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| The Tedious |
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| The Fabulous |
I suspect my beloved customers have no idea what artists have to do before...and after their work is created. For glass artists there is a lot of preparation, maintenance/repairs/replacement of tools, and clean up....not to mention, shopping, dreaming, imagining, sketching....oh, and then there is the purchasing of tools, creating a studio space, shopping for tools, shopping for glass, marketing (think website, blog, instagram, etc,) renting space for sales, designing and printing business cards, setting up purchasing options like the Square, PayPal, Venmo, etc.....AND selling work either in person, online, or finding a gallery.
The photo above is scraping down a kiln shelf. That takes about 15 minutes. It's outside work because it's wet and messy! Next, apply at least 4 coats of kiln wash. This creates a barrier between the shelf and the glass. This has to happen after every 3-4 fusings. Slumping into molds doesn't impact the wear and tear on the shelf. Painting is another 10 or 15 minutes. The shelf can air dry overnight or you can dry it in the kiln if you're in a hurry....that still takes a few hours.
I opted for the speed route for curing the kiln shelf...which is why I have time to write this blog entry ! My shelf is drying in the kiln right now.
So what is the "Fabulous" ? I am blessed to have my glass studio in my house. I have expanded it to my lower outside deck where I can do my wet and messy work. On beautiful days...and even on soggy days, I get to enjoy the woods that come right up to the edge of my house; the sounds of water rushing through the creek below, the plops and drips of rain rolling off leaves and branches, and the glorious sound of birds who sing to me as I work.
In this series of posts I'll talk about the work I do (and so many others) that remains invisible to those who see the artwork.
