Student life, and travelling by train ...

I started with my year long course, that is focused on the Entrepreneur in the Craft sector, this past week. It's like being back in school with homework and sticking up my hand in class when I want to ask a question ... But at the same time a lot of fun and totally eye opening. We get horrible (LOL) assignments, like having to make contact with NGO's and Government agencies that deals with the craft sector. And all assignment content have to deal with each student's own emerging business. The biggest advantage is that I have to do 'stuff' that I knew for years that I had to do, but always shrunk away from. I mean - it is much more fun to be creative, right? If there were good fairy godmothers out there who could take all that I made and turned it into hard cash, I would not need this course, but of course the fairy godmothers were just stories made up by Hans Christian Anderson ...

So now I have some appointments set up with said Government agencies, got information about a workshop on Exporting products in 2 weeks, and more local selling opportunities.

And I also made contact with the most amazing bunch of people. Fellow students, most in their thirties and older, all trying to make their business as successful as possible in the present economic climate.

To avoid the dreaded rush hour traffic, I have opted to use the train service this week. Monday I could not use the train, as my darling Father came to Cape Town for a visit to his mother and sister, and I offered to collect him at the airport after class. But since Tuesday I was doing the commuting thing by train. Quite fearful of being robbed, thrown off the train by hooligans, and what not, I parked my car in the lot and asked for a ticket. The price was SO good compared to the petrol that my car would have used and the price for a parking spot. Actually it was cheaper to use the train than to park my car in the lot close to the CCDI!

Today some of the other students were also using the train, and since we travelled in the same direction, travel together. The only snag was that they travelled 3rd class. Originally in the bad old days of Apartheid this was the coach used by any person of colour. And us whities never set foot in it. And here is me, virgin train commuter pulled between fear of the unknown and sitting with my new friends. I decided to be brave, and took the 3rd class coach, never mind the fact that my round ticket was 1st class ...

While sitting on the train (it just left the main station) I noticed a woman throwing her empty tin of soda and pie papers on the floor. She saw my expression, and responded that there was no bin on the train. I asked her why she did not keep it till she got of the train and then deposit it in a bin. Before it became ugly my friends interjected and asked her if she threw things around on the ground at home. 'No', she replied. But why here? 'This creates a job for someone ...' was her laconic reply . I got up, and fetched the rolling tin and scrunched up oily paper.

We started to chat, and I told her that I was so proud of my country, how this is an offense and that you could get a fine overseas, and how I see the reaction of foreign tourists when they see such stuff happening. And since the tourist market is a huge segment of my income, I want them happy and in a spending mood. Not disgusted by our poor manners.

Later she moved closer to us, and started asking us questions. I could see that she was intrigued by our little collective of different cultures. Then one of my friends got up and left the train. At the next stop a bunch of young (about 8 - 13 year old) glue sniffing kids entered the train. Sniffing glue out of empty chips packets. And sat next to me. Believe me, I was holding onto my bag as if it was gonna fly away any minute. I moved over to the seat with my friends, and just stared at these sad street kids. Wise beyond their years, high as a kite.

Suddenly some men walked towards the kids and grabbed them, removing the crisp bags filled with glue from their pockets. A scuffle broke out and I was petrified. Most times these kids have weapons on them, even illegal fire arms. At the next stop they broke free and ran off the train. My friend also got off, but he told me to stay put. Told me not to be afraid, there are good people in the couch that will help me if there is a problem. So I sat, chatting to my new friend, the dropper of garbage, till we reached my stop ...

New Artifire articles

Hi all!
I have started to stock up my Artfire shop. Over the next few days I will add more ceramic and Lampwork articles. Please visit it!

Fatigue

This past weekend I attended the Decorex show. What a week it has been! I am still pooped and tired. Sleep is sort of priority number one in my life at the moment.

I did some stand duty, and extended my hours myself, as it is really important to have direct contact with the people. (Even though I hated every moment, lol) Ran out of business cards on the first day, and brought much more the next few days. The response to my work was totally unexpected. I sold some pieces, I got some custom orders and made lots of contacts with both local shop owners and international buyers. What I also found interesting was just the rub-off of creativity from other artists.

I am ready to expand the range and started to play with a new idea yesterday. Unfortunately my regulator packed up yet again - had it for about 6 weeks, and it is making a weird noise. Weird noises is not good if it is attached to an Oxygen tank, I think ... So I am back on the Hot Head for the time being, till I can get the regulator sorted out. I just do not have the energy to travel about 50 km to the supplier, as yet.

Now I need to start adding stuff to my Artfire store. I have also been invited to a wine auction in 2 weeks, where I will be able to show my work off. This is in a very upmarket little town that is on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Time to lit the torch ... Have a good day!

Fear for getting it right

These past few weeks was just outright horrible for me. Few hours sleep per day, stressing about the upcoming Expo and that crawling fear for the unknown. 'What if' was on my thoughts the whole time. What if people really hate what I did? What if they like it so much that I have a gazillion orders, and cannot fulfill them? What if they are just bleh about it? Or those, 'I did not even notice it ...' type of reference to my work.

On the one hand I am really glad that I opted out of the dedicated stand on the CCDI's stand. To be standing there listing to others discussing my work would be to painful. I have handed my babies over to a pet shop owner, who is displaying them in the shop window. I have no control over who will buy them, or what will happen to them.

But it is also with a slight sadness that I realise that I have lost the opportunity to interact directly with customers, explaining to them about the hours spent at the torch melting the glass, telling them anecdotes about the glass industry, etc.

Good thing is that I got an order for a set of my cluster rings. Something that I have yet had to develop into a range. So Sunday when I go to do stand duty I will get some bucks ...

I also met John Bauer who did not realise that I was the creator of the bead cups. We had a long discussion about glass, ceramics, and other stuff.

It was good to spend the morning with Ingrid. I would most probably have been to nervous to enter the hall by myself. And she is a talker. She forced me to chat to strangers about my work.

Lessons in Drawing

Yesterday I started with a drawing course at the CCDI, and hopefully over the next 11 weeks I will learn a bit about making pictures. The aim of the course is to give crafters the ability to make better drawings of products during the conceptualization stage while developing new stuff. Now, I have not drawn pictures for at least 25 years, and were quite petrified of what my stick sketches would look like ...

Our little group of 12 were sitting around huge tables, excitement and fear hanging cloud like over the room. Wire workers, potters, seamstresses, a nice bunch of variety is represented.

Anyway, here is some photos of my first drawings. Today's lesson was just a general lesson, getting us used to drawing, and focusing our attention on becoming aware of translating a 3D image to a 2D medium. We had to do a blind drawing first. I was not allowed to look at the paper, but rather just on the flower in the vase.

The second exercises was a continuous line drawing. At least we were allowed to look at the page this time, but oh boy was it difficult to keep that pencil glued to the page!

The last one is supposed to be an enlargement. Something that I could not do as a child in art class, and obviously still cannot do today!

a Loooong weekend

This past weekend was long. Friday and Monday were public holidays in South Africa, but not in the Grieguszies household. Both me and Leo were busy in our studios from about 09 am till 12 pm every day. I used a whole bottle of oxygen during the course of the the last 5 days!!!

Yesterday was the birthday of the Dearly Beloved. And when I arrived home after a day in the city, I rushed to get some foodies ready for our visitors. My hart se punt was impressed with what I achieved ...

Tuesday morning saw me getting up at the crack of dawn to attend a workshop on pricing of products. All I can say was that it was one of the best I have ever attended. Costing of labour, materials, too much to mention. This morning I was ready with measuring tools to calculate my expenses, writing every thing down in my bid to have correct calculations. On some articles I was under pricing myself, others a bit too much ...

My baby has arrived!

Last week I got my first teapot back from the kiln. As much as I wanted this first baby to be mine and only mine, I had to let her go, all dressed up in red with tiny white flowers. She is now with the rest of her brothers and sisters at the CCDI in their Gift Shop. I will miss her, but have already made some more ...