September Already

It has been a while since I have had the time to sit quietly and write. The last few months have been a whirlwind, to say the least. I can barely keep up and I am looking to hire some help.

The end of last year brought a couple of large commission projects to Stone and Glass. They were not large in size, just in volume, all small pieces, but lots of them. Before I was finished, I ended up with a repetitive stress injury on my left hand, which is only now in the final stages of healing.

Consulting

Also, at the end of last year I was hired as a consultant by two local companies to assist in very exciting new projects. Oceanside Glass Tile hired me to help develop a new product line, colored glass rod specifically for glass blowers. What an exciting team over there at OGT, great people, every one of them. We worked together for months designing and testing new color to prepare for the initial worldwide release at the Glass Art Society conference in Tacoma. I was very nervous about the release because I know glassblowers and, in most cases, they are not very open to trying new products.

OGT set up a booth at the show and we stood there for three days talking about the new product, showing samples that we had made and giving away free color bar sample boxes. The result was that OGT had a phenomenal first release. A big win. So, thank you to everyone at OGT for including me in your efforts.

The other consulting job is still in early-stage development. I cannot say much, just yet. But it’s big. Hopefully I can start to promote a new glass art venue in San Diego by the end of this year. Keep watch.

Getting too old for this?

A month ago, I went to light the largest of our gloryholes. It backfired in my face. Most of what little hair I have, was burned off. My left eye was temporarily fuzzed. The burns went half way up my left arm. As I lay under bags of ice water for two days, I had time to consider my situation. At 70 plus years, I am thinking that I probably need to get off the bench and hand over the flame to a younger team. Over the next year, I will be searching for someone to take my Gaffer’s seat on the bench.

When it rains it pours. Just as I am considering this change, we get busier than ever. We already have a couple large preorders for corporate holiday gifts. By next month we hope to have an agreement in place for ten custom glass benches for a single Patron. Also, at this moment we are in desperate need of retail inventory, which means I have to put in lots of OT, LOL, just to get us ready for the holiday season.

On that note, if you are considering any custom holiday gifts, please reach out soon. Production time in the studio is quickly being filled. Of course, we will still be making the Collectors Club series. The new series is representative of animals. We are working as a partner with Children’s Nature Retreat a wonderful organization the rescues animals and educates children.  The design work is finished, you may subscribe now the first glasses in the Nature Retreat Exotic Series will ship in October.  This and our extended Exotic series may be the last of our Collector’s Club efforts.  So, if you want to own James Stone original Collector’s Club glassware, speak up quickly.

That’s it for this moment. I will try my best to reach out a couple more times before the end of the year.

Until then, may you continue to live in the light,

James