With Everything Going On -- We All Need a Treat!
Who's stressed?  Everybody!  Certainly me.  Like many of you, I'm yelling at whatever screen makes me mad.  More constructively, I just voted -- hopeful you have or will too.  Yay democracy!
And I'm also aiming to get more art in people's hands and homes.  So here's the deal:  10% off the price of anything in the shop.  Use code deepbreath -- when you go to checkout, click on "add a coupon code".  Here are some new items to tempt you.

Art is a Balm for the Soul, and Our Community Still Needs Help
Last spring and early summer, I donated 25% of the proceeds of any sales from the Joy of Glass web site to the Capital Area Food Bank.  That initiative resulted in $726 donated to the Food Bank.  

The need has only grown.  And I continue to gratefully make jewelry and glass art, hopefully bringing beauty and balm.  So I'm renewing that promotion:  25% of any purchases from Joy of Glass before October 31st will go to the food bank. (If you are not local to DC and want the funds to go to your local food bank, put a note in your order.)

At some point we will be able to hug, mingle and go to school -- and come to workshops and art shows!  We can hurry it along with masks and distancing.  We will look back on this and tell stories, right?  Hopefully there will be humor and perhaps unexpected success.
My artist "light at the of the tunnel" is the exciting news that DC has approved the Downtown Holiday Market to operate, with many precautions to ensure safety.  We'll have to work that patience muscle, though, because it doesn't start until November 20th.  Joy of Glass will be there from November 20th through December 6th (the show runs through Christmas Eve). 
In the meantime, shopping is always open at the Joy of Glass website!  In addition, you can shop in person at Taylor's Collective in charming downtown Ellicott City MD.  The are open every day except Monday -- check their website for hours.

I miss you guys! 
My studio hasn't been the same without you.  (My husband tells me I've started talking to myself...)  Fortunately, Covid 19 stats are moving in the right direction and things are starting to open up. 
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I am bringing plate workshops back by inviting groups of 2 or 3 people in a family or in the same "bubble."   I will be able to distance myself at one end of my 8' worktable, and all tools, surfaces and materials will be either sterilized or will be untouched for 3 days before the workshop.  We will all wear masks.

If you are not familiar with my Creative Plate Workshops, you will spend 3 hours in my sunny studio and immerse yourself in the creative process. (No experience necessary!)  You will learn about how glass works, and make a 7" square or round plate using an incredible variety of glass materials.  I will fire your pieces, smooth them if you like, and shape them into a graceful curve.

If you have a group of 2-3 people interested,  contact me at harrigan@joyofglass.com with a few dates that work for you and we will set up your workshop. 

$95 includes all materials and firing.  I am located in DC near Chevy Chase Circle.

I sent $500 to the capital Area Food Bank (rounding up from $471) -- a couple of you  even matched or added to the donation.  Thank you for supporting my glass art, and for helping our community!


The Offer Still Stands -- Buy Local Art, Help Those in Need
The Capital Area Food Bank is an especially important resource at this time.  I will donate 25% of the purchase price of anything you buy from Joy of Glass, through at least May, maybe longer. If you are not local, I can send the donation to your local food bank.  And for my neighborhood fans of the Circle Yoga Cooperative, you can choose that to receive the donation; just send me a note.  

Everyone has their own ways of dealing with anxiety -- mine is making art. Regardless of the state of the world, I can lose myself in the creative process.  I also find that riding my bike (an excuse to be outside!) and cooking (ditch the scale!) keep worries at bay.  What is your way of dealing with the this time of stress?  I hope everyone is coping and adapting well to our new normal.

While most of what I sell in shows is jewelry, I also make glass art for the wall and the table.  For most shows, I have to choose between showing my jewelry or my glass art -- and I generally choose to show jewelry.  But I have missed showing glass art, and I was actually scheduled to open a show of wall art, along with two other glass artists, for late March.  So instead of gracing the walls of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation, I'm showing a few of them here.

I am a proud resident of the District of Columbia and love to celebrate our beautiful and diverse city (and yes, complain about not having representation!).  I'm now making DC-focused pieces --  these will be in my booth but are not yet in my on-line shop, contact me if you want to purchase.

I know it's silly but aren't we all a little superstitious when it comes to our sports team?  I was obsessed by the Nationals World Series games, and nervously worked on my earrings while I watched.  Since they won, I figure these earrings bring good luck!  Soon I'll throw these in with the rest of my earrings, but for a limited time I'm selling them separately -- no extra charge for the good luck!  

I'm excited to be using Argentium sterling silver  for all my new work.  Argentium has a slightly higher silver content (.935 instead of .925), and contains a bit of Germanium (yes, that's an element).  It has characteristics that make it easy to work with but most exciting to my customers, it is brighter, more hypoallergenic and tarnish resistant.  Yay!

Thanks all for the feedback, I appreciate it and have been busy trying out some of your ideas.  I've made three pairs of cufflinks, a men's ring and a pendant that I think might appeal to men.  Let me know what you think, are these what you had in mind?

I will note also that other suggestions I got for men's jewelry include tie clip (with matching earrings, wedding gift!), hat bands, belt buckles and bolo ties.  I'm working on making some samples of those -- stay posted!

​My friends Fred and Leslie tell me I should make jewelry for men.  What do you think gentlemen, would you wear a necklace? A ring?  Or what about cuff links?  (Ladies, you might need to weigh in for the guys since mostly my emails go to you.)

Could you imagine any of the pieces below on a men's necklace (probably mounted in a simpler setting), or on a ring?   Or how about the more organic pieces on the right?  Comment here to let me know​, thanks!

So the fall show season is upon us, and I will be at shows on many fall weekends.  And yet I'm itching to offer more creative opportunities, for gift-making and stress-reducing and general fun-making.

So I'm experimenting with doing evening sessions, and have one planned for Thursday October 12th making jewelry, and another on Tuesday October 17th making plates.  So since they're not afternoons, what should they be called?  They're not classes, since they are just one session and the focus is on making a beautiful object and having fun, more than teaching.  

​Are they Creative Workshops?  Creative Sessions?  Is there another word that captures the essence of the experience?  Let me know what you think!

People who have participated in a Creative afternoon asked me if I have additional afternoon workshops they could come to and make something different.  I considered that idea, and decided that people who have gotten an afternoon of glass plate-making  could probably make a bubble piece, in which you use thin "stringers" of glass to trap bubbles in a regular pattern.  I was right -- the technique is challenging (making consistently parallel lines -- being OCD is helpful!) but not terribly complicated, and there are indefinite variables in size, colors and qualities of glass.

​You can see some of the beautiful results below.  

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So what will be next?  Once you have the basic understanding of how glass works (admittedly a 3-hour experience just scratches the surface)  people make amazingly nice pieces, and with only a maximum of 6 people I am able to help everyone who's stuck or needs some assistance.  

Suggestions or requests, anyone, for additional 3-hour glass workshops?

I thoroughly enjoy getting people hooked on glass, and can steer them to other art glass resources such as the Glen Echo Art Glass Center when they want to go to the next step.