Stained Glass At The Covey Center

The opening gala of the new show at the Covey Center went off well. You can see Jeanne explaining to some people how the silent auction worked. We raised over a hundred dollars for the Childrens Art Program at the Covey Center. My photo of the artists is incomplete, we posed and then Lynn came back and we took another with someone elses camera.

The show will continue for the rest of the month. We had 24 stained glass pieces that we built last year on display.

New Series Of Women

This new Series shows four women at various times through out the day. We named each panel after a Greek goddess that was associated with the time of day shown in the scene. The one pictured here is Aurora, who is the goddess of the morning.

We also show Iris who rules the daytime and Persephone goddess of the evening and finally Selene who rules the night. It's fun to research these fictional deities. The Greeks had great stories and descriptions of each of them.

Each of the four panels are loosely based on famous painting and illustrations to give them a more historical, heirloom feel.

I Like Mondays

No really, I like Mondays! There are so many songs that are negative about the first day of the week, "Monday, Monday can't stand that day.." "Just another Maniac Monday, wish it were Sunday.." You've heard them and believed them. But Monday is the day that we look at the world and the next week with fresh eyes. We take our trash to the street on Monday and it gets hauled away so we get to start over fresh!

And we review our progress from last week and plan for the next week. So it's all about a re-birth, kind of like when the seasons change, but it happens each week. Review the past, plan the future. It's pretty good!

Address Icon For Your Website

I've wanted one of these little logos next to my website address ever since I first noticed them. Now Favicon has created a site that makes it quite easy to do it. http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/ is the place to learn how to do it.

Websites are funny things

If you look at the little Google bar on your browser (if you have it) You'll see that little bar that has a bit of green in it. When you hover your mouse over it, you'll see text that announces that the page has an importance rank assigned to it by Google. Several years ago, our little bar announced that we had an importance of 4/10 which was pretty good. But Google changed everything and our rating dropped to 2/10 an okay rating but nothing to brag about.

We hired a company who guarenteed that if we paid them a hundred dollars a month they would help our numbers improve. After one year, our rating was 2/10. So we keep trying to improve on our own, but just haven't found the key.

In the meantime, we continue to provide good content on our website. I post new projects to the Gomm Studos Portfolio Pages often and Better Stained Glass has a new article every month. Maybe those statics just don't mean that much. Please tell your friends about our sites and link up to them so others can enjoy the articles!

Farmers Market In June

Last weekend we setup at the Provo Farmers Market. We plan to keep going throughout the summer. It was nice to get a chance to talk to people, it wasn't too hard to set up and the weather was nice. A pleasant way to spend a Saturday.

There are so many projects to try!

There are just so many stained glass projects to try! I often wonder why I haven't done more. There are just so many different ways to work with glass and techniques to practice and get better at, it's just a lifelong practice to dedicate yourself to. I keep finding more things to try, to perfect. What a joy it is to embark on working on new skills and returning to techniques we've put aside for awhile.

We're Working On Sidelites

They really look great. The client has spent some time in Africa and will be going back after getting some Masters classes in. So there is a distinctive African flavor to the windows. Jeanne had fun hand picking the colors and after we got them cut and fit, she swapped out some of the pieces so the windows would be perfect.

I soldered for a few hours today and have to admit that it was pretty fun!

GLASS show at Terra Nova Gallery

The place is Terra Nova Gallery, the show is called "Glass" and was put together by Andy Kosorok. This is a really good show, lots of different examples of different glass art (we were the "traditional" example) If you love glass, you'll love this show. The Gallery is at 41 West 300 North, Provo, Utah and the glass show runs from May 1 to June 26, 2009 They are open Monday -Friday 10 am to 6 pm. There will be a LIVE Glass Demonstration Friday June 5, from 6 to 9 pm.

Jewelry Boxes Make Good Gifts

We stacked up a bunch of Jewelry boxes yesterday when Dallas Golden came over to shot the second video in our project series. He also brought the first draft of the picture frame video. It's very good, just needs to have some sound adjustments. While watching it, I'm amazed that I can see some of the soldering better than in real life. I have to admit that it may be better than our first video. The first took over five years to get complete because we kept having to change people and pick up the project, do a piece and then find someone else. Dallas got this together in less than a month and it looks so good. It's longer than the first video, right at 1 hour.

When You Don't Get The Job

Okay, some folks are just weird. About two weeks ago, some people called us and made an appointment to come to our studio to talk about a piece of glass. They came and Jeanne and the woman talked about the design they wanted for a stained glass window. They drew a sketch and they picked out all the colors for the window and set them out on a table, ready to cut.

I had a nice time, showing the husband different projects in various stages and telling him about how stained glass was built. So..they left and I drew the design on AutoCAD, sent it to them with a price (around $400). A day or two passed and I called to see when they wanted us to start. Husband was out of town and he'll call when he gets back. A few days go by, I call again. "Oh, I'm not sure what my husband has decided, I'll have him call tonight." We wait. I call mobile phone next day. Husband says we've decide to go a different way. I ask if they've decided against stained glass. "No, but we've decided to go with another company." So I start quizzing the guy because I want to know what lost us the job. I mean we drew drawings immediately to their specifications and were poised to start cutting glass. Maybe it was price..no they are getting the other design done for about $600.

Bottom line, I still don't have a clue why they went with someone else and why they chose to pay more money for a lesser piece of glass. People are really weird. Jeanne says I'm taking this too hard. She points out that we've not gotten jobs before and it just rolled off my back, no big deal. But this time I seem to be taking it to heart. And I guess she's right, but it's just that I can't explain any good reason that these people went with another artist....hmmm

The Chipboard House

We went to meet a client the other day to measure for stained glass. It was a little surprising when we arrived to the home and found a chipboard box. No finishing details yet. So we're a long way from actually being able to measure for windows. At least we're talking to the home owner early in the project.

Elk Window

I've metioned the Elk window we've been working on on facebook. It's really looking good. I think the client will really like the great colors. Jeanne spent a lot of time and care picking the colors so they would be realistic.

Platter For Wedding Reception

We're making some platters so we can make some cupcake stands for Katherine's wedding reception. We thought it would be cool to make them ourselves so that we could put some custom colors into the platters. The two in the foreground are the two largest and were quite complex to create, but they really look good.

A New Look For Our Website

Every year or so, I get the feeling that things look a little tired on our website and I feel driven to do a makeover on it. So that's what I'm up to now, the photo above is a work in progress, it's not the final new look, but it's a step towards a new look. Content won't change that much, but I'm reorganizing hoping that the flow of the user experience is smoother.
If you want to see the new look as it progresses, go to www.gommstudios.com and click on the temporary link to the working page.

Summer Bear Life Balance

Here's a screen shot of the opening page when you get to the Summer Bear Site.
Nadhirrah (na-dear-uh)is an author and healty food advocate. We meet each other at many small business functions. Our small business are growing at about the same rate, so we have many concerns in common. I volunteered to write web pages for Nadhirrah several years ago and she took me up on the deal. (The price was right-$0)
She now has announced a facebook group called "Summer Bear" and you can also join "Utah Raw Foods" on facebook.

Picture Frame Video

Last week we met with Dallas Golden and shot video for an instructional video on "How To Make A Stained Glass Picture Frame." We notice that most stained glass students have from one to three windows in them and then they start to run out of ideas.
This video and subsequent ones are designed to help breathe new life into the art of glass. So we think it will help to inspire stained glass artists to dust off the old tools and make some pieces for their homes and gifts for their friends.

Closet Glass

We had the Art Nuevo window we built in Nov/Dec in our front window. But now we're ready to put it in the space that we made it for. So we took it out of our front window and placed it in the window in our bedroom closet. It took awhile, we had to clear the area out and modify the window to fit. I took it and placed it in the window this evening. I still have to put in some hooks, but it's so good because it gives us a new level of privacy. And the window still lets in plenty of light.

More "Hope" Stars - the mini size

We decided that we needed to make some little "Hope" stars. These are so very cute and I'm glad because I was up till about 4 in the morning stacking them together so they could be fired. Hours later, we were able to look at them and most were successful. Now we plan to make some this size with clear glass behind them, to avoid edges, so they will be suitable for children.

There is something happy and whimsical about these little stars that fill you with hope and joy.

Katherines Cake Topper

Katherine is very original and Scott is a good sport. She wants a certain topper for her wedding cake, but hasn't seen one, so she's making her own. She made one yesterday out of playdough so she can model the one which will be made out of something more durable.

The "Hope" Fused Star Necklace -Mar 2009

This month, it took forever to get the newsletter out. This, because we needed to write a new article from scratch. Why? Because we really wanted to feature the "Hope" necklace.

To us, it seems like the country is filled with naysayers who are trying to convince us that bad times are here and they are only going to get worse. But we choose to believe in HOPE and we're sure that good times never really left and that better times are just around the corner. It's all a state of mind and we want to promote that sentiment with the HOPE necklace.

Click on the title above to go to the article. Click Here to go to our Etsy store and order one.

Cultured Sea Glass-Mostly Colored-On Etsy

We are proud of the "cultured sea glass" we make. We came on the idea when a student suggested it. A rock tumbler and a little experimenting later, we made our first batch. It's been for sale for a while in our glass store (click here)

Now we've added it to our Etsy store (click here) but it's strange because many folks seem to be doing a fine business on Etsy, but for us to date, we haven't yet sold anything and our grandson Landon who has been doing it longer, has yet to sell anything (click for his store).

Charm School

We taught Melanie how to make charms because she wanted to make them as a business. Now, that pays off for us, because she has offered us a chance to solder charms for her to keep up with orders! These are the same type of charms that we offer kits for (click here to see kits) Melanie has a flair for design and marketing that is world class. We hope that hanging with her and her organization will let some of that talent rub onto us!

So we went by the other day and the girls showed us how they make charms, just like we do. It's a little strange, first we teach Melanie how to make charms, then she creates a charm business and then, when I told her we were working on a video on how to make charms, she got a little upset. In her mind, she taught us how to make them not the other way around...weird

Having Fun Building Glass Panel

Working on this divider is great fun, you can see that Lynde and Jeanne are having a great time. Look at the window, it's coming right along. We finished cutting out all the clear Artique background and cut some pink for some of the flowers. We're going to hold off till Lynde's folks get a chance to look at it Saturday so they can have have input into the color palete of the panel.

We Went To The Big Business Fair

We went to the BIG Business Fair today. It will be held tommorrow as well. It's a yearly event sponsered by the Orem/Provo Chamber of Commerce. This year we didn't hear from as many of our small business friends about the fair and saw very few of them there.
We try to gather pens each year as a kind of game to force ourselves to visit every booth and I really do try to make connections with people that might be able to help our business grow. But, it's getting hard to find new faces and new companies. We find that we've attended so many that the fair is becoming predictable. Dexter & Dexter Attorneys will be handing out pizza at the entrance and we appreciate that.

But we really try to listen to each exhibitor, to get to what they really have to offer and hope to make one or two good contacts. All in all it was a valuable experience today and we did come home with a few pens!

Working On A Window For Lynde Mott

We are really having fun working on this divider panel for Lynde Mott. She is going to install it in her parents home between two rooms and then she will paint a beautiful mural which will extend out from the scene in the window.

Her Dad wonders if they deserve such a wonderful piece of art in their home. Lynde assures them that they're worth it!

Keepin On With The Work

Things have been slow recently. January and February have been slow at times in the past, but business has been more slow than usual.
So we've been taking this time to work on projects that we've wanted to do in the past and see if they might develop into something worthwhile. Jeanne has been working on her Mandala Pattern Book, the photo is a drawing of her "Tree of Life" mandala.
Our DVD is available on Amazon now and you can even order it from our website by clicking here and so we've done some preliminary work on another one. Why is it that everytime we try to work on another element of video instruction, we always seem to need another piece of equipment. Maybe we'll eventually have it all!

Etsy Store

A few weeks ago, there was an article about Etsy in the Daily Herald Sunday paper. They made it sound so easy and simple to sell your art, that we decieded we better advertise on Etsy.

Last summer, Landon and Christy started an Etsy store for him (click here to go to it) So we had some idea that it wasn't going to be an easy, overnight success that the newspaper article seemed to imply. But it does look really good and they have a little code that let me put the items we have for sale right on our website (click here to see it). So we're giving Etsy a try!

"Falling In Place," The Stained Glass Cube

We spent several days building "Falling In Place," The Stained Glass Cube." It was a fun challenge, coming up with a concept that would show the steps of creation for a show in February. Around the outside of the box are the words "Imagine, Create, Share and Inspire." These are the words which describe the process of the creative cycle. On the bottom of the base is a paper pattern with poster patterns placed on top of the print. This demonstrates how we start with a paper pattern and then cut out cardboard pattern pieces to be able to trace the glass outline. There are seven pieces of glass that have been cut out, inside the cube at different heights to look as if they are being placed onto the pattern. The first couple of pieces are cut and ground, the next are cut, ground and foiled and the last have been foiled and soldered to give the impression of the steps that the construction will follow. On top of the box is the completed panel.