Here is a panel that is in need of brightening. The blackness of the patina is dull and you can see that there is a buildup of pale corrosion around the edges of the lead lines.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
May-Re Applying Patina To A Stained Glass Panel
Here is a panel that is in need of brightening. The blackness of the patina is dull and you can see that there is a buildup of pale corrosion around the edges of the lead lines.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Competition Is Only An Illusion
It's important that we as stained glass artists realize that we are not in competition with each other. There is a tendency to see someone else’s success and feel jealous. “I should have gotten that commission, I could have done better.” We see artists in all mediums belittling their colleagues work. What’s wrong with us? Are we working from an attitude of scarcity or abundance? Those who have a view of life that there exists abundance become much more open and able to feel joy for the success of others. They are able to be inspired by the work of others instead of feeling jealous.
When I started in stained glass in 1983, I wasn't making enough to support us by only doing glass. Somehow, I stumbled onto video rentals and soon I had three video rental stores in three different towns. What's interesting is that in one town, another person opened a video rental store right behind ours on the same block. We thought we were really going to be in fierce competition.
The other store lasted a year and then the owner relocated to another town. During that year, the store located in the town with the “competitor” did about $1200 in rentals each week, so did the store in a nearby town that had no competition. After the other store closed down, our revenues went up for a week or so, but leveled back to about $1200 a week. If that other guy was so much competition, shouldn’t the stores’ revenues have doubled when he closed? Hmmm.
Later, three other video stores opened in the town where there was no competition. Guess what? There was very little change in that stores receipts. There was a slight dip in the stores revenues, but not anywhere near enough to hurt us. Huh, that just didn’t seem right.
A couple of years ago, a major stained glass studio in Salt Lake City, Utah closed their doors. We sell stained glass in Salt Lake through a couple of decorators and are located about 50 miles south of there. If it were true that we were in competition with each other, my business would have gone up. But it didn’t, what another store does has very little effect on us. Except that if someone starts a heavy advertising campaign, interest in stained glass goes up and it’s almost as if their campaign was one of our own. So having people around in the same business only SEEMS like you’re in competition. Their marketing efforts help me!
Recently, our studio worked with two other “competitors” on a project. We were contacted to build some large windows to go in doors in an office building. They would have to be insulated between tempered glass and rather than use the local big glass guys who routinely make mistakes and even damage windows, we approached our nearest competitors, a stained glass shop who have been in business for many years. They turned out to be very friendly and helpful and even though the price for their work was 50% higher than that other glass shop, the value was there because they treated our work as if it was their own.
When I asked if they could install the glass, they were too busy, but they recommended another glass company who specializes in installations. The install went so well, that we’ve asked for other help from that third company.
So instead of being “competitors”, by using each others talents and strengths, it’s almost like we’re partners. The glass shop that did the insulated units doesn’t teach classes, so they give out our business cards to people who ask about classes and they send folks to us when they don’t have a specific piece of glass in stock.
Your natural instinct may be that if my students go buy tools from a different glass studio, I’m losing money, but don’t forget that the folks at the other studio are coming to you and making purchases. It’s a win-win situation. You and your neighbor studio sell more to each others students because they visit and everything in your studio looks new, because they haven’t been there before. The students win, because they get to see the same things in a different setting and it breathes new life into their hobby.
What if they start building windows for their friends and become competitors? Then treat them like partners, like long lost friends. Their circle of influence is completely different than yours and so it doesn’t matter if they are selling to others, they were never going to be your customers anyhow. And besides that, the more people who learn about stained glass in your area, the more popular it will become. And the more educated the community is about glass, the more valued it will become.
Have you ever wondered why all the car lots seem to cluster together? They all seen to locate on a single road, rows of them. Because they know that there is power in numbers. That they aren’t really in competition with one another. By locating closely to each other, they create a synergy where the two separate lots might have sold a number of cars by themselves, but by being near each other, they’ll each sell more than they would have.
Get over the jealousy and you can really enjoy your business. The other store owners will become your best friends instead of your enemies. Sounds good? Try it.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
When I started in stained glass in 1983, I wasn't making enough to support us by only doing glass. Somehow, I stumbled onto video rentals and soon I had three video rental stores in three different towns. What's interesting is that in one town, another person opened a video rental store right behind ours on the same block. We thought we were really going to be in fierce competition.
The other store lasted a year and then the owner relocated to another town. During that year, the store located in the town with the “competitor” did about $1200 in rentals each week, so did the store in a nearby town that had no competition. After the other store closed down, our revenues went up for a week or so, but leveled back to about $1200 a week. If that other guy was so much competition, shouldn’t the stores’ revenues have doubled when he closed? Hmmm.
Later, three other video stores opened in the town where there was no competition. Guess what? There was very little change in that stores receipts. There was a slight dip in the stores revenues, but not anywhere near enough to hurt us. Huh, that just didn’t seem right.
A couple of years ago, a major stained glass studio in Salt Lake City, Utah closed their doors. We sell stained glass in Salt Lake through a couple of decorators and are located about 50 miles south of there. If it were true that we were in competition with each other, my business would have gone up. But it didn’t, what another store does has very little effect on us. Except that if someone starts a heavy advertising campaign, interest in stained glass goes up and it’s almost as if their campaign was one of our own. So having people around in the same business only SEEMS like you’re in competition. Their marketing efforts help me!
Recently, our studio worked with two other “competitors” on a project. We were contacted to build some large windows to go in doors in an office building. They would have to be insulated between tempered glass and rather than use the local big glass guys who routinely make mistakes and even damage windows, we approached our nearest competitors, a stained glass shop who have been in business for many years. They turned out to be very friendly and helpful and even though the price for their work was 50% higher than that other glass shop, the value was there because they treated our work as if it was their own.
When I asked if they could install the glass, they were too busy, but they recommended another glass company who specializes in installations. The install went so well, that we’ve asked for other help from that third company.
So instead of being “competitors”, by using each others talents and strengths, it’s almost like we’re partners. The glass shop that did the insulated units doesn’t teach classes, so they give out our business cards to people who ask about classes and they send folks to us when they don’t have a specific piece of glass in stock.
Your natural instinct may be that if my students go buy tools from a different glass studio, I’m losing money, but don’t forget that the folks at the other studio are coming to you and making purchases. It’s a win-win situation. You and your neighbor studio sell more to each others students because they visit and everything in your studio looks new, because they haven’t been there before. The students win, because they get to see the same things in a different setting and it breathes new life into their hobby.
What if they start building windows for their friends and become competitors? Then treat them like partners, like long lost friends. Their circle of influence is completely different than yours and so it doesn’t matter if they are selling to others, they were never going to be your customers anyhow. And besides that, the more people who learn about stained glass in your area, the more popular it will become. And the more educated the community is about glass, the more valued it will become.
Have you ever wondered why all the car lots seem to cluster together? They all seen to locate on a single road, rows of them. Because they know that there is power in numbers. That they aren’t really in competition with one another. By locating closely to each other, they create a synergy where the two separate lots might have sold a number of cars by themselves, but by being near each other, they’ll each sell more than they would have.
Get over the jealousy and you can really enjoy your business. The other store owners will become your best friends instead of your enemies. Sounds good? Try it.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Monday, April 17, 2006
Dragging Myself Out Of Depression
I have been cursed with depression most of my adult life. I especially remember that my bouts of depression would center around the delivery cycle of The Mother Earth News magazine. It came every two months and I would read it from cover to cover and then, usually fall into a blue period which would sometimes turn into depression. I figured that it was because the magazine caused me to dream of freedom and a different lifestyle which was very different from the one I was living. I didn’t feel there was a way to live the life I longed for, that I was stuck, so I became depressed.
As time went on, I noticed that when I was under a lot of stress, my depression cycle deepened. When I sold books door to door, the job was very stressful and I would be able to work at selling for two weeks and then each third week, I would be unable to face the world and stayed in bed for a week. Then I would feel ready to face things again, sell for another two weeks and retreat to sleep for another week. This was not a healthy cycle, it really put a strain on relationships with others. I was lucky that Jeanne was able to cope with my ups and downs.
When I faced a crisis of sorts about the age of 28 and irrationally moved to Missouri without any job or prospects (following the Mother Earth News lifestyle) I found that depression left me for a long period of time. My stress levels were lower, and I was living a life that was closer to the one I desired. My cycle was still there, I still had a tendency to get a little down, but it was dip in my mood, rather than a full depression. So I had a few pretty good years. I started a stained glass business and rented videos from the three stores I started, things were pretty good.
Then I made some “responsible” choices, going to college and joining the regular workforce and slowly my depression cycle returned. I think the cycle is a naturally occurring ebb and flow that we all have and that the deep depression was my subconscious minds’ way of trying to deal with life choices it didn’t agree with. As I struggled with employment issues and dealing with teenaged children my depression really became a monster that sometimes completely stopped me in my tracks. I would find myself unable to do the simplest tasks. I began visiting a depression treatment center, encouraged by a councilor to figure out what was wrong so that I could be over this once and for all. That was one of the worst times of my life, because I had no way to get out of the cycle of depression. I wasn’t working, so didn’t get that positive lift to my ego. The medications seemed to do little to help. And the kids weren’t making life any easier.
Eventually, I just went back to work and forgot all the depression center nonsense and my mood immediately rose. They say men derive self esteem from work and women derive self esteem from their relationships. That may be true because I certainly began to feel better being back at work. Still the cycle continued, at least I found that anytime I got a cold, I stayed sick longer than normal. A cold that would cause a normal person to miss a day of work would knock me out for a week. This effects your reputation at work and has a negative impact on your career. I began to suspect that I might have allergies that were causing me to be physically overwhelmed and thereby affecting my mental state.
Good theory, but when I finally learned that I had type 2 diabetes (in 2003) I finally understood why I had these lingering illnesses. Diabetics typically have symptoms three times longer than others. Their systems abilities to fight off colds and flu are less, so they need to be careful to avoid sickness. And being sick opens the door to depression, mental states are lower and your ability to cope goes down when you feel helpless.
My depression cycle still continued, but since I knew why I was unable to give good consistent work to an employer, I determined to go back to stained glass full time. It had been part time from the day I sold my business back in 1984, now it’s full time again. One of the benefits of being self employed is that if I’m having a bad day, I can go to work later. I can adjust my work hours to go along with how I’m feeling. Some days I’m only up to 3 or 4 hours of work and some days I’m up to putting in 10 or 12 hours of work. Depression is not as much of an issue any longer because I’m doing what I love and so my stress levels are at a level I can handle.
But occasionally, the monster of the “artistic temperament” raises its’ head and I have to deal with it. I have found a few ways of coping with depression over the years.
First, when you find yourself getting down, try to look inside and see what is causing the additional stress. Getting down is normal, it’s when you start to not be able to deal with it that you have a problem, so look inside and see what’s going on. Are you facing moral issues that weigh heavily on you? Is your life not tracking where you want it to? What is it that seems to be trapping you? Once you find your answers, you can begin to dream of ways to bring your life back into control, which will lessen your feelings of helplessness. It may be something as simple as starting a savings account for a vacation that you want to take, or starting a plan to get out of debt. Your problems won’t disappear, but your attitude towards them will make them feel less threatening.
Second, make sure that the little voice in your head is positive and not negative. Write yourself a little commercial that you read to yourself everyday and throughout the day. It should be positive and state what a winner you are and how successful you are, it should reflect your dreams and state them as if they are already a reality. This little recitation to yourself will turn away the negative that can grind you down and allow you to get to a place where you can handle things again. When I can’t work up the energy to even read my affirmation, I sing a little song which I made up (patterned on one they taught when I was selling):
It’s a great day to be a glass man,
Best Thing I know,
It’s a great day to be a glass man,
Everywhere I go, go, go, go
Cut my own pieces,
Put them back together,
It’s a great, great day to be a glass man,
No matter what the weather.
It’s a very dopey song, but I find that no matter how down I am, I can mumble this and it raises my attitude enough to croak it and then to sing it and then to believe it. And if I believe I’m happy, then I am.
Third, and most important, I have to let God into my life. When I’m down, I don’t believe in anything, not God and not Jeanne and not my own abilities. But if I can open up just a little and talk to God and ask for help, he always helps in some way. He didn’t give us life so we can suffer, we’re here to have joy and get out of ourselves and look around us and see the good in life and enjoy it and see the suffering around us and reach out to help relieve that suffering that others are experiencing.
Depression is a natural event, in my life anyway. So I figure it must be a natural event in your life as well. It’s neither good or bad, it just is. How we deal with it, that’s what determines the difference between those whose lives work and those whose lives don’t work.
As time went on, I noticed that when I was under a lot of stress, my depression cycle deepened. When I sold books door to door, the job was very stressful and I would be able to work at selling for two weeks and then each third week, I would be unable to face the world and stayed in bed for a week. Then I would feel ready to face things again, sell for another two weeks and retreat to sleep for another week. This was not a healthy cycle, it really put a strain on relationships with others. I was lucky that Jeanne was able to cope with my ups and downs.
When I faced a crisis of sorts about the age of 28 and irrationally moved to Missouri without any job or prospects (following the Mother Earth News lifestyle) I found that depression left me for a long period of time. My stress levels were lower, and I was living a life that was closer to the one I desired. My cycle was still there, I still had a tendency to get a little down, but it was dip in my mood, rather than a full depression. So I had a few pretty good years. I started a stained glass business and rented videos from the three stores I started, things were pretty good.
Then I made some “responsible” choices, going to college and joining the regular workforce and slowly my depression cycle returned. I think the cycle is a naturally occurring ebb and flow that we all have and that the deep depression was my subconscious minds’ way of trying to deal with life choices it didn’t agree with. As I struggled with employment issues and dealing with teenaged children my depression really became a monster that sometimes completely stopped me in my tracks. I would find myself unable to do the simplest tasks. I began visiting a depression treatment center, encouraged by a councilor to figure out what was wrong so that I could be over this once and for all. That was one of the worst times of my life, because I had no way to get out of the cycle of depression. I wasn’t working, so didn’t get that positive lift to my ego. The medications seemed to do little to help. And the kids weren’t making life any easier.
Eventually, I just went back to work and forgot all the depression center nonsense and my mood immediately rose. They say men derive self esteem from work and women derive self esteem from their relationships. That may be true because I certainly began to feel better being back at work. Still the cycle continued, at least I found that anytime I got a cold, I stayed sick longer than normal. A cold that would cause a normal person to miss a day of work would knock me out for a week. This effects your reputation at work and has a negative impact on your career. I began to suspect that I might have allergies that were causing me to be physically overwhelmed and thereby affecting my mental state.
Good theory, but when I finally learned that I had type 2 diabetes (in 2003) I finally understood why I had these lingering illnesses. Diabetics typically have symptoms three times longer than others. Their systems abilities to fight off colds and flu are less, so they need to be careful to avoid sickness. And being sick opens the door to depression, mental states are lower and your ability to cope goes down when you feel helpless.
My depression cycle still continued, but since I knew why I was unable to give good consistent work to an employer, I determined to go back to stained glass full time. It had been part time from the day I sold my business back in 1984, now it’s full time again. One of the benefits of being self employed is that if I’m having a bad day, I can go to work later. I can adjust my work hours to go along with how I’m feeling. Some days I’m only up to 3 or 4 hours of work and some days I’m up to putting in 10 or 12 hours of work. Depression is not as much of an issue any longer because I’m doing what I love and so my stress levels are at a level I can handle.
But occasionally, the monster of the “artistic temperament” raises its’ head and I have to deal with it. I have found a few ways of coping with depression over the years.
First, when you find yourself getting down, try to look inside and see what is causing the additional stress. Getting down is normal, it’s when you start to not be able to deal with it that you have a problem, so look inside and see what’s going on. Are you facing moral issues that weigh heavily on you? Is your life not tracking where you want it to? What is it that seems to be trapping you? Once you find your answers, you can begin to dream of ways to bring your life back into control, which will lessen your feelings of helplessness. It may be something as simple as starting a savings account for a vacation that you want to take, or starting a plan to get out of debt. Your problems won’t disappear, but your attitude towards them will make them feel less threatening.
Second, make sure that the little voice in your head is positive and not negative. Write yourself a little commercial that you read to yourself everyday and throughout the day. It should be positive and state what a winner you are and how successful you are, it should reflect your dreams and state them as if they are already a reality. This little recitation to yourself will turn away the negative that can grind you down and allow you to get to a place where you can handle things again. When I can’t work up the energy to even read my affirmation, I sing a little song which I made up (patterned on one they taught when I was selling):
It’s a great day to be a glass man,
Best Thing I know,
It’s a great day to be a glass man,
Everywhere I go, go, go, go
Cut my own pieces,
Put them back together,
It’s a great, great day to be a glass man,
No matter what the weather.
It’s a very dopey song, but I find that no matter how down I am, I can mumble this and it raises my attitude enough to croak it and then to sing it and then to believe it. And if I believe I’m happy, then I am.
Third, and most important, I have to let God into my life. When I’m down, I don’t believe in anything, not God and not Jeanne and not my own abilities. But if I can open up just a little and talk to God and ask for help, he always helps in some way. He didn’t give us life so we can suffer, we’re here to have joy and get out of ourselves and look around us and see the good in life and enjoy it and see the suffering around us and reach out to help relieve that suffering that others are experiencing.
Depression is a natural event, in my life anyway. So I figure it must be a natural event in your life as well. It’s neither good or bad, it just is. How we deal with it, that’s what determines the difference between those whose lives work and those whose lives don’t work.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Artists Learn To Live With Disappointment, How To Lessen The Impact Of Setbacks
One of the realities of being an artist is that we take risks with our art and often fail in the process. Sometimes things go wrong with the techniques we are using and sometimes we bring failure on ourselves. We imagine making a beautiful piece that will only take a few minutes, which we begin and it ends up taking weeks. Our studio has many projects in the half-finished stage. We had planned to finish that project right away, but it took more time and as we let time pass, the project takes even longer.
We started one project and jumped right in and cut all the glass for one third of a three panel window. It only took a couple of days. Then we got side tracked by another job with a more pressing deadline. We set the three panel project aside and worked on the new project. Then another project was ordered. It was a couple of months by the time we got back to the three panel project. We had to get it out of storage and clean off all the dust that had gathered on it. Then we started foiling it. There were a couple of pieces that needed to be fixed and we had to research what the colors were supposed to be because by that time, we’d forgotten a lot of the details of the window. We got the thing foiled and then soldered one side of the panel and ran out of time. We had to complete another project, so once again, the three panel project went back into storage. When we got back to it, it needed to be cleaned again, which used up valuable time. And something was happening to us mentally, since we had put off the project so long, we found it easy to put off again. We struggled with color choices, cleanliness issues and direction that “grain” should run through the window, all things that take care of themselves when we complete a window in a timely manner. Finally we just stayed on to the end and completed the panel. It was easy once we dedicated ourselves to the task.
When we started experimenting with hot glass and firing plates in our kiln, we struggled for a long time. We would fire a piece of glass for use on a plate and get bubbles in it and that would be a setback. We’d have to study to figure out what happened and then overcome the fear of failure enough to try another piece. Then we would fire a piece and it would be perfect except for the fact that it broke. Time after time, we experimented with temperatures and glass mixes. And with each failure, we learned more, but we had to fight to continue to try again and again.
Finally, there is the type of failure and disaster that comes in our art by just plain dumb luck, (bad luck). You’re just finishing a panel, nailing on the outer metal to a piece of glass and your hammer slips and breaks a piece of the panel. It’s really no big deal, but now you have to de-solder the piece of glass, cut a new one and solder it in, just to get back to where you were before the mistake happened. This type of accident happens occasionally and isn’t too hard to recover from. It’s the other mishaps that occur that are especially difficult to deal with. When a glass insulator or installer breaks a piece of glass for you, it’s tough to deal with, especially when you hand carried it to them, warned them of weaknesses and begged them to be careful. The worst accidental break is when you don’t tie down the load securely enough or someone trips on an install, or any number of accidents that end up with severe damage. You may just want to go to bed for a week and fins a nice comfortable job in a pillow factory.
So what do we do to fight against despair?
In the first place, determine that once you start a project, you’ll finish it right away. Plan ahead so you’ll be sure to have the time to complete the work in your schedule, then start the work and stay with it till it’s done. This will save so much time in the long run that it will become even easier to stay on schedule because you’ll be saving all that time doing steps over and over again.
Second, when you start learning a new technique or process, take a class. We could have saved ourselves a lot of time and failure by enrolling in a class with a qualified instructor and learning some of the pitfalls to avoid. Instead, we tried to learn by reading a book and doing it on our own.
Third, attack any problem head on. If you break a piece of glass, fix it immediately. If it breaks again, fix it again. Leaving it till later will only make it worse. And when the damage is really bad, try to assess which method you’ll use to repair the damage. Will you fix the broken pieces or rebuild the whole thing? We once spent a month and a half repairing a window, which only took two weeks to build in the first place. We would have been time and materials ahead to have just started over on that project, not to mention the fact that it meant we had to suffer five weeks with our mistake rather than two.
My students sometime tire from hearing me say that “the difference between an amateur and a professional is that a professional will fix their mistakes.” If that’s true, and I believe it is, a true professional will also fix their mistakes quickly.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
We started one project and jumped right in and cut all the glass for one third of a three panel window. It only took a couple of days. Then we got side tracked by another job with a more pressing deadline. We set the three panel project aside and worked on the new project. Then another project was ordered. It was a couple of months by the time we got back to the three panel project. We had to get it out of storage and clean off all the dust that had gathered on it. Then we started foiling it. There were a couple of pieces that needed to be fixed and we had to research what the colors were supposed to be because by that time, we’d forgotten a lot of the details of the window. We got the thing foiled and then soldered one side of the panel and ran out of time. We had to complete another project, so once again, the three panel project went back into storage. When we got back to it, it needed to be cleaned again, which used up valuable time. And something was happening to us mentally, since we had put off the project so long, we found it easy to put off again. We struggled with color choices, cleanliness issues and direction that “grain” should run through the window, all things that take care of themselves when we complete a window in a timely manner. Finally we just stayed on to the end and completed the panel. It was easy once we dedicated ourselves to the task.
When we started experimenting with hot glass and firing plates in our kiln, we struggled for a long time. We would fire a piece of glass for use on a plate and get bubbles in it and that would be a setback. We’d have to study to figure out what happened and then overcome the fear of failure enough to try another piece. Then we would fire a piece and it would be perfect except for the fact that it broke. Time after time, we experimented with temperatures and glass mixes. And with each failure, we learned more, but we had to fight to continue to try again and again.
Finally, there is the type of failure and disaster that comes in our art by just plain dumb luck, (bad luck). You’re just finishing a panel, nailing on the outer metal to a piece of glass and your hammer slips and breaks a piece of the panel. It’s really no big deal, but now you have to de-solder the piece of glass, cut a new one and solder it in, just to get back to where you were before the mistake happened. This type of accident happens occasionally and isn’t too hard to recover from. It’s the other mishaps that occur that are especially difficult to deal with. When a glass insulator or installer breaks a piece of glass for you, it’s tough to deal with, especially when you hand carried it to them, warned them of weaknesses and begged them to be careful. The worst accidental break is when you don’t tie down the load securely enough or someone trips on an install, or any number of accidents that end up with severe damage. You may just want to go to bed for a week and fins a nice comfortable job in a pillow factory.
So what do we do to fight against despair?
In the first place, determine that once you start a project, you’ll finish it right away. Plan ahead so you’ll be sure to have the time to complete the work in your schedule, then start the work and stay with it till it’s done. This will save so much time in the long run that it will become even easier to stay on schedule because you’ll be saving all that time doing steps over and over again.
Second, when you start learning a new technique or process, take a class. We could have saved ourselves a lot of time and failure by enrolling in a class with a qualified instructor and learning some of the pitfalls to avoid. Instead, we tried to learn by reading a book and doing it on our own.
Third, attack any problem head on. If you break a piece of glass, fix it immediately. If it breaks again, fix it again. Leaving it till later will only make it worse. And when the damage is really bad, try to assess which method you’ll use to repair the damage. Will you fix the broken pieces or rebuild the whole thing? We once spent a month and a half repairing a window, which only took two weeks to build in the first place. We would have been time and materials ahead to have just started over on that project, not to mention the fact that it meant we had to suffer five weeks with our mistake rather than two.
My students sometime tire from hearing me say that “the difference between an amateur and a professional is that a professional will fix their mistakes.” If that’s true, and I believe it is, a true professional will also fix their mistakes quickly.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
April-Studio Chemicals
After covering repair techniques over the last few newsletters, I thought it might be helpful to go over the chemicals we use in the studio and their uses.
We use many chemicals in the stained glass studio. It's sometimes helpful to review how they are best used and when they should be used. This helps us achieve better (and safer) results.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
How Can I Make It In The Stained Glass Business?
I wrote this entry in response to a query from a businessman who is thinking about buying an existing stained glass business. He asked if I thought it was a good idea. When a person first embarks on starting into business, there is a tendency to be overly optimistic, so I felt it important to warn of the pitfalls he may encounter. I have to admit that when I re-read this blog page, I felt it was almost too honest, that it leaves me feeling a little vulnerable, like I've told too much.
Recently, one of the best stained glass supply and teaching centers in Salt Lake City, closed their doors. They were very aggressive and well run. They had been in business for over fifteen years (I don't know how long their actual years of operation were). Why did they fail? What was new? Two years previously, the long time run business was sold by the original owner who wanted to retire to a man who had made enough money for the purchase running a janitorial business. But the stained glass business is different than any other business. I have often said that I could probably make more money and be more successful in ANY OTHER BUSINESS that I chose to run. That recent business closure illustrates the fact that the stained glass business is very competitive and labor intensive.
When we started in the stained glass business in 1983, I soon discovered that the business was a real roller-coaster. Cash flow would go from nil to a modest influx of cash about every three months. When we sold a window or commission we would have enough cash to get another order of materials together. We never really felt we were making money, it felt that we were just using up supplies and then replenishing. I found that running a stained glass only business was very tough and discovered that by changing my business into a stained glass/video rental business worked much better. Eventually we ended up with 3 video rental stores which did quite well. (that would not be the case in today's market).
We quit doing stained glass as a living in the late 80's, but continued to do commissions and personal work in our spare time. This is an avenue that I recommend to students who think it might be fun to get into the business. This way they can test the waters and find whether they really want to expand into the business of glasswork. Most find that doing a little on the side is the perfect avenue for them.
I started back into the stained glass business, full time again, 5 years ago (1999) when I moved to Utah. My son thought the market here would be better than it had been in Missouri. While it is true that I'm able to sell more glass here, I find the increased rental prices for a store location to be a barrier that equalizes things to be about the same as Missouri.
So you may ask me, why are you working at stained glass if things are so difficult and I would answer that if I weren't stricken by diabetes, I would probably be working in a different industry. Since I have health problems, I had to go into business for myself since I can't be a dependable employee. I already knew the stained glass business and had stained glass ability. So I went into it again. It is tough, and rewarding but not so much in a financial sense but on an artistic level. I beat my head against the wall trying to figure how to make a living, but simply seem to scrape by each year. So far, in five years of internet presence, we have worked and worked on our site and not yet made a single sale from the site. (We have picked up the majority of our students from our website and have met many in the business from publishing our newsletter.) We have changed our product line, rewritten pages and registered with search engines. I have finally asked a designer to help me and offer him a percentage of all sales he makes. Maybe that will pay off.
We do make a small amount of money by offering stained glass classes. But after taking all expenses and costs into account, we find that we just break even on classes. If I made enough money to support myself well in this business, I would take the extra money and expand and hire help, but so far I'm just keeping my head above water. It is my belief that the key to making it in stained glass is to offer products that will help others to enhance their stained glass experience. I would advise you, that before you make a decision to get into the business to work for at least 3 months in the business, 90 days seems to be the point where you really get an eye opening. The honeymoon ends and you see what you're really getting yourself into.
Be very cautious about the valuation of the business that you are looking to purchase. Remember that you are looking at retail values versus the wholesale values of the business. Figure that the cost of buying all materials and starting a business from scratch is 1/3 to 1/4 of the retail value of the business. It is rare to find that an existing business really has a built up value of customer good will which has much, if any, value to the potential new owner. Customers are our friends and we love them, but because most people only have a limited interest in the business, their value to future income is smaller than the seller might lead you to believe.
It is true that warm glass has more to offer in a studio setting than just flat glass work, but look at the root of the matter. The stained glass industry knows that they are working with a craft which is fleeting. The normal student has one to three projects in them and then they are done. By expanding into warm glass, we are able to offer a wider range of techniques and projects which helps to hold the students interest longer. But what we've done is change a three month customer into a 6 month customer. We still face a huge attrition rate. Being a lover of glass work, I am often shocked at the number of students who start class and then drop out without even finishing their project.
When I talk to other businesses, I often ask if they will furnish me a copy of their business plan. I hope to learn from those plans ways that I might be able to find more success in my own business. If you come up with a business plan, I'd love to see a copy of it.
One word of encouragement, people in the business are in two camps. There are those who are secretive and afraid that you might want to steal their ideas. But the vast majority of business owners in stained glass are open and willing to share their knowledge and advice. They are those who realize that there really isn't any competition in the business. That shop down the corner doesn't create competition, they increase the knowledge and appreciation of stained glass in the community, so they actually help your business rather than hurting it.
Send me contact information and I'll put you on my newsletter mailing list. I hope my comments are enlightening.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
For our newletter archives visit http://www.betterstainedglass.com/Newsletter/Archives/newsletterarchiveindex.htm
Recently, one of the best stained glass supply and teaching centers in Salt Lake City, closed their doors. They were very aggressive and well run. They had been in business for over fifteen years (I don't know how long their actual years of operation were). Why did they fail? What was new? Two years previously, the long time run business was sold by the original owner who wanted to retire to a man who had made enough money for the purchase running a janitorial business. But the stained glass business is different than any other business. I have often said that I could probably make more money and be more successful in ANY OTHER BUSINESS that I chose to run. That recent business closure illustrates the fact that the stained glass business is very competitive and labor intensive.
When we started in the stained glass business in 1983, I soon discovered that the business was a real roller-coaster. Cash flow would go from nil to a modest influx of cash about every three months. When we sold a window or commission we would have enough cash to get another order of materials together. We never really felt we were making money, it felt that we were just using up supplies and then replenishing. I found that running a stained glass only business was very tough and discovered that by changing my business into a stained glass/video rental business worked much better. Eventually we ended up with 3 video rental stores which did quite well. (that would not be the case in today's market).
We quit doing stained glass as a living in the late 80's, but continued to do commissions and personal work in our spare time. This is an avenue that I recommend to students who think it might be fun to get into the business. This way they can test the waters and find whether they really want to expand into the business of glasswork. Most find that doing a little on the side is the perfect avenue for them.
I started back into the stained glass business, full time again, 5 years ago (1999) when I moved to Utah. My son thought the market here would be better than it had been in Missouri. While it is true that I'm able to sell more glass here, I find the increased rental prices for a store location to be a barrier that equalizes things to be about the same as Missouri.
So you may ask me, why are you working at stained glass if things are so difficult and I would answer that if I weren't stricken by diabetes, I would probably be working in a different industry. Since I have health problems, I had to go into business for myself since I can't be a dependable employee. I already knew the stained glass business and had stained glass ability. So I went into it again. It is tough, and rewarding but not so much in a financial sense but on an artistic level. I beat my head against the wall trying to figure how to make a living, but simply seem to scrape by each year. So far, in five years of internet presence, we have worked and worked on our site and not yet made a single sale from the site. (We have picked up the majority of our students from our website and have met many in the business from publishing our newsletter.) We have changed our product line, rewritten pages and registered with search engines. I have finally asked a designer to help me and offer him a percentage of all sales he makes. Maybe that will pay off.
We do make a small amount of money by offering stained glass classes. But after taking all expenses and costs into account, we find that we just break even on classes. If I made enough money to support myself well in this business, I would take the extra money and expand and hire help, but so far I'm just keeping my head above water. It is my belief that the key to making it in stained glass is to offer products that will help others to enhance their stained glass experience. I would advise you, that before you make a decision to get into the business to work for at least 3 months in the business, 90 days seems to be the point where you really get an eye opening. The honeymoon ends and you see what you're really getting yourself into.
Be very cautious about the valuation of the business that you are looking to purchase. Remember that you are looking at retail values versus the wholesale values of the business. Figure that the cost of buying all materials and starting a business from scratch is 1/3 to 1/4 of the retail value of the business. It is rare to find that an existing business really has a built up value of customer good will which has much, if any, value to the potential new owner. Customers are our friends and we love them, but because most people only have a limited interest in the business, their value to future income is smaller than the seller might lead you to believe.
It is true that warm glass has more to offer in a studio setting than just flat glass work, but look at the root of the matter. The stained glass industry knows that they are working with a craft which is fleeting. The normal student has one to three projects in them and then they are done. By expanding into warm glass, we are able to offer a wider range of techniques and projects which helps to hold the students interest longer. But what we've done is change a three month customer into a 6 month customer. We still face a huge attrition rate. Being a lover of glass work, I am often shocked at the number of students who start class and then drop out without even finishing their project.
When I talk to other businesses, I often ask if they will furnish me a copy of their business plan. I hope to learn from those plans ways that I might be able to find more success in my own business. If you come up with a business plan, I'd love to see a copy of it.
One word of encouragement, people in the business are in two camps. There are those who are secretive and afraid that you might want to steal their ideas. But the vast majority of business owners in stained glass are open and willing to share their knowledge and advice. They are those who realize that there really isn't any competition in the business. That shop down the corner doesn't create competition, they increase the knowledge and appreciation of stained glass in the community, so they actually help your business rather than hurting it.
Send me contact information and I'll put you on my newsletter mailing list. I hope my comments are enlightening.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
For our newletter archives visit http://www.betterstainedglass.com/Newsletter/Archives/newsletterarchiveindex.htm
Saturday, March 04, 2006
March-Repairing Severe Damage
In January we showed how to make a simple one piece repair. In February I showed how to fake a repair. This month, I want to show a technique to repair a window which has been destroyed.
Ed Sibbet is one of the very few book designers who creates designs which can be built as drawn and has great perspective.
The Gemini Girl was the first design that I ever built. I built a second copy of it after the first was damaged in a house fire. I spent 2 or 3 months building a custom oak frame in college. So it was very painful when the panel was knocked from it's hook and shattered into many pieces. Rebuilding it was out of the question, nearly every piece was damaged. It would have been easier to build a new one rather than using traditional repair techniques.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Should I Ever Barter Away My Stained Glass Art Or Should I Hold Out For Cash?
In the past, we’ve, of course, had many occasions to make cash deals on our stained glass art and occasionally we’ve had a chance to barter our stained glass art for goods and services. Over the course of years, we’ve had some barters and trades that worked out well, but many trades seemed to go sour.
Most started out with each party having the best of intentions to do right by the other, but our experience’s were that each time the trade or barter was made, our stained glass went right out at the start of the trade and then we usually got our part of the trade after the fact. As a result, the folks we traded with were always sure of what they were getting, but we never seemed to know exactly what we would get, so we ended up getting disappointed most times.
As we’ve entered into these non-cash deals, we’ve developed three simple rules or guidelines to help us avoid the bad deals, while leaving the door open for the good ones.
Rule 1 : What To Trade For
We’ve learned that if we’re not careful, we could end up trading away all the work we could possibly do and leave ourselves with no more materials to make more glass pieces. So this first rule helps us to avoid trading away more than we can afford. As stained glass artists, we know that 10 to 20% of the retail price of a window is the cost of the materials that go into the window and the rest of the price reflects the cost of our labor and some profit for the company. So we’ve adopted the policy that we never trade away the cost of the window. We will make a trade, but not at our own expense. So when we make a deal, we agree that at least 10 or 20% of the trade be in cash, to cover the cost of materials. And we put the cash back into the business for the purpose of purchasing replacement goods. This keeps us from losing on the deal, in the event that what we trade for ends up with little or no value to us.
Back when we first started doing windows, we had a friend who wanted a specific design. She drew a sketch of a very nice pattern which was an amalgam of three different designs she had seen. We agreed that the panel would be about a thousand dollars (which was low for the amount of work) and we started building the panel. Now, up to this point, the window was going to be a cash deal, very straight forward, very clean. But once I had half the window cut out, her husband decided to get into the act and turned the deal into a trade. He was very aggressive in his negotiating skills and I was a wimp. He beat me down on price from $1000 to $300. Why I ever agreed to that change still confuses me, but then he took the cash away from the deal and made it a trade for construction parts that he had lying around. The deal went from bad to worse! I was already committed to the window since the glass was cut, so I allowed the deal to go downhill. I ended up spending $300 on solder for the window (solder had temporarily jumped in price) and I got what the husband valued as $300 worth of construction parts. They really were pretty much worthless. But the deal taught me several valuable lessons. The most important was rule one: Know What To Trade For. I had learned to spell out what the trade was to be, how much cash would be involved, and to get a deposit or the entire balance of the cash part of the deal before cutting any glass.
Another instance vividly illustrates what NOT to trade for. We’ve learned that whenever someone comes to us for classes or to get a stained glass window built and they start whining about cost, or acting “poor mouth” and then they advance the idea of a trade, we ALWAYS lose on the deal.
April was a good example of this type of bad deal. She came and started to take classes. But she immediately began wondering if she could make payments instead of paying for class up-front. We agreed and then the next week, she advanced the idea that maybe she could trade for half of the cost of tuition. We asked what she had in mind and she told us about these beautiful candles she made. So we decided to allow the trade. She traded us two candles which she felt were worth the $40 of class she was trading for. I would have valued them at $10 total, but we’d already entered into the trade and felt committed. So we allowed to let the trade stand. The candles, while overvalued on her part, also had another problem. They stunk! We couldn’t be in the same room with them and we gave them away to someone who didn’t find them offensive. That deal started out badly and we allowed it to continue, not putting an end to it when we began to feel taken advantage of. We’ve since found that all those type of deals have been bad for us, both in the trade itself and also in the bad feelings it generates in us. It damages our faith and trust in others when we get ripped off. A footnote to this instance, when April quit coming to class, she left owing us almost as much money as she had paid for her classes.
Rule 2: Get Your End First
It’s human nature to be quite excited while you’re about to get something, but to lose interest once you’ve gotten your side of the deal. The donkey who follows the carrot on a stick is a good example. As long as that carrot hangs out there nearly within reach, the donkey will keep moving, but as soon as the carrot is gone, the donkey stops. We even lose some of our enthusiasm for completing a project when we’ve been paid, but we usually have plans and patterns that have been set in advance, so our part of a trade or a business transaction continues on whether there is a promise or a reward.
This isn’t the case with folks we’ve traded with. So we’re fighting two negatives if we don’t get our part of the trade up front. First we’re dealing with something (an item or service) which is sight unseen and we’re fighting the other persons natural loss of enthusiasm for the trade because they’ve already gotten what they wanted.
A good example of a positive barter was when we traded for some essential oil diffusers for Christmas presents with a client. We got about $400 worth of product in trade for some work we did for them. Over the course of the year, we were able to complete their design and get their windows installed for them. Then at Christmas time the next year we traded for some essential oils for the balance of what they owed us. This was a good trade because it allowed us to save on the costs of Christmas presents for two years and it got them a beautiful entryway which will give them years of enjoyment.
A trade which didn’t go so well involved a custom rocking chair built by a friends brother. The trade went fairly smoothly except, we didn’t like the custom rocking chair once it was completed. It was too high, and didn’t rock right. It was beautiful and we gave it to my sister and her husband. They loved it, he was taller and the rock of the chair was just right for him. In this case, the deal went just as it should have, but we were just trading for something sight unseen.
Rule 3: Give More Than Expected, Lower Your Own Expectations
To really get a deal to work in the favor of both parties, you’ve got to give more than the other guy expects, always trying to make the deal better for them. And you’ll be less disappointed when you lower your own expectations. When I dealt with the husband who traded construction parts to me, I learned that many times, the other guy doesn’t care if you get a good deal. This man was only interested in getting a good deal for himself, and he did. But I never traded stained glass with him again!
A good barter arrangement is one where both parties are concerned with the others feelings. When we made a trade with an artist friend, some large windows for a painting, the deal changed several times. They agreed to pay for the materials and we would get two paintings, based on the amount of time that it would take to build both of the art projects. She later decided that two paintings was too much so we agreed to get one and some design time on glass projects. When it turned out that the completed painting couldn’t be published in the magazine we had thought it would be placed in, we felt that the ultimate value of the painting was greatly diminished. So the deal did continue to go downhill, to become less valuable to us, through no one’s fault, just circumstances. But we had already lowered our expectations and our friend had become a greater friend and we have enjoyed many hours doing art projects together.
We have another friend, whom we build pieces for on a fairly regular basis. The trades never go well for us, she forgets that we have credit with her and she wants more glass, we will never get “even” but we’ve lowered our expectations. We know her, know she “needs” the pieces we trade with her and figure that the work we do for her is more a gift than a trade.
If you can get to this point, where you expect little in a trade, where it’s more about opportunity, art and building beauty, bartering might work out for you. If you find yourself feeling ripped off, you should probably avoid trading your art and stick to cash deals. Even they will occasionally go south on you.
Trading stained glass for products and services has very often been a way for others to obtain the glass that they want, when they really wouldn’t have been able to afford it for cash. It has seldom been a good way for us to fill our bank account, but it has often been a way for us to develop relationships with others that have become dear to us and has become a way for our art to be seen by others. It very often leads to other deals we would never have imagined, providing us with sales in the most unlikely places. It’s like that scripture about casting thy bread upon the waters and it will return to you ten fold. A good trade is like that. It returns to us rewards we never would have imagined.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Most started out with each party having the best of intentions to do right by the other, but our experience’s were that each time the trade or barter was made, our stained glass went right out at the start of the trade and then we usually got our part of the trade after the fact. As a result, the folks we traded with were always sure of what they were getting, but we never seemed to know exactly what we would get, so we ended up getting disappointed most times.
As we’ve entered into these non-cash deals, we’ve developed three simple rules or guidelines to help us avoid the bad deals, while leaving the door open for the good ones.
Rule 1 : What To Trade For
We’ve learned that if we’re not careful, we could end up trading away all the work we could possibly do and leave ourselves with no more materials to make more glass pieces. So this first rule helps us to avoid trading away more than we can afford. As stained glass artists, we know that 10 to 20% of the retail price of a window is the cost of the materials that go into the window and the rest of the price reflects the cost of our labor and some profit for the company. So we’ve adopted the policy that we never trade away the cost of the window. We will make a trade, but not at our own expense. So when we make a deal, we agree that at least 10 or 20% of the trade be in cash, to cover the cost of materials. And we put the cash back into the business for the purpose of purchasing replacement goods. This keeps us from losing on the deal, in the event that what we trade for ends up with little or no value to us.
Back when we first started doing windows, we had a friend who wanted a specific design. She drew a sketch of a very nice pattern which was an amalgam of three different designs she had seen. We agreed that the panel would be about a thousand dollars (which was low for the amount of work) and we started building the panel. Now, up to this point, the window was going to be a cash deal, very straight forward, very clean. But once I had half the window cut out, her husband decided to get into the act and turned the deal into a trade. He was very aggressive in his negotiating skills and I was a wimp. He beat me down on price from $1000 to $300. Why I ever agreed to that change still confuses me, but then he took the cash away from the deal and made it a trade for construction parts that he had lying around. The deal went from bad to worse! I was already committed to the window since the glass was cut, so I allowed the deal to go downhill. I ended up spending $300 on solder for the window (solder had temporarily jumped in price) and I got what the husband valued as $300 worth of construction parts. They really were pretty much worthless. But the deal taught me several valuable lessons. The most important was rule one: Know What To Trade For. I had learned to spell out what the trade was to be, how much cash would be involved, and to get a deposit or the entire balance of the cash part of the deal before cutting any glass.
Another instance vividly illustrates what NOT to trade for. We’ve learned that whenever someone comes to us for classes or to get a stained glass window built and they start whining about cost, or acting “poor mouth” and then they advance the idea of a trade, we ALWAYS lose on the deal.
April was a good example of this type of bad deal. She came and started to take classes. But she immediately began wondering if she could make payments instead of paying for class up-front. We agreed and then the next week, she advanced the idea that maybe she could trade for half of the cost of tuition. We asked what she had in mind and she told us about these beautiful candles she made. So we decided to allow the trade. She traded us two candles which she felt were worth the $40 of class she was trading for. I would have valued them at $10 total, but we’d already entered into the trade and felt committed. So we allowed to let the trade stand. The candles, while overvalued on her part, also had another problem. They stunk! We couldn’t be in the same room with them and we gave them away to someone who didn’t find them offensive. That deal started out badly and we allowed it to continue, not putting an end to it when we began to feel taken advantage of. We’ve since found that all those type of deals have been bad for us, both in the trade itself and also in the bad feelings it generates in us. It damages our faith and trust in others when we get ripped off. A footnote to this instance, when April quit coming to class, she left owing us almost as much money as she had paid for her classes.
Rule 2: Get Your End First
It’s human nature to be quite excited while you’re about to get something, but to lose interest once you’ve gotten your side of the deal. The donkey who follows the carrot on a stick is a good example. As long as that carrot hangs out there nearly within reach, the donkey will keep moving, but as soon as the carrot is gone, the donkey stops. We even lose some of our enthusiasm for completing a project when we’ve been paid, but we usually have plans and patterns that have been set in advance, so our part of a trade or a business transaction continues on whether there is a promise or a reward.
This isn’t the case with folks we’ve traded with. So we’re fighting two negatives if we don’t get our part of the trade up front. First we’re dealing with something (an item or service) which is sight unseen and we’re fighting the other persons natural loss of enthusiasm for the trade because they’ve already gotten what they wanted.
A good example of a positive barter was when we traded for some essential oil diffusers for Christmas presents with a client. We got about $400 worth of product in trade for some work we did for them. Over the course of the year, we were able to complete their design and get their windows installed for them. Then at Christmas time the next year we traded for some essential oils for the balance of what they owed us. This was a good trade because it allowed us to save on the costs of Christmas presents for two years and it got them a beautiful entryway which will give them years of enjoyment.
A trade which didn’t go so well involved a custom rocking chair built by a friends brother. The trade went fairly smoothly except, we didn’t like the custom rocking chair once it was completed. It was too high, and didn’t rock right. It was beautiful and we gave it to my sister and her husband. They loved it, he was taller and the rock of the chair was just right for him. In this case, the deal went just as it should have, but we were just trading for something sight unseen.
Rule 3: Give More Than Expected, Lower Your Own Expectations
To really get a deal to work in the favor of both parties, you’ve got to give more than the other guy expects, always trying to make the deal better for them. And you’ll be less disappointed when you lower your own expectations. When I dealt with the husband who traded construction parts to me, I learned that many times, the other guy doesn’t care if you get a good deal. This man was only interested in getting a good deal for himself, and he did. But I never traded stained glass with him again!
A good barter arrangement is one where both parties are concerned with the others feelings. When we made a trade with an artist friend, some large windows for a painting, the deal changed several times. They agreed to pay for the materials and we would get two paintings, based on the amount of time that it would take to build both of the art projects. She later decided that two paintings was too much so we agreed to get one and some design time on glass projects. When it turned out that the completed painting couldn’t be published in the magazine we had thought it would be placed in, we felt that the ultimate value of the painting was greatly diminished. So the deal did continue to go downhill, to become less valuable to us, through no one’s fault, just circumstances. But we had already lowered our expectations and our friend had become a greater friend and we have enjoyed many hours doing art projects together.
We have another friend, whom we build pieces for on a fairly regular basis. The trades never go well for us, she forgets that we have credit with her and she wants more glass, we will never get “even” but we’ve lowered our expectations. We know her, know she “needs” the pieces we trade with her and figure that the work we do for her is more a gift than a trade.
If you can get to this point, where you expect little in a trade, where it’s more about opportunity, art and building beauty, bartering might work out for you. If you find yourself feeling ripped off, you should probably avoid trading your art and stick to cash deals. Even they will occasionally go south on you.
Trading stained glass for products and services has very often been a way for others to obtain the glass that they want, when they really wouldn’t have been able to afford it for cash. It has seldom been a good way for us to fill our bank account, but it has often been a way for us to develop relationships with others that have become dear to us and has become a way for our art to be seen by others. It very often leads to other deals we would never have imagined, providing us with sales in the most unlikely places. It’s like that scripture about casting thy bread upon the waters and it will return to you ten fold. A good trade is like that. It returns to us rewards we never would have imagined.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Feb-Faking A Repair
Last month we showed how to make a simple one piece repair. This month, I want to show an even easier repair, which deals with illusion.
This type of repair only works when you can easy cover a crack in the design. We do this by covering the crack with copper foil and soldering over the foil. We do this on both sides of the glass, thereby creating the illusion of a lead line.
The design to the left is the design we're going to demonstrate with. This panel had a weakness in the design and the side glass was cracked when the glass was being encased in tempered glass.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Jan-Repairing A Broken Piece Of Glass
I am firmly convinced that the main difference between an amateur and a professional is that a professional will recognize and fix mistakes. An amateur may not even know they've made a mistake and won't fix it if they recognize the fact.
I hope that everyone who has ever taken a class from us has been exposed to our philosophy. If not, you may want to read "Don't Be Like Milo."
In an effort to help others to fix or repair mistakes, I thought I would go over the techniques for repairing windows. This is a simple one piece repair, not like the major damage we showed how to repair in last October's newsletter.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Dec-Marketing Stained Glass
I attend business workshops and seminars every month in an effort to learn more about running a business.
The one common question that I hear the most is how can I market my service or product. We often have students who catch the glimpse of how great it is to do glass and they start to imagine themselves doing glass work for a living. Some have been brave enough to ask us how they might be able to make money doing stained glass.
We have many times replied that we don't know, if they find out, will they please let us know how? But here are some of the basics of promoting and marketing stained glass.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
What Are The Different Types And Qualities Of Stained Glass?
Many times we meet people who are interested in stained glass, but they haven’t learned enough about it to really be able to tell whether a piece of glass is a true work of art or just a good piece. I once overheard a woman gushing over a piece of glass that had been painted with fake glass paints, the kind that craft stores sell. “Oh, Look at that, I love stained glass, that is just exquisite!” Her comments were nice since she had an appreciation for art glass, but they were also ridiculous because painted fake glass just isn’t in the same class as other techniques and certainly should never be described as “exquisite”.
So that incident prompted me to write this brief description of what the different types and qualities of stained glass are. After reading the following paragraphs, you will be more qualified and more able to distinguish between good glass and great glass than the majority of people you meet. You will be well on your way towards becoming a “Stained Glass Expert.”
1. Brass And Glass – made of Brass pre-shaped metal (or brass encased lead), called “came”. The stained glass is encased in the pre-formed metal and the joints where the metal meets are then soldered. After the panel is completed and soldered, the joints are colored with a brass colored paint so that they look brass.
Advantages: Brass windows match the brass plated hardware on many homes. Brass windows are almost always mass produced, so cost is usually lower than other styles of stained glass.
Disadvantages: Brass windows usually don’t get the glass and metal cemented to each other, so they are not as strong and have a tendency to rattle more often than any other stained glass window. If the panel is sandwiched between tempered glass sheets, the lack of strength is not a big deal.
Quality: This is the lowest quality of stained glass available and is usually found in cheap furniture and mass produced door frames. It hasn’t been around for a long time and is often associated with the cheap waterbeds of the 1960’s.
2. Leaded Glass – refers to both beveled glass and colored glass surrounded by pre-shaped lead, called “came”. The stained glass is encased in lead and the joints where the metal meets are then soldered. The solder and the lead look very similar, so no special treatments are needed in the joints as with brass came. After the panel is completed and soldered, the windows are cemented by forcing cement in under the metal and the glass. Then the exposed glass is cleaned thoroughly.
Advantages: Lead construction is the most common type of stained glass to be found. If cemented well the window is fairly strong. The leaded method is fast to construct, so is quite popular in commercial installations.
Disadvantages: If the window isn’t cemented, the lead will easily stretch over time and the glass shapes will deform quite easily. Windows that are placed in insulated units can’t be cemented because the cement reacts with the desiccant in the foam tape used to create insulated units.
Quality: This is the mid-range of stained glass quality. It’s not bad, just not the best. There is pretty good detail available in this type of panel and it is quite good for many styles of glass design. If it wasn’t fairly good it wouldn’t be found in so many highly respected installations.
3. Copper Foiled or “Tiffany Style” Glass – refers to stained glass construction where each piece of glass is individually wrapped in a copper foil tape and the gaps between the glass are soldered with lead and tin based solder, usually 50/50 mix or 60/40 mix. After the panel is completed it is very strong and pretty often water tight. Chemicals are then added to color the lead lines, either copper, bronze or black. The lines can also be left pewter-like gray or they can be polished to bright shiny silver. It’s often called “Tiffany Style” because the studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany are credited with coming up with the method in the late 1800’s.
Advantages: Copper foiled windows are very strong and allow the artist the most detail of any of the construction methods. It also allows for the most ranges of patinas of the methods discussed. The copper foil method allows an artist to follow contours and so lamp shades and other 3d construction is almost always built using this method.
Disadvantages: It takes a lot of work and is more labor intensive to hand solder each and every solder line in a stained glass window, so these panels usually cost more than the leaded type. Also, because the resulting windows are so very strong, they can develop very slight hairline cracks as the glass expands and contracts in the heat of the day and the cool of the night. These cracks usually develop in the first year after a panel is installed and are minor.
Quality: This is the highest quality of stained glass, but there are different ranges of quality in this style. Imports will often have very thin lead lines not as a design element, but as a way to save money on the amount of lead used to construct the panel. The highest quality of copper foil constructed lamps will feature a built up lead line which will often stand up the same height as an extruded lead line. Best quality soldering will feature very consistent lead lines and few if any areas where the lead has shrunk after cooling.
4. Epoxy Glued Faceted Glass – refers to a technique where thick slabs of glass are broken in rough pieces and glued together using epoxy glue to form the joint between the various pieces of glass. It’s very uncommon and not available in any but the most unusual commercial construction.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Don't Be Like Milo
Back in 1985, I had an experience which really was a set back for me. It was at a time when a lot of pressure was building. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted my stained glass art to go. We had experienced a house fire and I needed to concentrate on rebuilding. I had sold the video rental part of our business, which was also the part that brought in income on a consistent basis. But I still loved stained glass, it was just that the shine was starting to wear off, it wasn't as fun anymore.
Someone once told me that anything you do to earn your living will eventually become a job. And I guess that was happening to me, my art was becoming my job and I spent more time trying to make money, than trying to make good art.
But it was still fun, there was always a renewal of excitement when we began to teach a new series of classes because the students would bring their enthusiasm with them and Jeanne and I would be reminded all over again about what a great and fantastic art form stained glass construction was.
Then Milo came and took classes. He walked into the studio in his "Missouri Tuxedo." That's a pair of bib overalls. He wore no additional shirt over his quite large frame and he was barefoot. He looked a little like Santa Claus on vacation with his white flowing beard and round tummy. He began to ask us about stained glass and he caught the excitement of the vision of being able to create his own work of art. So we invited him to join with us during our next class and he came. We were happy to have him, but we cautioned that you have to wear shoes in a stained glass shop and that a shirt was also a good idea.
Milo showed up at the appointed hour, full of enthusiasm. He brought his wife along, just to watch. That was a common occurrence in Missouri, a way to get good value from your dollar and give your spouse a chance to get out of the house. Milo chose a very nice round pattern of a scene with ducks in it for his first project. He enjoyed the process of selecting the glass and really understood the concept of cutting out his pattern pieces and tracing them out on glass. Then he began to cut his glass.
Now, we had already taught him how to cut glass before he laid a cutter on glass which he had purchased and he had done okay, but as he began to cut his pieces out, he varied from the instructions we had given him. I told Milo, he should push the cutter away from himself so he could see where the wheel on the cutter was going, but Milo felt is was easier to pull it towards himself. Then, I had taught Milo to tap under the glass to get the score to run so that he could tap directly under the score and get a nice, clean break. Milo figured it was easier to turn the glass upside down and lay it on the table and tap it from that side. Consequently, his tapping was often not directly under the place scored and his glass often broke in the wrong place.
Mistakes happen when learning a new skill, but Milo wouldn't listen. As hard as we tried, Milo was going to do it his own way. I said push, he pulled, I said tap from the bottom, he tapped from the top. When he broke a large piece of glass which would be the sky in the window, I offered to give him a new piece of glass. But of course, Milo refused, instead he just jovially said, "No, that will just be another lead line." And so his project went, one badly broken and shaped piece after another, with "new lead lines" springing up whenever a mistake was made.
Milo was having so much fun, he decided to take his project home and foil and solder it there. At that point, I figured it couldn't hurt, he didn't listen to a word of advice anyone gave in class.
I was wrong.
A day or two passed and Milo returned with his completed project. He had foiled and soldered it at home. Of course, he hadn’t had a stained glass type solder iron, so he soldered his window with a soldering gun. He asked if I could help him with some of his lead lines and I agreed, but when I looked at the panel, I was appalled.
In the course of soldering a stained glass window together, the builder will solder one side completely and then turn the window over and solder the other side. Occasionally, you might miss a place or two, but for the most part, most folks do a pretty good job of covering their window and making it a solid piece.
Not so with Milo's window. There were holes all over it where not only hadn't it been soldered on the front, it hadn't been soldered on the back as well. I was dumbfounded. I really didn't know where to start. Usually when I'm asked to help with a solder job, it's just to help smooth the occasional rough spot and teach the student how to improve their technique. No solder joint on his project was right or good or complete. I had to start on one side and re-solder everything. When I finished, I left the backside for Milo to redo and showed him how the right tool was important for the job. For once, he listened and bought his own iron.
A few days later, Milo drove up and climbed out of his truck. He parked right in front of the store so he could get his finished project from the passenger side and bring it into the store. He had worked on the soldering at home and if anything, it was worse than when he had left days before. I offered to help him with his technique, but he didn’t need help, Milo was happy with his project as it was. In fact, he was there to buy more supplies and another pattern so he could build another window.
Over the next few weeks, Milo built four or five stained glass panels. They were certainly originals, but try as I might, I couldn't get him to vary his techniques. He was fine with his poor construction. What really go to me was that Milo carried his windows in his pickup wherever he went, not caring that they got cracked sitting there on the seat as they bounced up and down over rural back roads. He happily went from town to town, proudly showing everyone who would listen that he had built these "stain glasses" himself and that that David Gomm over in Pierce City was his teacher. My reputation suffered and I was mortified, as Milo went about enjoying his love for glass crafting, my love for it dwindled and soon was gone.
Milo had done me in. My love for the art was at an ebb anyhow, but to have this big lug go about telling everyone that I was his teacher was just more than I could bear. I just snapped and gave lamp bases away to students. I took all my glass and supplies home to a small workspace, gave away extra grinders and tools. I didn't want to look at another piece of glass!
And I didn't for about a year. Then slowly, my interest began to return. It started as Jeanne taught a local youth group about stained glass. Then we got a commission for the city park and as we began to build and design, life became good again and my love for stained glass returned.
But nowadays, when I have a student who won't follow directions, I tell them the story of Milo. Their eyes grow wide with disbelief that there could be someone who wouldn't listen at all to instruction. And they try to at least give it a chance when I ask them to push not pull and tap from the bottom, not the top.
Someone once told me that anything you do to earn your living will eventually become a job. And I guess that was happening to me, my art was becoming my job and I spent more time trying to make money, than trying to make good art.
But it was still fun, there was always a renewal of excitement when we began to teach a new series of classes because the students would bring their enthusiasm with them and Jeanne and I would be reminded all over again about what a great and fantastic art form stained glass construction was.
Then Milo came and took classes. He walked into the studio in his "Missouri Tuxedo." That's a pair of bib overalls. He wore no additional shirt over his quite large frame and he was barefoot. He looked a little like Santa Claus on vacation with his white flowing beard and round tummy. He began to ask us about stained glass and he caught the excitement of the vision of being able to create his own work of art. So we invited him to join with us during our next class and he came. We were happy to have him, but we cautioned that you have to wear shoes in a stained glass shop and that a shirt was also a good idea.
Milo showed up at the appointed hour, full of enthusiasm. He brought his wife along, just to watch. That was a common occurrence in Missouri, a way to get good value from your dollar and give your spouse a chance to get out of the house. Milo chose a very nice round pattern of a scene with ducks in it for his first project. He enjoyed the process of selecting the glass and really understood the concept of cutting out his pattern pieces and tracing them out on glass. Then he began to cut his glass.
Now, we had already taught him how to cut glass before he laid a cutter on glass which he had purchased and he had done okay, but as he began to cut his pieces out, he varied from the instructions we had given him. I told Milo, he should push the cutter away from himself so he could see where the wheel on the cutter was going, but Milo felt is was easier to pull it towards himself. Then, I had taught Milo to tap under the glass to get the score to run so that he could tap directly under the score and get a nice, clean break. Milo figured it was easier to turn the glass upside down and lay it on the table and tap it from that side. Consequently, his tapping was often not directly under the place scored and his glass often broke in the wrong place.
Mistakes happen when learning a new skill, but Milo wouldn't listen. As hard as we tried, Milo was going to do it his own way. I said push, he pulled, I said tap from the bottom, he tapped from the top. When he broke a large piece of glass which would be the sky in the window, I offered to give him a new piece of glass. But of course, Milo refused, instead he just jovially said, "No, that will just be another lead line." And so his project went, one badly broken and shaped piece after another, with "new lead lines" springing up whenever a mistake was made.
Milo was having so much fun, he decided to take his project home and foil and solder it there. At that point, I figured it couldn't hurt, he didn't listen to a word of advice anyone gave in class.
I was wrong.
A day or two passed and Milo returned with his completed project. He had foiled and soldered it at home. Of course, he hadn’t had a stained glass type solder iron, so he soldered his window with a soldering gun. He asked if I could help him with some of his lead lines and I agreed, but when I looked at the panel, I was appalled.
In the course of soldering a stained glass window together, the builder will solder one side completely and then turn the window over and solder the other side. Occasionally, you might miss a place or two, but for the most part, most folks do a pretty good job of covering their window and making it a solid piece.
Not so with Milo's window. There were holes all over it where not only hadn't it been soldered on the front, it hadn't been soldered on the back as well. I was dumbfounded. I really didn't know where to start. Usually when I'm asked to help with a solder job, it's just to help smooth the occasional rough spot and teach the student how to improve their technique. No solder joint on his project was right or good or complete. I had to start on one side and re-solder everything. When I finished, I left the backside for Milo to redo and showed him how the right tool was important for the job. For once, he listened and bought his own iron.
A few days later, Milo drove up and climbed out of his truck. He parked right in front of the store so he could get his finished project from the passenger side and bring it into the store. He had worked on the soldering at home and if anything, it was worse than when he had left days before. I offered to help him with his technique, but he didn’t need help, Milo was happy with his project as it was. In fact, he was there to buy more supplies and another pattern so he could build another window.
Over the next few weeks, Milo built four or five stained glass panels. They were certainly originals, but try as I might, I couldn't get him to vary his techniques. He was fine with his poor construction. What really go to me was that Milo carried his windows in his pickup wherever he went, not caring that they got cracked sitting there on the seat as they bounced up and down over rural back roads. He happily went from town to town, proudly showing everyone who would listen that he had built these "stain glasses" himself and that that David Gomm over in Pierce City was his teacher. My reputation suffered and I was mortified, as Milo went about enjoying his love for glass crafting, my love for it dwindled and soon was gone.
Milo had done me in. My love for the art was at an ebb anyhow, but to have this big lug go about telling everyone that I was his teacher was just more than I could bear. I just snapped and gave lamp bases away to students. I took all my glass and supplies home to a small workspace, gave away extra grinders and tools. I didn't want to look at another piece of glass!
And I didn't for about a year. Then slowly, my interest began to return. It started as Jeanne taught a local youth group about stained glass. Then we got a commission for the city park and as we began to build and design, life became good again and my love for stained glass returned.
But nowadays, when I have a student who won't follow directions, I tell them the story of Milo. Their eyes grow wide with disbelief that there could be someone who wouldn't listen at all to instruction. And they try to at least give it a chance when I ask them to push not pull and tap from the bottom, not the top.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
You’re Never Supposed To Let Them See You Sweat
In business, it's a common saying to "Never Let Them See You Sweat." But sometimes it's just plain hard to keep unemotional as you do business with someone. When you close a big deal, get permission to build a fantastic piece of art and get paid an unreal amount of money for the project, it's pretty hard to maintain professional composure. You want to jump up and down, hug the client and turn cartwheels. But we must maintain our dignity.
Can you imagine the reaction you'd get from the client? They might be horrified. They'd be thinking, "these people are just too excited, this must be the first big job they've ever sold, what have I done, how can I get out of this?"
So we pretend that this is commonplace, that it happens all the time, maybe missing a chance to really experience child-like joy. Then we get home and we can't really talk to friends and neighbors about the joy. We have to keep it safely bottled up, because if we let it out, they'll think we're bragging or gloating or showing off. Besides, they didn't know that we'd been up all night for months, sick with worry, wondering how we were going to make ends meet.
I remember the first time we sold a job and were paid a princely sum. It was a rare occurrence. We usually scratch from one job to the next and here we were facing a client who not only wanted what we could do, they weren't trying to cut our throats in the process. We're usually so used to "starving artists syndrome" that we immediately go into cut our price mode when the subject of cost is raised.
The client handed me a check for 50% of the job as if it were nothing, and maybe to him it was little or nothing. But to me, this was enough operating capital to keep our studio going for the 3 months it would take to build his windows, but it would also allow us to go on another three months. I walked away, electric pulses running through my body, maintaining my composure. But through my head, I kept thinking, "this is enough to buy a car, I could go out and pay cash for a car. He just gave me enough money to run my business and to buy a car!" (Okay, a cheap, used car, but still..)
I didn't do anything so foolish. There were materials to purchase for the job, inventory to replace, and tooling to maintain. As we got used to the funds, and they began to be used up, my excitement began to cool to a level where it was easy to maintain my composure. But, every now and then, I yearn for the freedom to really enjoy good things, good moments, to laugh and dance and express the pure joy of the moment of success.
One thing we have been able to do is thank God for the blessings. We often don't know what we did to gain a particular success. I like to say, "If I knew what I did, I could do it again." But we decieded a few years back, that the Lord was doing a lot in our behalf and we really ought to thank him. So we did, and found that the more we thanked him, the more we saw his hand in our lives.
One day, a client came in while I was teaching a class and we made a deal right then and he paid me and the deal was closed in such a short time during a busy moment that I didn't have time to get excited and be really grateful to the Lord. I figured I could thank him when the day was over and there were fewer people around. But when that time came, I found that the moment had passed. I hadn't taken the time to celebrate, so I missed out on that moment. Maybe that was good, because it taught Jeanne and I that even though we can't always let the world see our excitement, we can sure let God see it, but we can't be bashful about it. Either praise him or don't, but don't figure you can at a later time.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Can you imagine the reaction you'd get from the client? They might be horrified. They'd be thinking, "these people are just too excited, this must be the first big job they've ever sold, what have I done, how can I get out of this?"
So we pretend that this is commonplace, that it happens all the time, maybe missing a chance to really experience child-like joy. Then we get home and we can't really talk to friends and neighbors about the joy. We have to keep it safely bottled up, because if we let it out, they'll think we're bragging or gloating or showing off. Besides, they didn't know that we'd been up all night for months, sick with worry, wondering how we were going to make ends meet.
I remember the first time we sold a job and were paid a princely sum. It was a rare occurrence. We usually scratch from one job to the next and here we were facing a client who not only wanted what we could do, they weren't trying to cut our throats in the process. We're usually so used to "starving artists syndrome" that we immediately go into cut our price mode when the subject of cost is raised.
The client handed me a check for 50% of the job as if it were nothing, and maybe to him it was little or nothing. But to me, this was enough operating capital to keep our studio going for the 3 months it would take to build his windows, but it would also allow us to go on another three months. I walked away, electric pulses running through my body, maintaining my composure. But through my head, I kept thinking, "this is enough to buy a car, I could go out and pay cash for a car. He just gave me enough money to run my business and to buy a car!" (Okay, a cheap, used car, but still..)
I didn't do anything so foolish. There were materials to purchase for the job, inventory to replace, and tooling to maintain. As we got used to the funds, and they began to be used up, my excitement began to cool to a level where it was easy to maintain my composure. But, every now and then, I yearn for the freedom to really enjoy good things, good moments, to laugh and dance and express the pure joy of the moment of success.
One thing we have been able to do is thank God for the blessings. We often don't know what we did to gain a particular success. I like to say, "If I knew what I did, I could do it again." But we decieded a few years back, that the Lord was doing a lot in our behalf and we really ought to thank him. So we did, and found that the more we thanked him, the more we saw his hand in our lives.
One day, a client came in while I was teaching a class and we made a deal right then and he paid me and the deal was closed in such a short time during a busy moment that I didn't have time to get excited and be really grateful to the Lord. I figured I could thank him when the day was over and there were fewer people around. But when that time came, I found that the moment had passed. I hadn't taken the time to celebrate, so I missed out on that moment. Maybe that was good, because it taught Jeanne and I that even though we can't always let the world see our excitement, we can sure let God see it, but we can't be bashful about it. Either praise him or don't, but don't figure you can at a later time.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Saturday, November 05, 2005
The Client From Hell - Learn To Walk Away
Early in 2003 I ran into some folks who wanted some stained glass in their home. A friend had been discussing another project with them and mentioned that he had an associate who did custom stained glass. They mentioned that they would like to meet with the artist and my friend called me and gave me all the information. He was excited because these folks seemed to want a lot of stained glass and he wanted to help me to succeed. He did warn me that they had a hard time visualizing jobs, so I was going to need to provide drawings every step of the way.
So I gathered a few materials and went to see these potential clients. We met at their home, which was under construction and had been for about two years. I went in to meet them, the husband was there talking with a contractor and I had to wait for about twenty minutes to get my turn to talk with him, kind of par for the course. But when it was my turn, it turned out that he wanted me to wait for his wife, who wasn't there yet. He called her on a cell phone and about a half hour later we all got to talk about the project.
They took me through their home and pointed out places that they wanted stained glass. Three arches in a down stairs kitchen, some panels in the kitchen cabinets, an opening in the wall near the home theater room, a dome in the dining room, a transom over the bedroom, an alcove outside the front entrance and a huge window over the spa in the master bedroom. My head was spinning. This was the big time! I had done many commercial and residential jobs in the past, but never so many great panels and never so much art potential!
I dove into the design process, driving to their site several times, taking pictures and measurements. I began to draw up designs for the windows. After I had three different designs for the kitchen arches and the cabinets, the pass through in the theater wall, and the dining room dome, we set up a meeting time. They wanted me to have designs for the alcove and the spa as well, so I burned the midnight oil and really knocked out some great designs.
When we got together and I laid out the concept drawings, I got the first inkling that I wasn't working with easy clients. As they looked at the designs, there wasn't the normal "Wow, I like this," reaction, there was a lot of "Well, I kind of like that, what do you think?" reaction going on. It felt like the husband had definite opinions but he was waiting for his wife to figure out what she liked. So they were very hesitant. She seemed to be afraid to make a decision or she wasn’t sure what she wanted and she seemed unable to commit. By the time the meeting was over, I was less enthusiastic about the whole project, but felt certain they would soon be ready to move ahead.
We met three times over the next two weeks with me designing many different styles of glass designs. I was doing all I could to get this job, it was going to be a good addition to our portfolio and would be very profitable. The design process was really agonizing, but they finally decided on all the pieces they wanted for the downstairs kitchen, the pass through, the dining room dome and the alcove.
Great! As a salesman/artist/businessman, I now needed to get a commitment and some cash so I could move forward on the project. At the same time, I was busy building panels for other clients and working out details on their jobs, which were moving along smoothly. We scheduled a fifth appointment so I could show them glass colors. I picked out the ones I felt were just right and took a whole sample set with me to their site. They were late again, as they had been every time we met. I was starting to get frustrated with the whole decision process, but the lure of great work in such volume was still very appealing. And the cash from the work would really help with the business.
So, they finally showed up. I showed them the 6 color samples I had for the kitchen panels and they went into their routine.
“Well, that’s niiice…..”
“What do you think?”
Hesitant nervous look, “I guess they’re okay….”
“Well, maybe we better look at some more colors.”
They took every single sample out of the box, one by one and discussed it. They put them in windows and against walls to see what they would look like in different light. This was all okay, with other clients it’s par for the course. I’ve had many customers spend in excess of two hours picking their colors. That’s okay, they have to live with the color choices for a long time, but without exception, they all get closer and closer to a decision. These two were going in circles and they weren’t having any more fun than I was. After the two hours we spent there, they decided on the colors that I had originally recommended.
I wondered later if their decision was just another stalling technique. That maybe they just gave up, tired of the process. I think the husband liked the colors, but the wife just wasn’t going anywhere in her decision process, she just couldn’t say or decide what she wanted.
Since they had made their color choices for the kitchen panels, I collected $3380 from them. A 50% deposit on 6 windows. It was such a relief to walk out with the check, it was a commitment to the whole job. They had agreed to have me start on the mold I was going to cast in the dome in the dining room so I could begin work on that project.
So, I placed a glass order and spent a weekend filling the dome on the ceiling with plastic and spray foam to make a mold. When the glass came I got to work on the arches. I had two built and the pieces cut out for the third one when I went to meet the clients to pick out the color for the glass in the dome. I took Jeanne along, thinking that she could lend support to this lady and help her along the path to picking her favorite color in a way that I couldn’t.
When we got to the appointment, there was another a woman there, the new designer. One in a long number who had come and gone on the project. But she wasn’t a decorator/designer, she was a furniture consultant, really just a glorified furniture salesman with an inflated ego and a mouth that wouldn’t stop. Our clients were just steam rolled by this chick, who didn’t like the window panel we had built for the arch and started shot gunning new ideas for the kitchen.
She then showed me a color swatch, a piece of fabric which was the color they wanted the glass in the ceiling light to match. It was a tan/beige color. But, she specified that it couldn’t have any amber in it. I left the meeting dumbfounded. The way you get beige and tan glass is to take amber and mix in other colors. This woman didn’t know what she was talking about. But she had put the entire glass project on hold.
We never did figure out a color for the dining room glass, eventually the clients got tired of being pushed around by the furniture salesman and cut her lose, and went on to someone else. They didn’t take delivery on the glass arches. They canceled the rest of the order. I ended up putting the cut glass for the third arch in the scrap bin and the two finished arches got hung in storage. The clients eventually ended up putting wrought iron in the arches, it looked nice, but not as fantastic as what our design could have been. They ended up yanking the special wiring they had done in the dining room dome out and putting it back as it had been to start with. That was too bad because the design we had come up with would have really been great and would have given that room a very distinctive look.
Several months later, I learned that a friend in the stained glass business was building a spa window for those folks. I rushed over to his studio to see what they had finally decided on. I had really come up with some beautiful designs for them and I wanted to see how close the final design had come to them.
What I saw was the proof to the old saying that “no matter how much money you have, you still can’t buy taste.” The window was a blocky funky pattern that looked more like a bad tile job than a stained glass window. They chose the most opaque glass available which let as little light through as possible. It really was sad, a waste of money.
My friend told me that those people had not just had 7 different decorators on the job, but they had installed marble floors and then changed their minds and had them ripped out and reinstalled with a completely different design and color scheme. They had cabinets installed and then changed out. They had come to him early on in their construction and had him design work in all the places where they had discussed glass with me. This was a complete surprise, because I had been walking through their home discussing glass ideas when we first went through and each suggestion was met with a feeling of complete discovery. They acted as though they had never had the idea in this or that place, that it was all new.
I didn’t offer a refund to the clients, I had gotten a 50% draw on the work in the kitchen and finished 50% of it. They hadn’t paid for the mold work I did in the dining room, but I chalked it up to experience. The client once asked if he was due any refund or credit towards something else, and I explained my thoughts on the matter which he took in stride. I mean, if you could rip out a marble floor, what’s a little stained glass job?
They say that you need to learn to walk away from deals that aren’t in your best interest. And that’s good advice. A bad deal can cost money and hurt your reputation. So how do you know when you’re getting into a bad deal?
1. I find that it’s really important to listen to the client and hear what they are saying. Don’t let artistic desires or financial rewards cloud your judgment. These clients were an extreme example. I should have realized early on that all the changes in personnel and tradesmen on the job indicated that they were going to be tough to work for.
2. Then you need to ask them what their expectations are. If they are too high or unreasonable, flags ought to go up all over. You need to realize that you might not be in a position to make them happy.
3. If you still feel that you want to go ahead, you need to tell them exactly what to expect. Tell them what you can do and what you can’t. Let them know that you’ll be building the glass but that someone else is going to have to install it (if that’s the case). Try to be accurate, promise them what’s realistic and normal, then try to exceed those promises.
4. Finally, put it all in writing. Before working with this client, I just gave prospective clients a bid document to be able to collect a draw. Now, my bid document spells out that if a draw is given, they are agreeing to the whole project and the full balance agreed upon will be due upon completion of my part of the work.
While going through these steps, listen. If you start to get that creepy feeling that things might not go well, or that you’re in over your head or that these might not be the right clients or especially if they are beating you up over price too much, have the guts to say no. Give them the name of your competition and let them deal with the headaches. Let them get beat up and lose money on the deal.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
So I gathered a few materials and went to see these potential clients. We met at their home, which was under construction and had been for about two years. I went in to meet them, the husband was there talking with a contractor and I had to wait for about twenty minutes to get my turn to talk with him, kind of par for the course. But when it was my turn, it turned out that he wanted me to wait for his wife, who wasn't there yet. He called her on a cell phone and about a half hour later we all got to talk about the project.
They took me through their home and pointed out places that they wanted stained glass. Three arches in a down stairs kitchen, some panels in the kitchen cabinets, an opening in the wall near the home theater room, a dome in the dining room, a transom over the bedroom, an alcove outside the front entrance and a huge window over the spa in the master bedroom. My head was spinning. This was the big time! I had done many commercial and residential jobs in the past, but never so many great panels and never so much art potential!
I dove into the design process, driving to their site several times, taking pictures and measurements. I began to draw up designs for the windows. After I had three different designs for the kitchen arches and the cabinets, the pass through in the theater wall, and the dining room dome, we set up a meeting time. They wanted me to have designs for the alcove and the spa as well, so I burned the midnight oil and really knocked out some great designs.
When we got together and I laid out the concept drawings, I got the first inkling that I wasn't working with easy clients. As they looked at the designs, there wasn't the normal "Wow, I like this," reaction, there was a lot of "Well, I kind of like that, what do you think?" reaction going on. It felt like the husband had definite opinions but he was waiting for his wife to figure out what she liked. So they were very hesitant. She seemed to be afraid to make a decision or she wasn’t sure what she wanted and she seemed unable to commit. By the time the meeting was over, I was less enthusiastic about the whole project, but felt certain they would soon be ready to move ahead.
We met three times over the next two weeks with me designing many different styles of glass designs. I was doing all I could to get this job, it was going to be a good addition to our portfolio and would be very profitable. The design process was really agonizing, but they finally decided on all the pieces they wanted for the downstairs kitchen, the pass through, the dining room dome and the alcove.
Great! As a salesman/artist/businessman, I now needed to get a commitment and some cash so I could move forward on the project. At the same time, I was busy building panels for other clients and working out details on their jobs, which were moving along smoothly. We scheduled a fifth appointment so I could show them glass colors. I picked out the ones I felt were just right and took a whole sample set with me to their site. They were late again, as they had been every time we met. I was starting to get frustrated with the whole decision process, but the lure of great work in such volume was still very appealing. And the cash from the work would really help with the business.
So, they finally showed up. I showed them the 6 color samples I had for the kitchen panels and they went into their routine.
“Well, that’s niiice…..”
“What do you think?”
Hesitant nervous look, “I guess they’re okay….”
“Well, maybe we better look at some more colors.”
They took every single sample out of the box, one by one and discussed it. They put them in windows and against walls to see what they would look like in different light. This was all okay, with other clients it’s par for the course. I’ve had many customers spend in excess of two hours picking their colors. That’s okay, they have to live with the color choices for a long time, but without exception, they all get closer and closer to a decision. These two were going in circles and they weren’t having any more fun than I was. After the two hours we spent there, they decided on the colors that I had originally recommended.
I wondered later if their decision was just another stalling technique. That maybe they just gave up, tired of the process. I think the husband liked the colors, but the wife just wasn’t going anywhere in her decision process, she just couldn’t say or decide what she wanted.
Since they had made their color choices for the kitchen panels, I collected $3380 from them. A 50% deposit on 6 windows. It was such a relief to walk out with the check, it was a commitment to the whole job. They had agreed to have me start on the mold I was going to cast in the dome in the dining room so I could begin work on that project.
So, I placed a glass order and spent a weekend filling the dome on the ceiling with plastic and spray foam to make a mold. When the glass came I got to work on the arches. I had two built and the pieces cut out for the third one when I went to meet the clients to pick out the color for the glass in the dome. I took Jeanne along, thinking that she could lend support to this lady and help her along the path to picking her favorite color in a way that I couldn’t.
When we got to the appointment, there was another a woman there, the new designer. One in a long number who had come and gone on the project. But she wasn’t a decorator/designer, she was a furniture consultant, really just a glorified furniture salesman with an inflated ego and a mouth that wouldn’t stop. Our clients were just steam rolled by this chick, who didn’t like the window panel we had built for the arch and started shot gunning new ideas for the kitchen.
She then showed me a color swatch, a piece of fabric which was the color they wanted the glass in the ceiling light to match. It was a tan/beige color. But, she specified that it couldn’t have any amber in it. I left the meeting dumbfounded. The way you get beige and tan glass is to take amber and mix in other colors. This woman didn’t know what she was talking about. But she had put the entire glass project on hold.
We never did figure out a color for the dining room glass, eventually the clients got tired of being pushed around by the furniture salesman and cut her lose, and went on to someone else. They didn’t take delivery on the glass arches. They canceled the rest of the order. I ended up putting the cut glass for the third arch in the scrap bin and the two finished arches got hung in storage. The clients eventually ended up putting wrought iron in the arches, it looked nice, but not as fantastic as what our design could have been. They ended up yanking the special wiring they had done in the dining room dome out and putting it back as it had been to start with. That was too bad because the design we had come up with would have really been great and would have given that room a very distinctive look.
Several months later, I learned that a friend in the stained glass business was building a spa window for those folks. I rushed over to his studio to see what they had finally decided on. I had really come up with some beautiful designs for them and I wanted to see how close the final design had come to them.
What I saw was the proof to the old saying that “no matter how much money you have, you still can’t buy taste.” The window was a blocky funky pattern that looked more like a bad tile job than a stained glass window. They chose the most opaque glass available which let as little light through as possible. It really was sad, a waste of money.
My friend told me that those people had not just had 7 different decorators on the job, but they had installed marble floors and then changed their minds and had them ripped out and reinstalled with a completely different design and color scheme. They had cabinets installed and then changed out. They had come to him early on in their construction and had him design work in all the places where they had discussed glass with me. This was a complete surprise, because I had been walking through their home discussing glass ideas when we first went through and each suggestion was met with a feeling of complete discovery. They acted as though they had never had the idea in this or that place, that it was all new.
I didn’t offer a refund to the clients, I had gotten a 50% draw on the work in the kitchen and finished 50% of it. They hadn’t paid for the mold work I did in the dining room, but I chalked it up to experience. The client once asked if he was due any refund or credit towards something else, and I explained my thoughts on the matter which he took in stride. I mean, if you could rip out a marble floor, what’s a little stained glass job?
They say that you need to learn to walk away from deals that aren’t in your best interest. And that’s good advice. A bad deal can cost money and hurt your reputation. So how do you know when you’re getting into a bad deal?
1. I find that it’s really important to listen to the client and hear what they are saying. Don’t let artistic desires or financial rewards cloud your judgment. These clients were an extreme example. I should have realized early on that all the changes in personnel and tradesmen on the job indicated that they were going to be tough to work for.
2. Then you need to ask them what their expectations are. If they are too high or unreasonable, flags ought to go up all over. You need to realize that you might not be in a position to make them happy.
3. If you still feel that you want to go ahead, you need to tell them exactly what to expect. Tell them what you can do and what you can’t. Let them know that you’ll be building the glass but that someone else is going to have to install it (if that’s the case). Try to be accurate, promise them what’s realistic and normal, then try to exceed those promises.
4. Finally, put it all in writing. Before working with this client, I just gave prospective clients a bid document to be able to collect a draw. Now, my bid document spells out that if a draw is given, they are agreeing to the whole project and the full balance agreed upon will be due upon completion of my part of the work.
While going through these steps, listen. If you start to get that creepy feeling that things might not go well, or that you’re in over your head or that these might not be the right clients or especially if they are beating you up over price too much, have the guts to say no. Give them the name of your competition and let them deal with the headaches. Let them get beat up and lose money on the deal.
For more articles on stained glass visit http://www.gommstudios.com/stained-glass-articles/articles.htm
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Nov-Building a Globe
Building a Globe .. We've been working the whole year on planning for the candy windows that the Provo Arts Council sponsors each year at Christmas time. I was in charge of getting a globe for the moon in our display. I thought that would be easy enough, but it wasn't. I finally resorted to building two half round lamp shades and putting them together.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Oct-Repairing Major Damage
In July the newsletter talked about shipping a window successfully. We thought you'd like to see what the results are when a window isn't shipped properly and how to repair the resulting damage.
They say you can learn as much from failure as from success. So here's a learning experience we had.
Repairing Major Damage To Art Glass .. We left to do an install, but even before we got there, we realized that the 5' by 4' panel we were carrying had slipped off the rack on our trailer and had been broken.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Sept-Moving And Handling Stained Glass
Moving And Handling Glass
1. We've all seen those trucks running down the road with their loads of glass sitting in upright racks. It's such a common sight that we may not even ask ourselves why they ship glass standing up?
Glass racks used by commercial glass companies are designed to hold glass vertically and at a slight angle.
Our glass rack is built 52" high and the bottom is 13" wider than the top. This gives us about a 14 degree angle to hold the glass.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Aug-Installing Art Glass In A Pool Table Lamp
Installing Art Glass In A Pool Table Lamp ..We had a metalworking artist build a framework for a pool table lamp. It was a little tricky but not difficult to install the glass. We don't electrify lamps, because that would require U.L. listings and the costs for custom work would be prohibitive. What we do instead is call the lamp a "lamp shade" and allow local electricians to install whatever light package they desire.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Friday, July 01, 2005
July-How To Ship Stained Glass
How to ship Stained Glass.. To ship a piece of glass, it needs to be crated. We build a crate around every piece of glass which we ship. It needs to be a custom fit so that the glass can be adequately protected. The following pictures are of us building a crate for a 3' by 5' window. We use the same techniques when crating a smaller window.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
June-How To Repair A Leaded Glass Panel
How To Repair A Leaded Glass Panel
1. A client called and asked us to repair a window in their home. The window had a broken piece of glass and we would need to take it from their home, repair it at our shop and reinstall it in their entryway.
Read the whole article with pictures by clicking the title above.
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