some of the classes I’m teaching this year. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone, but I hope that everyone understands that my family has always and will always come first for me.

I am still teaching at BeadFest, and I am still teaching regular classes at our studio - Soleil et Lune Studio & Gallery. I am also still available for private classes here at our studio. Contact me for more information.

I wish I could say more, but right now all I can say is THANK YOU!

Thanks to Ben Burton and Kevin Nail and Lana Chu (and the others I’m forgetting) for their words of encouragement.

Thanks to the many people who have sent me e-mails.

Thanks to everyone who reads my blog or who buys my work.

It means a lot to know that my work is admired by all of you.   It has meant more to me than you can possibly know right now.  I’m still at a weird point in my glass work.  I’m not sure if what direction I want to go.  I had even toyed with the idea of giving up glass all together, but thankfully that idea didn’t last.  At this point I’m focusing on completing a couple of orders that I have, and getting ready for a class I’m teaching this weekend and a show I’m doing next month.  Once I get past those two things, I’m going to sit down and take a long hard look at my glass work and see what I come up with.

Once again, thanks to everyone…

I know people say you have to hit rock bottom before you can start going back up.  Well, I guess I have officially done that.  I haven’t sold any glass in quite a while.  What I have sold was practically given away at prices 1/3 of what they would normally go for.  It’s to the point where I’m pretty much ready to give up on glass.  There are so many people out there making the exact same thing and getting good money for it, but around here nothing sells.  Nothing.  Even on the internet, I have to pretty much pay people to take my stuff.

As of now, I’m not planning on offering any pieces for sale any more.  I’m going to let what I have on Etsy run its course, but that will be it.

I want to thank all of you who have supported me in the past.  It means a lot.

As some of you know already, my father is currently in the hospital.  He was admitted last Saturday with kidney and renal failure.  He has an enlarged prostate that was compressing his bladder, so he couldn’t go to the bathroom.  Instead of being able to go, it was all backing up inside him which made his kidneys fail.  They admitted him to the hospital and they have been working on him ever since.  He had a valve replaced in his heart 7 years ago so he’s on blood thinners.  He couldn’t take the blood thinners in the hospital, so his blood viscosity got way off.  They are trying to get his blood thinned back down with injections.  Once they get his blood right, they have to get his kidneys functioning again.  He had surgery Wednesday to remove a large kidney stone that was blocking the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder.  When they got in there, they realized that his bladder had swollen up three times its normal size.  They said his bladder may never function normally again.  Once they get all this done, he has to go back in for prostate surgery.  I don’t know much about a prostate, but apparently the prostate is supposed to be “V” shaped, and the urethra goes through it.  His is round, which is squeezing off his urethra.   So, he’s probably going to be in the hospital at least another week, maybe longer.

As if that weren’t enough, last night I got a call from what I thought was a friend of mine (the friend I wrote about in an earlier blog).  Turns out it was his mom calling from his phone looking for him.  He has been battling drugs and alcohol for many, many years.  I didn’t get a chance to check my messages until today, when I found out it was her calling and not him.  I called her back and luckily she had found him.  Unfortunately he had gotten beaten up pretty bad and had to go to the emergency room.  He didn’t feel like talking on the phone today, so I’m going to try to go by there tonight.

On a completely different subject, my 9 year old daughter has her first dance at school tonight, and apparently she has a date for the dance.  Now, I had told her many times that she isn’t allowed to date until she’s 30, but she isn’t listening.  She won’t tell me who the boy is, though.  I told her it could be her secret….

I have intentionally stayed far away from scales for the first month of my diet.  But, I figured I should at least see if I had made any progress.  So, this morning I got on the scale, and it said 255.  So, 8 pounds down, 55 to go.  Keep your fingers crossed for me…