I’ve been participating in a workshop by Janet Conner called Plug In the Intersection for Writers and All Creatives.   This Teleclass is based on Janet’s book writing Down Your Soul.  Please check out her website to learn more about the process. 

As part of the class we are writing every day.  I have had many habits developing a daily writing habit.  It could be that I spent most of my professional life as an instructional designer.  In this role I write other peoples stories.  Whenever I get around to my own story, I stuck.  I decided to take this class to see if I could shake something loose. 

Given my schedule I had difficulty finding the time, so I decided to do my soul writing before I went to bed.  Sometimes I write about what’s bothering me and ask for guidance.   Sometimes I pose a question and see where my mind takes me.  Regardless of what my day has been like I always write down at least 3 things that I’m grateful for. 

But here’s the best part, I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep in at least a year, since I started this practice, I sleep all night.   I wake feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.  If I happen to be having a tough day, I know that I have an opportunity to write it down and turn it over at the end of the day

July 20th, 2010 | Category: Creative Exploration | Leave a comment

At time running both my jewelry and consulting businesses can be overwhelming.  It’s easy to get caught in the details and lose sight of the actions I need to take to move me toward my goals.  One area that I wanted to further develop this year was my writing.  I put a blog and Facebook page in place, but somehow I kept getting caught up in my administrative tasks, plowing through email and regular mail, paying bills and other admin tasks.   I dig in, make progress and before you know it, the day is over, and like dusting a new wave of email and other tasks are waiting to be cleaned up and I feel too tired to work on more important projects.

At this point the reality that I need to face is that I always seem to have a lot today.  There will never be enough time for me to create everything I want to create, read all the books I want to read and so on.  Running both my glass jewelry and consulting businesses can at times be overwhelming there always seems like there is a lot to do.  I keep trying to develop a routine, but what I’ve learned is that there isn’t one.  Every week is different and I need to put a structure in place that keeps me grounded, and creates the space for me to work on new ideas, and keep up with a myriad of business and personal tasks.

I read David Allen’s Book, Getting things DoneÒ, and put his system in place for managing daily, weekly and monthly tasks.  I use both and electronic and paper filing system, so I don’t have to worry about handling time bound tasks like paying bills.   It is quite freeing to know that once, I set a small task for a specific day; I don’t have to worry about it. The area I need to revisit managing projects and evaluating the amount of work I have to do as well as my capacity. 

This week I’m going to put two things in place, David’s concept of the weekly review.  I’ve learned I can’t have a consistent routine, every week is different, so taking time to look at the week ahead every Friday afternoon, will help me to determine what’s important, what to work on when and identify any patterns or structure that will give me the freedom I need to be creative.  This will also help me to evaluate what’s working as well as what I need to do differently. 

The second thing, I’m going to try is to set up 3 hour blocks of time each day that I dedicate to key work areas.  I won’t work in every block each day, but I think this will give me the focus I need to make real progress.  I’ll start here this feels like a bit like a sliding block puzzle game.   

I need to play this game like a kid, if the blocks don’t work, or I get frustrated I can change the size and shape to keep it fun and interesting

 If think if I combine the weekly review with creating the space I need to manage the variety of work I do each week.  My intention is that this will dedicated focused time. Here are the key areas I’ve identified:

·         Creating dichroic glass jewelry and gifts

·         Writing

·         Consulting

·         Sales

·         Marketing and Public Relations

It will be interesting to see what new patterns emerge as I move in this direction. 

July 16th, 2010 | Category: Fusing Art, Creativity and Business | Leave a comment

I’m honored to report that on September 26^th I received an honorable mention for one of my 5 piece dichroic glas fan necklaces at Festival in Park in Charlotte NC.

October 31st, 2009 | Category: View From My Booth | Leave a comment

Every now and then I find myself completely overwhelmed by everything I need to do.  I ended my last road trip by coming down with a terrible sore throat that turned into an ear infection. Not swine flu, just a run of the mill virus that knocks you on your can.  This happened at the end of a road trip.  So I returned home to stacks of mail and a long to do list.  I felt terrible and had no energy to face what was ahead of me. 

When I find myself overwhelmed by everything I need to go I use a technique I like to call the power of three.  I organize everything I need to do, and each day I pick the three most important things I need to do and tell myself that just for today I only need to complete these three tasks. This gives me the freedom, to either stop for the day and rest or keep working depending on how I feel.  If I’m sick I can stop and get the rest I need. If it’s a case of feeling overwhelmed, I gain new perspective.  This strategy brings a certain level of ease to my day and I can often get quite a bit done!

October 30th, 2009 | Category: Balancing Act | Leave a comment

I’m starting to plan new work that I would like to add to my line. My target date for having these new items ready is February of 2010.   I have been doing a lot of reflecting on my preparation for August Buyers Market of American Craft Show.  One key learning point for me is that preparation makes all the difference – not just being ready, but maintaining the right spirit during that process.  

When I first started preparing for last large wholesale show, I created a production schedule.  I looked at what I wanted to make, I took into account all the critical elements:

I wanted to make sure that everything could be ready by early July so that all the pieces could be photographed for the brochure and price list. I was pretty proud of myself for all this preliminary prep work.   I even made sure to account for time on the road as well as commitments to completing work for current customers. 

I had some ambitious ideas (like adding a gift line), but I felt that this planning would make that very doable. However, as it often likes to do, life intervened without taking into account my carefully planned schedule. Because of my saw challenges (see “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” for the full saga), I ended up losing 2 weeks work, and I still needed to go out of town which lost me even more work time. With the show deadline looming, I was now stuck playing catch up. Despite the fact that I would’ve loved to hurry things along or press the fast-forward button, there are certain things you just can’t make go faster,  each step in the process takes a certain amount of time, I try to be as efficient as possible, but real efficiency comes from experience.   Part of working in new areas is learning how to get it right, how to be the best you can be, where do need to spend time, where can you save time. Looking for tasks you want to get better at vs. tasks you want to delegate to other people.

I kept pushing myself to have all the things I had planned for ready, getting more and more anxious as I went along. I kept running into snags left and right, and I started making mistakes that I never make – I needed to do much more reworking than normal which ate up more time adding to my stress. I also had to juggle new set up requirements for my new items upsetting my normal production rhythm. Not to mention, I had to keep my inventory levels up for regular orders! I did end up making a variety of new items, but not all of them passed my “show-ready” criteria.

Instead of continuing to push myself, what I really needed to do was stop and reanalyzes my situation. Looking back, all of the problems I ran into were a result of not readjusting when life changed. I got so caught up in trying to do so many new things that I lost my focus and stopped enjoying the process of creation – one of my favorite parts of being a glass artist. I did have some success along the way.  But here’s the real deal, the only one that had any expectations of me was me.   So as I work through my plans for February it doesn’t really matter how many new items I have what matters is that I enjoy the journey. That I give myself permission to just stop and change my plans if I need to. I want to make sure that I don’t lose the joy of experimentation again.

Here are some of the new items I came up with. 

Dichroic Glass Tiles

More Jewelry for your wall

My favorite Dish

Pattern Bar Dish

A Funky Trivet

A Trio of Small Dishes

A Collection of Coasters

October 11th, 2009 | Category: New Work, What’s Cooking in the Corgi Cottage | Leave a comment

Last weekend I took a trip with two of my glass buddies to the Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center Fall Festival in Millville NJ.  I thoroughly enjoyed being on the “other side” of the booth.  I show my work at a few festivals a year, but never have the opportunity to take the time to enjoy artwork.  It was a nice change of pace.

We had a great time exploring the Museum of American Glass as well as the different Museum Stores. There is an opportunity to purchase all kinds of glass art from small works to large sculptures.  The buyers have taken great care to create a wonderful shopping experience.

The art festival provided an opportunity for us was nice to be on the “other side” of the booth.  There was a nice variety of artists represented at the festival.  It was good to see people buying art! 

The pick your own glass pumpkin patch was great fun. It featured both pumpkins and gourds made by artists at the creative glass center.  I selected a pumpkin to round out my fall decorations. The highlight of the weekend was the colossal pumpkin blow demonstration conducted by a team of arts at the Creative Glass Center of America.   The team work that went into this effort was amazing to watch.  They have great collection of pictures on their Facebook Page.

October 9th, 2009 | Category: Travel and Fun | Leave a comment

I needed to take a break from jewelry so I thought I’d try my hand at making some wall vases.  However, the jewelry maker in me just couldn’t resist adding a little wire wrapping.  Now all I need to do is add a few beads!

July 30th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Last Sunday I assembled and fired the some of the components I cut up with my saw.  I  was hoping to take a look at these items before I left, but the kiln temperature was 600 degrees and I figured with my luck, I open the kiln to take a look and everything would crack.  I got back from a week in WI playing the part of Nancy the Consultant, and was very pleased with the result.  Here are some pictures I took with my Iphone.  I still need to slump  and finish the blue and clear pieces.

July 30th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I have been hard at work in my studio this summer,  and have added a new piece to the NGlassworks collection - the Contemporary Pendant.

The new Contemporary Pendants take the NGlassworks’ signature color scheme and turn it into a more casual look. Featuring multiple layers of vibrant color and depth, these pendants have large holes threaded through with hand-dyed silk cord that can be finished with Swarovski crystals upon request. Contemporary Pendants are available in a red/bronze or jewel tone color palette.

For more information please  send me an email.

Also, next week August 1-3, I will be taking my work on the road to the Buyers Market of American Craft summer show in Philadelphia.  You can see the new Contemporary Pendants in person there.

You can find me (and the pendants) at booth #2618, and if you mention this blog post, you will receive 10% off your purchase.

Hope to see you there!

July 27th, 2009 | Category: New Work | Leave a comment