Today, Dane came with me to help make patterns for a huge entryway. Dane doesn't get out often due to his injuries, but he has great upper body strength and is very good with heights. So this was perfect since we had to do 17 tracings of panels..up off of the ground.

The paper patterns took nearly an hour and it took an hour each way to get there, but that was a well spent three hours. Dane insisted that Jeanne needed to go with us and it turned out that she was able to cut patterns to size as we fit them. She and I moved the scaffold several times, taking Dane for a ride. It was a pretty good adventure..we still don't have an approval on the design that we're working on but it looks like a pretty sure thing that we'll get this job. Now if they didn't need it completed by the end of June!

The pattern was drawn using AutoCAD and as we put the pieces in place most were right on, but several were off by a considerable margin. This is why we do it on paper before doing it in glass.

Designing several projects

Sometimes, when we get caught up, the newsletter is done, most jobs are on track and the house payment has been made; it's tempting to relax. Put off the many, many designs that have been asked for. They don't represent immediate business. In fact, many times they feel like work. Because they represent a nebulous promise of work in the future. Sometimes, even when we've been asked to submit designs to someone who says they want them and they have the money so will you please design something for us...it's so easy to just keep sailing along...complacent and taking your time!

That's not happening at the moment! Thankfully. I have several designs that are begging to be done and Jeanne has sketched some out and now she's impatiently waiting for me to get them on AutoCad and get them done! And it's fun drawing them! It's just that there are so many options and great ideas..which way to go, should that element be round because it looks good or should it be oblong so it doesn't look like that other panel? Maybe I should draw both ideas and let the client decide..but you have to be careful because if you give them too many choices, they won't be able to decide on anything.

Design, it's so great and I'm having fun!