Well I have good cause not to have blogged TBH - have gone back to uni and am now fully engrossed in a degree in Hot Glass. So I have been blowing glass instead of sitting at my torch and melting it into lovely delicate pretty beads.
But at the weekends I have been a secret squirrel making commissions for a few of my friends. Now I love my friends dearly but oh how I hate commissions! Why? Simply because you have to work to a defined end result and if you find that you can't actually produce what you first agreed upon then I feel a little awkward going back to them and saying that i'm really sorry but I just can't do it - I do always go back with an alternative that I know is manageable so all is not lost. But all the same I feel like I'm almost letting my friends down. My last "inability to produce" was due to a compatibility of glass issue (the chosen colour simply objected to being doused in bicarb of soda and then encased). But yes I find commissions slightly restrictive I guess. Also there are the ones where you think "great I have some artistic freedom" and you think it will be easier.... but oh no don't be fooled. It is just as hard as I simply worry if they will like what I am producing to fulfill their brief.
And yes I get pinickity and fussy about the product and that is because I am having to produce to what I perceive to be their consumer expectations whereas when people buy my sets then they are buying the quality that I believe is good enough to sell. Does that make sense? Don't get me wrong - don't stop sending me commissions.... its just I find them a challenge - a good challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.
