Stained glass..

I apprenticed as a stained glass glazier, my learning curve is steep and I pick up high level skills fast..
 after 6 months I was being fed work by the studio... attending shows.. dickens fairs  and there I learned about making money.. everything I had from several months work sold in one day...

The light came on... I can dress up.. have fun.. do coolness. be that guy who smiles and sells you stuff or 9-5 live for the weekends...

I opted for the former..  Art and craft shows.. kind of snooty.. grannies and soap makers.. or painters and jewelers... it was ok...  easy money... I'd wholesale.. do cold calls on gift shops.. regular bidness stuff.... I sub contracted.. built for others and let then sign their names.... design for contractors..sold in galleries.. taught classes... it was ok...

Then... came rennfaires.... till then it was mostly business.. studio life and artistic  idiosyncrasies.. all nighters meeting schedules... normal shite..


I did say "then came rennfaies right?"

Sure it was a way to make money...... but it was also lifestyle... and one I liked.. outdoors, different rules and manners.. all depending on you as a spell binder.. being able to tell the tale...

Or call the birds down like my mother would say...

Irish genetics, seemed to fit the life I wanted... it was good.. Then there was a woman and kids that needed stability..i had started to get sick from the lead and tin I was breathing....... Opportunity knocked..I was asking about having custom bronze lamp bases made... like Tiffany did....which introduced me to art bronze foundry.... they had an opening so I spent the next few years learning how to cast bronze... A hustle here a hustle there..I bought and sold art bronze... produced, traded and made it work for me....

Name it..I did it.... I had calls from all over the country... looking to hire a master and I was exactly that

And on it went till one day I started shaking....it was like having the flu for months... bronze fever they called it.... the tin from working the lead in staind glass windows had made me uber sensitive... my habit of not wearing a respirator paid off..