Calling Steve Jobs

How cool is this?

We call it the iFigFone mold from Slumpy.

It's mold #9305 at only $15.99 and is the perfect size to safely cradle your iPhone. See the one Zenia made using Spectrum's Aventurine Blue and Green and an Ivory.

So, because Figimodo wants to rub in the fact that he's traipsing all over Paris while we struggle here, by sending us pics of him enjoying himself, we've promised to publish these pics only if he sends along some sale ideas.

Here's today's...

All dichroic 1/4 sheets.............. 40% off!

All dichroic smaller than a 1/4 sheet...50% off!!!

... only until June 26 or while supplies last...

Figimodo Called From Paris

Figimodo took off for Paris this month and left us in a lurch as far as setting up some sale items- his only job here at FIG.

He did notice that we used the same picture of him that he sent, twice last week.

we did it on purpose because he's getting a little too cocky with this 'I have to find myself' in Paris thingie all while we fumble about trying to figure out some good sale ideas (I think we have too...Mikey).

If we publish a fresh picture of Figimodo, he's promised to come up with some good sale ideas. So here's a fresh pic. Let's see how he does.

Just Like Us

... some things never change?

and here's some more...

Of Course We've Got To Post Pics

Asked Zenia to pull half a dozen new molds to show off for you...

Early Mornings At FIG

... are usually spent wondering who will arrive first- summer or Tina.

You see she's usually puttering around in her English Garden at 7a.m. and forgets that Mikey needs his Timmy's at 11 a.m.

Tina sent me this pic tonight.

Here's proof that sometimes they arrive at the same time...

Damn Figimodo!

As you might have read above, Figimodo, the official What's Going to be On Sale at FIG mascot has taken off to France for the summer, putting undue pressure on Mikey and the staff to come up with equally promising sales.

As he traipses around Paris, visiting his family at Notre Dame and generally carousing with all manner of sordid characters (hey, where's Gary Brown this month?) he leaves the FIG staff in disarray digging out of this Slumpy order or even posting some really good sales.

So...

Each week the FIG Staff are posting some hopefully amazing sale item.

This week (until June 10);

1) Taurus III Ringsaw..............$444.44!!!

and for fusers...

2) Bullseye kilnshelf paper....10 sheets/ $29.99

(sales no credit card, some limits may apply)

And, we've also added a Sales Table with continuously rotating stock all at some great discounts.

The Packing Slip, Part Two

The Packing Slip, Part One

Slumpy Mold Order Arrives

Just in and being competently(?) unpacked, priced and put out for sale, over 800 molds for slumping and fusing. And that includes lots of sushi plates which is something some of you have been screaming for (Margo the loudest). And we made sure to include a lot of these molds at under 13" for those of you who've bought one of Coneart's great 110 volt kilns!

This batch includes almost every mold they make and even a bunch in stainless steel preformed into circles and squares, weaves, floral formers, business card holders and more. And, because of their higher cost, Zenia will be setting up a mold rental registry to make it more affordable.

We've also brought in dams in various sizes, large drill bits for cutting the top opening for a lampshade (1 1/8"), the lamp fixture for draped pieces, and fibrefrax in several thicknesses including some presoaked with ridgidizer!

A copy of our packing slip to follow along with a new catalog page on our website.

And now for a quick news flash:

Toronto, ON: Fantasy in Glass has discovered that rats can be trained to help in the manufacture of their molds for glass slumping and fusing.
Apparently it's not just any rodents, but the "highly social, intelligent" figus- a small caviomorph rodent that is native to Toronto. And while they don't use tools in their natural habitats, they were taught by researchers as well as the staff of Fantasy In Glass to do so in captivity.
After several months of training and practice, researchers say, the figus can move a rake as smoothly and efficiently as croupiers in any Las Vegas casino- a handy skill when mixing the mud-like slurry that these molds for slumping glass are made of.
“This is first time rodents have been trained to wield tools”, said Gary Brownosley, a psydoscientist, who led the experiments at the Laboratory for Really Cool Science in Toronto. He elaborated about how they are so efficient and quality conscious that the Teamsters’ union has petitioned the mold manufacturer to either stop using these poor little helpless animals or to certify them to unionize the shop.
While these figus rodents are best at manufacturing molds 14” or smaller in diameter (a size that is easily accommodated by most of the kilns sold at FIG) scientists from the LRCS are considering training baboons in the manufacture of larger molds-1a specialty of Brownosley’s.
While it has long been thought that tool use is a hallmark of higher intelligence, Dr. Brownosley said, the brain structures that underlie such abilities may lie dormant in many animals with good hand-and-eye or paw-and-eye coordination. Training these figus to make molds in captivity provides insights into the plasticity of their brains, he said, and may even shed light on how early humans evolved tool use in the first place.
In separate studies, Dr. Brownosley notes they are examining gene expression in the brains of macaques and marmosets trained to check the coefficients of expansion in Bullseye glass.
To see the handiwork of these figus rodents, and the well over 1000 molds we have in inventory, keep a look out on this blog...

Every Once In A While

... we get someone who takes one of our classes, becomes so smitten with this craft that their enthusiasm is so extreme it's hard not to want to share it with the world.

Nick has been doing glass less than 2 months, and has already done several projects including his latest pictured here.

Keep it up Nick!

Who's Better Looking?

Zenia, or the 1000 Kokomo Sale Squares that are now specially marked, and on sale in our Sale Racks?

Average price is about 50% less than regular Kokomo!

And what's Kokomo?

Only the oldest glass manufacturer in North America

Only the only glass manufacturer with documented sales to the Louis Tiffany studios.

Only the best quality sheet glass manufacturer in production today with some amazing colours such as copper blues, and 5-colour streakies,

And only the best cutting artglass made at sheet glass prices!

Too bad their website sucks...

Molds for Slumping and Fusing

It's no secret that we're big fans of Slumpy's and regularly stock well over 600 of their molds. It's taken us a couple of deliveries and much feedback from customers and staff to find out what you all want.

Didn't help much. We just learnt that you want more selection.

So we said the heck with it and decided to just order almost every mold they make.

In about two weeks we're getting in;

1) over 750 molds, including a bunch in stainless steeel, that because of their higher cost, Zenia will be setting up a mold rental registry. This includes dams preformed into circles and squares.

2) kilnposts and ceramic dams for kilnworking (i.e. making pattern bars)

3) fibre blanket in several thicknesses as well as pre-rigidized

4) lots of sushi plates (we heard you Margo)

5) lots of molds under 13" specially for those who've bought one of Coneart's great 110 volt kilns!

As soon as we get our pro-forma invoice we'll post it here and will offer a prepay sale on this delivery.

See a video tour of our current mold selection here.

Another Note About the Fusers' Club

As you can see in this picture, we have the fastest teacher in the business. Like Superman, she's just a blurr when fully utilizing her teaching superpowers.

New Intergginer Course

Wednesday May 19 marks the start of our next day time Beginner Class. But we've had so many requests for another day Intermediate Class (our Fri class is perpetually full) that we've blended the two classes into one combined- hence the aptly titled Interginner class.

Taught again by Treece, seen above watching a student stare down his lamp.

More details here.

Non-Figimodo Sale Item of the Week

Until May 15, buy a Weller 100 temperature controlled 100 watt soldering iron (the best there is) for a measly low $85.99, and we'll throw in an extra tip (value-$18.99!) for free!

Figimodo's Away

As you might have read above, Figimodo, the official What's Going to be On Sale at FIG mascot has taken off to France for the summer, putting undue pressure on Mikey and the staff to come up with equally promising sales.

Each week the FIG Staff will post some hopefully amazing sale item, but not to be outdone, we've also added a Sales Table with continuously rotating stock all at great discounts.

Fusers' Club With Pam

We had the first class of our latest Fusers' Club last night and boy did we have a lineup!

At least until the fifty men who had originally signed up found out that the teacher wasn't the Pamela they had envisioned.

While the class is 5 weeks, each week is self-contained so we welcome anyone else who might want to explore some more advanced fusing techniques. Besides our Pam is better...

Classes are Thursday nights and run from 7pm to 10pm. Next week students will be making pattern bars.

More details here.

Neanderthal DNA Lives On in Modern Humans!

A decade after scientists first cracked the human genome, scientists have announced today in Science that they have done the same for Neanderthals, the species of hominid that existed from roughly 400,000 to 30,000 years ago. The genetic information turned up some intriguing findings, indicating, for instance, that at some point after early modern humans migrated out of Africa, they mingled and mated with Neanderthals, possibly in the Middle East or North Africa as early as 80,000 years ago.
Comparisons with DNA from modern humans show that some Neanderthal DNA has survived to the present day. Fantasy In Glass has gone one step further, and presents photographic proof here that this is the case.

The First Non-Figimodo Sale Item Here

On sale this week (until May 8, while supplies last)-

the great, but terribly overpriced (in Canada)Taurus 3 Ringsaw!

$444.88 (cash/debit)!

Just got a text message from FIG’s Sales Mascot Fiigimodo.

It seems that he’s had enough and decided to take the next couple of months off.

Apparently he’s on his way to Paris for the summer.

That means the it is now going to be up to Mikey and the staff to come up with their own sales for the next while.

Check here frequently as Mikey scrambles to try and do his best at posting some great sales.

Fellow Blogger

I say 'fellow blogger' only in a self-serving way so that I can greedily associate myself with Anka and her blog about a Canadian learning and living in Florence.

She has a great conversational style, offers insight into the sometimes trying but always interesting day-to-day events of coping in a new culture, and for those challenged with poor reading skills she posts lots of pics!

And she just so happens to be our newest staff member Brittania's mom (the cute one on the left in the pic above).

Go here to read Anka's blog.

To Celebrate the Removal of the U.S. Dollar Surcharge...

... and the pending U.S. Dollar rebate, we've brought in a bunch of stuff from OOCSGS just for you.

We've got these...

... and these...

... and even some of these...

Surcharge News

Just got an email from our OOCSGS. They have just announced the removal of their U.S. dollar surcharge.

We've been critical and suspect of the rationale behind this 'surcharge' but as it has been in place for a well over a year and adjusted almost weekly, we are excited by the prospect of being in a rebate position soon.

Using previous surcharges as a guide, a few weeks ago our dollar was at 99 cents and the surcharge was 5.1% (actual dollar value difference is 1/2 of 1%). This means that if the dollar hits $1.01, we can look forward to a rebate of 5%.

Time to celebrate!

Canadian Dollar- Fact or Fiction?

Canadian dollar worth more than American dollar ($1.001)
OOCSGS still charging a 1.9% surcharge...

Mikey In the First Person Needs to Chat

Just back from a quick little vacation, I find myself all mellowed out, relaxed and eager to get back to glass work. All seems right in the world, heck I even stopped kicking the cat, and an even bigger indication of my relative calmness- I no longer feel obsessed to pick on Gary Brown... until I reviewed the status of supplies and purchasing with the staff while I was away.

Gary Brown comes later...

Before I start, I'm compulsed to offer a diversion, a nugget if you will, of some quirky yet interesting human behaviour, something that might one day aid the youth of today to help prompt some provocative conversation at the local cougar bar. Nevertheless, said story offers the perfect analogy to the situation I found myself returning to on April 16. It offers a strangeness that cannot be explained, an aberrance just as we find in the 2% American Dollar surcharge still being imposed upon you and me by our OOCSGS, an analogy so accurate and on target- one that might sometimes just make no sense at all.

We begin;

In the Bernese Oberland, the heartland of Switzerland, at the mouth of the Simmental Valley, a mere hour from Gstaad, I found myself meandering along a winding Alpine valley road last week, only to come across what you see below.

That's right.

You would be correct if you thought it to be a Swiss military firing range...

Being somewhat surprised by this seemingly random military outcrop, I reconsider the amount of Kirsch that my host must have put in the cheese fondue last night (the trick is to dip your bread into a glass filled with Kirsch first), only to suddenly turn my head in the direction of gunshots. Yes, that's right, the picture below is of the targets the Swiss military are shooting at.

Of course, as you weren't there, but safely in your Snuggie Blanket with Sleeves, watching the latest episode of Modern Family, you might not have noticed that the highway I was actually driving on happened to bisect the two. Picture still a little blurry? That meant that target practice happens over the heads of those who might traverse said highway. That's right folks, your humble servant literally had to duck gunfire to return home to you.

Of course the fact that this actually happens and is regarded as normal to the Swiss, to us makes no sense at all. Sort of like the hockey playoffs running into June, or imposing a U.S. surcharge on goods when the Canadian dollar is higher.

But it happens- here's the proof;

When I came back to Toronto on April 15, I was given the news that our OOCSGS still is charging a 2% (actually 1.9%) surcharge on a Canadian dollar while our dollar has in fact been worth more the the American dollar.

And from whence doth such knowledge of the Canadian dollars superior value come from you might ask?

Well, direct from Canada Customs Clearance my gentle folk, as that's strangely where I found myself that very next day.

You see, having been suitably offended and felt taken advantage of like some sheep herder's maiden, I took to my steed and drove down to the U.S. (actually I'd run out of Aleeve and bourbin- you can't get bourbin in the Swiss Alps) and found, after placing a U.S. order and doing the Customs Clearance myself, the exchange rates for the week prior as copied off the Canada Customs office whiteboard (pictures not allowed) to be as follows-

As you can see, if anything, our OOCSGS should be offering a rebate due to the Canadian dollars higher value, not the inverse.

(above picture provided only as a public service so you all can see our federal dollars at work, or how I felt like Arlo Guthrie in Alice's Restaurant, sitting on the bench at the government office)

I wonder if OOCSGS understands that while 2% might seem insignificant and easily buried into the price of goods, it is the lack of sense of fair play that is what truly offends. And this therefore encourages us to search elsewhere for supplies, not just for the savings, but on principle, as no one wants to feel that they're being taken advantage of unjustly.

We too import goods. We too know exactly what the cost of goods are. We know that Kokomo came in on April 14 when the dollar was $1.0028 and was going to come to us four days later meaning it would be cheaper, but regardless our OOCSGS felt it still needed to add their 2% surcharge without basis.

On April 23, 2010, the dollar was virtually at par...

Have a Look Around Our Store

Literally!

Here's a 360 degree pan around the store's main floor...