Diary of a Demented Store Owner
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Friday, 27 February 2009
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Thank You, Thank You!
Another year passes us by, and another bunch of glass crates, scrap glass and other miscellaneous stuff gets sold to raise a few bucks for Sick Kids Hospital.
Pat yourselves on the back and walk tall!
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Another New Spectrum Fusible Colour and Another 100 Or So From Bullseye?
To close the gap between Pale Amber and Medium Amber, Spectrum has produced a rich, golden-toned Light Amber. Stock# 110.4SF. Mikey thinks he might give the staff the day off due to all the excitement this has generated.
To celebrate, Mikey had Sarah from Bullseye Glass descend down into the bowels of their warehouse with a bottle of Absinthe and hand pick a special order of curious and stock fusible glass for the pleasure of all Fantasy In Glass fusers and stained glass artists.
We've posted the packing slip from this order here.
Showcasing this glass is a plethora of our patient and cooperative customers...
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Fusers Club
Just a reminder that we still have space in our new Fusers Club, with Pam, which runs on Monday nights starting this coming Monday Feb. 27, at 7:00 PM.
It’s designed for those who already have some basic fusing knowledge, but want more- more information, more technique, more guts, more kiln access and more kiln size (ours is computer controlled and measures 26 x 40")( we also have three additional smaller kilns for in- studio use).Get away from annoying family members where you can create at our tables, use our equipment, take advantage of the expertise of Pam the Studio Advisor, live on the edge of danger and make a lot of stuff and learn some more advanced techniques. The focus is on experimentation and play. Pam will cover everything and more related to advanced fusing techniques, from slumping to kiln preparation and operation, to glass compatibility, to kiln carving, to using ceramic fibre papers, to making and using small casting molds, plus other sundries such as frits and frit castings, powders and stringers and other inclusions. Heck, she's even planning on introducing you to how to design your own art glass. And if that's not enough, she'll cover pate de verre, how to make pattern bars, kiln casting, solving the problems unique to hot glass, and on and on (like the techniques covered in Richard La Londe’s book).
Or you could just ignore her and take advantage of using our facilities.
And what might the class cost include you ask? How about complete and unrestricted access and use of our studio along with the associated equipment (i.e.glass table saw), use of our collection of molds, and use of the instructor (careful, she's ticklish).
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Dear Diary
Dear Diary of a Demented Store Owner,I recently saw a documentary on cable TV called "The Man Who Thinks He Might Have Maybe Seen Tomorrow," about Mikey Figstradamus. It scared the hell out of me. Figstradamus claims that first the Maple Leafs will go more than 40 years without a Stanley Cup win and then Spectrum Glass will copy Bullseye’s Aventurine Blue glass, only to be followed by the obliteration of Bullseye 90coe glass by the oncoming hoards of System 96 product. Should I begin to say my prayers? How good is Mikey at predicting the future? Or have I been duped by the copywriters and marketing people once again?
Gary Brown
Dear Mr. Brown,
There are two schools of thought on Mikey Figstradamus. Either (1) he has supernatural powers which enable him to prophesy the future with uncanny accuracy, or (2) he does for bull#$@ what Stonehenge did for rocks. I lean to the latter view.
Mikey de Figfstredame (Mikey Figgy in Latin) was born in Toronto, Canada just before the time of shag carpets and paisley prints. Supremely intelligent, extremely good looking and well-educated, he worked as a traveling carnival worker for many years picking up the craft of stained glass having learnt it from the Bearded Lady, but late in life his reason failed him and he decided to become a stained glass store owner. Among his works (which includes a collection of fused Frank Zappa busts, charmingly enough) was a scrapbook of prophecy on our industry.
There were so many of these prophecies and they were so vaguely written that they could be made to apply to nearly anything. For example, one quatrain predicted a monopoly supply situation in the mid- 2000's with all competition obliterated in Canada resulting in higher prices and less selection.
Oops, never mind. Seems Mikey may have been right on that one.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
If You're Too Cheap On Valentine's Day
... here's a couple of free patterns.
If nobody loves you, we do!
(images are clickable for full size)
As With Death and Taxes...
... the recent fall of the Canadian Dollar has now finally hit our pricing on Coneart Kilns. Yes, they are made in Canada, but Frank likes American Whiskey and the Yankees.
Kidding.
Yes, Coneart Kilns are a Canadian product, but much of the raw materials they are made from come from the U.S. So, while pricing is going up, it's not as much as other items we source from our One and Only Canadian Stained Glass Supplier. as many of the costs of building a kiln still are based in Canada (labour, etc).
And of course, as this is a Canadian product we don't buy from our OOCSGS we're not getting hit with their (currently 15.9%) American dollar surcharge.
If you've been yearning for a kiln of a decent size for fusing and slumping, then this Canadian kiln manufacturer is the only choice- quality and price-wise. And this is the best time to get one if you want to beat the price increase.
How?
We'll honour the current price for these kilns until March 12 with a $200.00 deposit for delivery before the end of March (or even today as we still have a couple in stock). Go here for current pricing. New prices yet to be determined but will be around 15% or about $150.00, or the exact cost of our Fusing seminars (see here)!
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
More New Experimental Spectrum Keeps Appearing
Here's four more that just arrived, limited supply, currently on sale sitting our new Sale Square Racks. Now, don't think this is it. Spectrum seems to be a tear lately and we've got lots of new, exciting and interesting glass from them right now in our new racks, with more to come.
Here's some numbers on our Sale Square racks:
12 units, all 8' long, with 9-10 rows per rack, with a total capacity of 9600 sale squares!
And they are almost full, and will be next week when we receive our next U.S. order (our Canadian supplier still is unable to get us the inventory we need).
Monday, 9 February 2009
Not Sure What They're Up To
... they are from the west coast after all.
But it sure seems that there is a new excitement at Spectrum Glass. While Bullseye has been the leader in introducing innovation in glass for a long time now, there has been some increasingly interesting and bizarre stuff turning up in our Spectrum shipments as of late.
There's several we'll want to show you, starting today with this Aventurine Green on a Black base, but in a Spirit style mix!
(pic is clickable for a closer look)
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Our Need to Lead- Again
Because blogs are built and posted from the bottom up I thought I'd repost the start of this day's entry here to maybe make it a little more sensible?
Continuing our determination to lead change, take charge and inspire as the rest of our industry huddles and holds back we make moves to increase our selection of glass and tools as our Canadian supplier does the opposite. We present this photo pictorial as proof of our resolve...
Continuing our determination to lead change, take charge and inspire as the rest of our industry huddles and holds back we make moves to increase our selection of glass and tools as our Canadian supplier does the opposite. We present this photo pictorial as proof of our resolve...
Thursday 8:18 pm
Another Sale Square Rack added in our Fusible Glass Section, able to accommodate another 1100 Sale Squares! Will be full this month when our next U.S. shipment arrives as our Canadian supplier is unable to fulfill our needs...
Thursday 4:27 pm
Let's see, Mikey said 'A' tab goes into 'B' slot, right?And doesn't the little slumped glass screw dish look so fashionable?
Our Need to Lead
Continuing our determination to lead change, take charge and inspire as the rest of our industry huddles and holds back we make moves to increase our selection of glass and tools as our Canadian supplier does the opposite. We present this photo pictorial as proof of our resolve...
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
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