May 1st marks another year around the sun as a glassblower. I started back in 2008, so it has now been 16 years!!!!!! That is crazy to think about. The first time on the torch feels like yesterday, how much things have changed since then.
I was talking to an old headshop owner friend of mine that I have done business with for 10+ years. I was reminissing on how I used to have to get sales. We would spend a week making pieces, some production, maybe throw a cool piece in here or there, just guess at what would be good sellers. Then load up all the glass in gun/rifle cases (great egg carton protection), throw them in our cars and hit the road. Sometimes you could get a smoke shop owner on a call and schedule a meeting, they would either be there or they wouldn't, and try to get a deal. This could take one stop, or 3 days of dirivng around, you never would really know. The smoke shop owners knew we had bills to pay and they had their own, so quickly I realized that I shouldn't be going out the last few days of the month, when I needed cash cover rent. The best time would be between the 15-25 of each month, couple weeks after bills, and still a week before the next bills were due. Never was an exact science, but tried.
Then, every weekend I would go out to Red Rocks Ampitheather in Morrison, CO. Not for the concert but to hustle glass on the lots. We had a whole underground system there at the time. The parking attendents would be lookouts for us and give us a heads up when the cops were coming. If you got caught, you would lose your whole case and that was a weeks worth of work! Us locals had our systems, the cops mostly busted out of towners.
It was truly hand to mouth street hustling. After getting a sale the next stop would be out to glass supply store to reup on materials, and with what was left over get groceries and pay bills. During this time, I was apart of a firespinning crew that ended up spinning at Burning Man (I was not able to go), I lived in my car truck (see the picture attached of my bed) and had lots of life experiences to say the least.
The next evolution of sales was when FB groups became popular. But that is a story for another time.
#storytime #hustle #comingup #glassblowing #oldschool #hustle #homeless #carcampingbeforeitwascool
So I guess for what its worth, if you want to support a company that was born from the legacy days (didn't even get into how I got to glass, need to talk to a lawyer about what I can and can't say on that), then give CannaDevices a try, you will hopefully stay for the experience after words
