Brand new today… a bracelet that is sure to put you in a good mood when you wear it.

Rainbow bracelet dichroic glass and sterling silver

• It is made of little squares of dichroic glass fused in a kiln.
• Each square is 1/2”.
• There is 11 squares/links in the bracelet, each in a different color shade.
• The total length is 7”. It fits regular size wrists, but if you need an adjustment, please let me know. It has to be done by adding or removing links, and can be done at no extra cost.
• The bracelet is sterling silver, it closes with a fold-over clasp.
• Signature silver tag.
• Comes wrapped in anti-tarnish paper, in a satin pouch (black or silver) and a gift box.
• Price is $39.
• Free shipping in the Continental US. Alaska, Hawaii and International, please contact me for a quote.

<click here for my Customer Service page>

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

How does it relate to glass? well… I don’t really know. However, since I’d like to talk about my inspirations (coming soon with new jewelry designs for the shooting sports enthusiasts), I think it’s about time that I come out of the closet about a controversial topic.

This new hobby of mine is recent. Until 3 months ago, I was used to be scared to death about guns. I did not want to hear about guns, I did not want to touch one, I even did not want to see one.
But I thought I’d better get to learn about them, first to loose my fear, and then in case I need to defend myself someday.
My husband took me to the range and I found out that not only guns are not as bad as they look, but they are a lot of fun. No… really… A LOT!
I like to shoot on targets. Maybe someday I’ll move up to the next level and shoot on stuff like watermelons, old milk jugs or go cathartic on my old windoze laptop that gave me so many headaches. But for now, I like to shoot on a big sheet of paper.

My husband helped me getting started and then I signed up for classes at our local range (Shooter’s World in Phoenix). I love it so much that I want to learn more and I am now the one pulling his sleeve to come with me training at the range.

I have noticed that for many people, guns are taboo. I think because they associate gun ownership with violence. All excited by my new passion, I talked about it around me. To find out that I was judged as a dangerous person by some people, especially in my country of origin (France). And nothing could be further from the truth.
I, like many other people, own a gun, am responsible about it, and like to shoot it for several reasons. And violence is not one of them.
Although I do support the self defense aspect of owning a gun, my interest is mainly recreational. I have found a great article that explain the various reasons why a person owns a gun. Click here to read it.

I personally own a Glock 19 (the one on the photo) enhanced with a few cool gadgets like a glow in the dark sight and a laser grip. Also I just got a 12 gauge Remington shotgun as an early Christmas present (thank you Santa!!). I do not know much about the shotgun yet -just that I loved it at first sight, no pun intended and that I had to have it!- and this is why I am taking a class in a few weeks.

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

• Verizon who shipped me a new Blackberry overnight to replace the one that decided to go crazy on me.

• my wonderful dentist, Sheila Naik, who saw me in emergency because what I thought was a cold sore was in fact an abscess on a wisdom tooth.

• Louis Paster for Penicillin!

• again my wonderful dentist who called me at 7:30 at night, to tell me that she has reviewed my x-rays and proposed me to extract the tooth. At first she gave me a referral to see an oral-surgeon because the extraction looks a little bit tricky. But she knows that I am scared to go there and that I will be more comfortable with her.

• the Universe who let me go uninjured when a guy ran in the back of my car at a red light. I am driving a little Jeep Compass, and he was driving a huge heavy-duty company truck. He has just a scar on his front bumper…. my trunk is totaled…

• my husband who was here right away to deal with the police (who by the way forgot to ask me if I was OK) and the insurance company, leaving me just to deal with the aftermath of the stress.

• my insurance company who was very helpful at explaining what to do and how to deal with the insurance of the guy.

• the Universe again who made my Macbook Pro survive the crash. Yes, it was in the trunk of the car… When I heard the big “boom”, this is the first thing that came to my mind. Oh s**t, my laptop!

• preventive mammogram who found that my girlfriend has breast cancer at a very early stage and is very treatable.

• Alyson Stanfield for elegantly refunding my money on the “Cultivate your collectors” class which was not a class for me.

• Janet, from wholesalecrafts.com, who created new categories for me to index my jewelry. And that at no charge.

• Daniel, from Shooter’s World in Phoenix, who recommended a Crimson Trace laser sight for my handgun, installed it, tuned it for me and taught me how to do it myself. Now that I have experienced a stressful situation, where mind and body stop to communicate, I fully understand how it can make a difference for me the day things turn out really bad…

• and my all time favorite: Ricky Martin and iTunes which allow me to download videos for $1.99 and watch them as many times I want. His upbeat music, dance moves, killer smile and good look always bring me back in the saddle when I am down! Go Ricky!!!

Yes, emotional things happened this week. But instead of whining and complaining, I much prefer to believe into the power of gratitude to make me feel better. Have you tried it?

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

Just a quick post before the show tomorrow. Yes, it’s Friday night and I am such a geek but I am glad I looked at my blog because I had published by accident a page that I was using for test. It looked kinda funny and no one told me I was nuts!!!

The set up this afternoon went fine. The show is located inside a rent-a-space glass studio. It is nice and roomy. Parked my car just right at the door. My best set up EVER!!!
No canopy, no dirt, no long walk loaded like a sherpa. And most of all no worries about the weather.
Ill try to post a photo tomorrow.

Besides, I have started an operation Feng Shui of all my paperwork. I got a fantastic small but kick-ass-fast scanner that swallows all my junk and stores it in an indexed database. I am going to write a detailed review of this one, because it’s a life saver for business owners with small memory capacity.
It’s going to take me a while to go through all I have accumulated for years, but I committed one hour a day to the task. Right now it looks daunting but I dream of the day where I’ll be able to find the information I need.

A bientôt!!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

A year and a half ago, my Toshiba laptop arrived at expiration date. It was slow, was making funny noises and had more and more brain farts. In short, he had to take a well earned retirement.

As you may have read in my biography, I have a computer/corporate background and when I had to purchase a computer from my art business, I went naturally to a Windoze system, because this was what I knew. This was a no brainer choice at the time. I survived windoze 95, 2000 and XP. I also ran out of my sanity with several generations of HP, Gateway and Dell (yes, dude, I got one!).

But this time, I had to think twice. Windoze has been replaced by Vista… bad rep… bad vibes… I will have to put up some serious investment in personal time to learn something that anyway did not give me envy to get up in the morning… I also will have to spend a ton of money to purchase a new printer, new scanner, new softwares… aarghh!!!

As I always follow my instinct, I went to look over the fence to see if the grass does not happen to be greener on the other side. Not the dark side where they have cookies, but the cool side where the geeks are cute and do not carry pencils in their shirt pocket!
As I entered for the first time in an Apple Store in May 2008, I heard angelic music because this was the day my administrative life changed for the better.

I know many artists/business owners/one person operation like me who are now also arriving at the end of life of their PC are also asking themselves… should I leave or should I stay? and they also ask me the same question.
To that I will answer without any hesitation: just do it. I did it and it made me a much happier person. You won’t regret it. Well, the only regret you’ll have is to not have done it earlier.

In this “MAC 101 for art business” series, not only I am going to explain why, but I am going to share the tricks of the trade I discovered and that helped me doing my job better and faster.
I won’t talk about gigastuff, megawidget and other technico mumbo jumbo. Not only I do not know much about that, but…who cares. As long as it works, is fast and easy, it’s my kind of poison.
I am artist first and small business owner second… one person operation with all the hats… therefore, anything that allows me to tackle my administrative work in a snap and therefore giving me more studio time is a good deal to me.
And this is what I am going to cover. Why and how packing up 5 pounds has made my working life better.

Next post of the series will be: first contact!

In the meantime, you can check their commercial ads here.
Not only some are totally hilarious, but they are so true and really well made. I wish I could afford their ad agency!

If you have questions and experience to share, your comment is welcome!

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

If you are in the Phoenix area this week-end (on the 24th and 25th October), I would like to invite to stop by “A taste of Art and Wine”.

This will be an intimate and fun indoor art show hosted by Fire Z Friends in Peoria.
8550 N. 91st Avenue, Peoria AZ T: 623-444-7918
From 10 am to 6pm….Peoria Arizona

Currently there are 20 artists with a multitude of talents: Blown glass, glass beads, art jewelry, soap, textiles, gourds and much more.

Of course, I’ll be there with some special glass pieces, sand carved beer glasses (it’s Octoberfest too!!) and I will introduce some new jewelry work. All of that at show special pricing.

Some other highlights of this show:
- Schlossadler International Wines will be pouring European Wines.
- Su Vino Winery will be pouring wines made right here at their Scottsdale Winery. – Wine Styles of Peoria at Park West will also pour a variety of their favorites.
- “Its A Grind” Will be mixing different coffee drinks both hot and cold for your enjoyment.
- Fletcher Music providing beautiful organ music through the entire event.
- Avira, A Flute Duo will play Sunday afternoon.
- the ASGB (Az Society of Glass Bead Makers) will also be demonstrating the art of lampwork bead making.

Please stop by and spread the word to your local friends, family and coworkers to help make this years “Taste of Art and Wine” a must attend event!

I hope to see you there. A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

So, here it is… the last post of my series about wholesalecrafts.com. Once again, this is MY point of view and other artists may have (and certainly have) other points of view.
Those who make a lot of sales are saying this is the best thing that ever happened to them.
Those who do not make any sale are saying this is a waste of money.
And between those 2 extremes, there are a lot of space to navigate.
So, if you are reading this post and have some thought to share, your comments are welcome.

First, there is something important I forgot to talk about: the customer service.
It has been my experience that the team is really helpful and committed to please both artists and buyers. They are always here to answer questions, help, give advices. In short, I feel that they care! and that’s a big plus in the balance.

This site and the concept behind it are unique. As far as I know, there is no equivalent out there. There are a lot of pros and cons as to be on this site. Everything is not perfect over there, but to me so far, the pros are outweighing the cons and as long as they do, I’ll still be there.
There are a few things I could bring into the light, but I choose to focus on the positive. I still keep an eye on the negative to make sure I keep it under control, but I mainly focus on the positive, which is my general philosophy in life.

There are many ways for an artist to make a living out of their work. And from where I stand, wholesale should be part of it.
But wholesale is a commitment and is not made for everyone. All types of work are not made for the wholesale market. For example, this plate that took you 8 hours to decorate with tiny elements using tweezers may have to go on an art show, not wholesale. And if the thought of making another one of these red bowls just make you throw up, maybe wholesale is not for you.

There is a big myth about wholesalecrafts.com that it’s like to kill. Many artists think that being there is the end. I know, I was one of them.
You are in, you upload you photos, and you just sit here waiting that orders pour in. Because we all want to spend more time in the studio, and less time doing promotion. After all, we are artists, not marketing gurus.
Something that twist my panties is the kind of testimonial, prominently displayed on the site, that says something like “in one hour of being up on the site, I’ve got an order that paid for my yearly subscription”. Yes, it may happen, it has happened. Once in a while, beginner’s luck shows up. Then, when did the next order arrived?
If this type of feedback makes sense on a marketing point of view (afterall, let’s not forget that wsc.com makes a living out of artists’ dreams), it gives a false sense to new artists that all we have to do is be there. Just sit and wait. Because when it does not happen, frustration kicks in.
It happened to me. After 3 months, no order. Not one. Nothing, nada, rien, zilch! so, it made me think about what I was doing wrong. I reviewed my work, started to advertise, and my first order came in. Followed by another, and another…
Being there is not the end, it is just the beginning!
You’ll have to work on your products (is it what buyers are looking for? how are my photos? my prices?) and on yourself (how is my artist statement? how do I present myself to buyers? do I have the guts to make it?).
You’ll have to advertise and to stay on top of your market.
And then, if it does not come right away, you’ll have not to throw the towel. Many artists told me it takes two years before making it. Right now, I think it takes more time.
The secret is to keep your name out there, in front of the retailers.

Since we are talking about the retailers… I believe that the majority of the retailers you’ll meet on wsc.com are not what I would call art galleries. They are mostly gift shops, moms and pops, flower shops, spas, kitchen stores…. not all are 100% handmade in America. There are some art and crafts galleries, but a minority.
However, no business is too small. I do not mind who orders, as long as they order and they are correct in business (he, if I want to make sure about who is represented next to my work, I can go back to consignment, isn’t?). But it gives some pointers as to the type of work that will make it in this environment.
Right now, the trend is all about items at no more than $15 wholesale, especially jewelry. Average order is between $150 and $200.
So, if you are a new artist, my advice to you is to get ready to hang in there, not get discouraged, think out of the box, not put all your eggs in the same basket and be smart!

I learned a tremendous amount of things about the business of wholesale, about my work and about myself. Many things that are going to help me move further in my career.

The series is now complete, but I’ll put some updates and news as they come.
I hope you enjoyed it and once again, if you have questions and/or comments, please feel free to reply to this post.

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

The last feature I have not talked about yet is the discussion board.

On the site, there are several forums for members only:

- artists to artists,
- artists to retailers,
- retailers to retailers,
- announcements,
- ACRE,
- and a cool “ask Steve” where you can ask Steve Meltzer questions about photography.

And like all discussion boards, they can be a blessing and a curse.

From my artist point of view, the blessing is that we can discuss with other artists. Help and get help, share information and point of views, stay connected, vent…
The curse is that there are buyers who can access all the boards and judge you for what you ask or say.

The retailers who have access to the “artists to artists” board are those who wear two hats. Artist and gallery owner. But you will find mostly artists over there. Still, beware of the double agents!!

The “artists to retailers” board is like a mine field. Ideally, it could be great to ask feedback from retailers and exchange ideas with them. But in reality, you take the risk to be judged for your questions and your opinions. Beware of this area.

The “retailers to retailers” board is off limit to the artists, unless once again they are wearing two hats. And retailers can be double agents too! Ha!!!
We do know that retailers are using the R-R board to maintain a list of artists to avoid and to work with….
Which is frown upon by the artist community. We are paying good money to be on wholesalecrafts.com and we do not appreciate to have our efforts and reputations ruined by one vindictive buyer who can access the site for free. Let’s not forget that selling our work is our living… and that if a retailer has a problem, the best is to deal directly with the artists before trashing their names.

Something to note: unless this has changed, when you connect as an invited artist to just look around, you cannot access the forums. I do not know why…. maybe they do not want you to see the squelettons in the closet, or bother artists and retailers with questions while you are not member, or both… but this is pure conjecture of my part.

The announcement board is to announce new work, free shipping, clearance, etc… but it is not really visited.

ACRE board is obviously there to discuss about the show. Questions about lightning? hotels? shipping? juts go there and you’ll have answers.

Then you have “ask Steve”. We all know Steve Meltzer. He is a well known arts and crafts photographer, guest writer in many magazines like Art Calendar and the author of the excellent book “Photographing Arts, Crafts and Collectibles”.
Ask any question about photography in this forum and Steve will reply to you directly. And he is fast too!!

Next post will be the last one of the series: wrap up and my personal conclusion based on my own experience (so, take it for what it’s worth!).

A bientôt!
Patricia

I realize this is almost a month that I have not posted anything. Ouch!!
Although life is still tough out there for us artists, I have had quite a few orders to ship.
I am also preparing a small local art show on October 24th and 25th at Fire Z Friends in Peoria.
And getting ready to launch my new line of jewelry.
Just plenty to keep me busy in the studio and far away from the computer.

But I am finishing working on the last posts of the series about wholesalecrafts.com and they will be out before the end of this week.

Because a new series is coming right after: how packing up an extra 5 pounds improved my life. No, I am not going to talk about chocolate and ice cream, but about Mac (and not the big one from the clown LOL).
A year and a half ago, I have made the switch from PC to Mac and not only it was love at first sight (I can’t resist cool looks), but it has helped me working better and faster.
Since, I have had so many artists friends who asked me questions about my experience, that I decided to share it here. Stay tuned, it’s coming!!!

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

This exhibit was held during winter 08 and spring 09 and I finally took the time to put together a slide show to share with you. There was so much to see…

This was a fantastic exhibit and, as you will see on the photos, the glass has been designed to integrate perfectly with the environment in a way that they both complement each other. This was really eye candy!!!

The Phoenix Botanical Garden is a living museum of succulents plants that are found in the Southwest. When visiting Phoenix, there is not much to see. But the Desert Botanical Garden is not to be missed.
You will find more information on their web site at www.dbg.org

Dale Chihuly… who has not heard about him… a unique character who has been of great influence within the Studio Glass movement.
As in his own words: “Over time, I developed the most organic, natural way of working with glass, using the least amount of tools that I could. The glass looks as if it comes from nature”.
Some of the great Botanical Gardens such as the New York Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanical Garden (southwest of London) have recently exhibited his work.
The exhibition at the Phoenix Botanical Garden was the first Chihuly installation enterely within a desert garden environment.

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!