May Madness again!

Yes, its that time of year already when I am surrounded by boxes and a never shortening ‘to-do’ list! This weekend will be the MCM Expo & Comic-con at London Excel, from 26th-28th May, where I have a small booth in the dealer's zone in the North Hall. A lot of people tell me they get lost, the secret is to look at the big section numbers on the wall of Excel itself, we are in section N4 which is the section where the cloakroom stairs are, towards the back of the hall. I’ve attached a map at the end, look for us at BF2.

 

Just because we don’t have a huge stall doesn’t mean I haven’t packed it with as much as possible! I’ve lots of new marbles, pens, pendants, aliens, earrings, plus some brand new designs seeing their first outing at the stall. Look out for a new display box with a weird blue glow coming from it, inside a new range of VERY glowy pendants and earrings, all containing some high grade glow-in-the-dark pigment which the makers assure me can glow up to 12-20 hours after being charged with light! That’s not all, I’ve also a range of glass that only shows its colours when lit by UV blacklights, so ideal for clubs and festivals too, plus lots of other new designs, as well some new big wooden boxes and a show special on ‘B’ movie cushions too.

 

For those of you not coming to Excel who like to come to the London stall I have further good news for you. As some of you may know I’ve been struggling with time issues, finding it hard to be at Covent Garden and have enough time to make glass. I’ve finally got some help with two helpers who are covering the long hours on the stall. I’m still trying out days but at present this means the stall is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays AND Saturdays! Please do pop along and say hi to Ellie and Pip who will have the same high quality glass pendants, pens and earrings, but without my ugly mug to scare you away! One of the advantages of the extra time this will give me is time to create new designs, and some of you may have already seen some of the new mega-sized pendants I’ve been creating for the stall as just one example of some of the new items I hope to introduce over the coming months.

 

As you can see there has been a lot happening here behind the scenes, and this is just the beginning. I’m planning to increase the selection and variety of glass available in my Etsy shop too, so please keep an eye on my shop and Facebook page over the coming months for sneak previews of new designs as well. The Etsy shop is now closed for a few days though so I can concentrate on getting organized for the weekend.

 

I hope I get to see lots of you at Excel this weekend, right now for me it’s back to melting glass and packing boxes!

 

All the best

Glenn

 

LFCC, Birmingham, and Sunden changes of plan

Firstly a big thanks to everyone who came and saw us at London Film and Comic-con at Olympia. For those of you who keep up with my random Facebook postings you’ll know at one point it was touch and go if I’d make it at all! I’m so glad we did, the new layout made walking around a lot easier with wider aisles plus less stair climbing with almost everything on one floor. I’ve already booked for next year, so I’m hopping to make that a regular appearance from now one (fingers crossed!)

 Although this past month has taught me that all plans can suddenly change at the last minute. A combination of transport problems and ill family member two weeks before LFCC caused some very fast change of plans, plus a few sleepless nights trying to re-arrange everything I’d put into place months before. I do dedicate a lot of time and energy before these events to ensure I have everything I need as well as a good choice of some of my best glass for people to choose – but then I also expect last minute things to go wrong, and as much as I make contingency plans forgetting to pack things like enough business cards does still happen!

Recent events behind the scenes means that I am going to have to radically change a few things over the next few months, and regrettably November’s Birmingham MCM at NEC is going to have to be one of the events I am not going to be able to attend. It’s really a shame, as it is such a relaxed event, we meet such great people there, and as a bonus Birmingham has some of the best curry houses we get to visit too! At the moment we may also have to miss the March 2017 one too, but I’m hoping things get resolved before then so we can make our return then. Also I am only able to get to Covent Garden one day a week at the moment, on Tuesdays, and I am also hoping in the next few months that I will be able to get there for more days too. I do also hope to also increase the amount of glass in my Etsy shop too, which not prepping for Birmingham will allow me more time to concentrate on too.

One show that definitely we will be at is London’s MCM Expo at Excel on 28-30^th October. Not only will we be back with as much as I can carry but we will be in exactly the same spot at May, with a ‘booth’ style stall too which makes it much easier to layout and display the glass for you to see. I’m already making new aliens for it, I’ll be extending the range of coloured inks for dip pens too which previewed at LFCC, including three new metallic colours. There will also be pendants, marbles, more rings and earrings, and if we have room some more boxes and ‘B-Movie’ cushions too. I do hope to see you there, so long as nothing else happens in the meantime!

All the best

Glenn

London MCM Expo May 2013

I've said it before, and I don't mind saying it again; Thank you! Thank you to everyone who came and saw us at the Expo at the Excel centre this weekend, who took time to chat to us, who bought something from us, and of course those who just looked amazing! Thank you!



Outside the Excel Centre on Saturday night 

It has to be the most amazing Expo for us yet! With wider aisles, better spacing, and more exits/entrances it was so much easier to get around this time. Of course for us Expo started months ago, with me making extras that I've been putting aside ready, mostly larger sparklier marbles! That didn't stop me from last minute panics and glass melting, and the almost expected propane tank running out on Sunday morning! The local garage had run out of canisters, but luckily a local garden centre had one of my 'emergency back-up size' in stock, so a quick dive there and I was back in business! I managed a couple more kiln fulls by Wednesday evening, including a couple of new Aliens designs too, although neither ended up being mounted as I wasn't happy with them. I did have a very few Aliens, but not as many as I would have liked to have taken.

Wednesday night and Thursday morning was all last minute packing, and 'what have I forgotton' panics, before the evening drive to London. We decided to stay over the night before this time, as it meant we didn't have the early morning start and then drive through rush hour, and we could take more time over setting up. However we were really surprised to see how many Expo-goers had already turned up too, after checking in to the hotel as soon as we walked outside saw a group of fully dressed Jedi going into the corner shop opposite! I got a very quick snap, which doesn't show they were also carrying their light sabres too! So, now you know, Nisa shops are favoured by Jedi's!




Jedi's heading to Nisa

Friday! First a tense ten minutes whilst I tried to book for the October Expo, then a hour to navigate the complex Excel loading bay system, get our passes, unload, park, then finally begin to set up! We were luckly to be on a odd end where the stall next to us had to suround their stall for security (they sold knives and swords) so it gave us a handy wall to display the few aliens I'd bought. It was great to feel rested and able to take our time to set up, but the time still flew and before I knew it they were announcing the doors opened in thirty minutes!

And then the doors were open, and after that everything became a wonderful neon blur! Lots of people to talk to, many of them who'd seen us there last May and had come back again, including one Lady who'd deliberately come along for an Alien for her birthday pressent! On Saturday it was so busy they even opened the doors ten minutes early, but the new systems kept it feeling open and not crushed. I barely got chance to take any pictures, but I did get a quick shot of the Excel on Saturday night, which had turned into a lovely sunny day. Before we knew it, it was Sunday, the Expo was over and it was time to pack away and get home for a soak in the bath, a pizza, rest, and catch up on all the boring admin I've been ignoring for the past month as I've been manically melting glass! That hasn't stopped me from starting to plan for October's Expo though......



Our stall set up ready on Friday

Exhibition!!!

The exciting news is that I have some of my Alien Specimens in an exhibition, starting on Friday! The collection is entitled 'Glass' and features work from 30 different glass artists at the Cuploa Gallery in Sheffield from 3rd May to 16th June.

cupolagallery.com

This is quite a major show, it's been quite a surprise to see myself (and a picture of one of the Aliens) featured in press releases and emails from other mailing lists I'm on of upcoming exhibitions. I really wanted to go up for the opening night, but I just don't think I can make it as I only found out I was including a short time ago (thanks to some lost emails) and it seems all the trains and hotels rooms in Sheffield seem booked that weekend. This was by selection only, so I was delighted to hear I'd been chosen!

 One lobster didn't make it, thanks to the post office, and arrived upside down in a box clearly marked 'this way up,' one of the gallery directors told me he saw the driver offloading it, and was surprised that only one was broken. Not as bad as one artist though, for whom every item he sent arrived smashed. However the lobster I know can be rebuilt, and will give me the excuse to make some tweaks to it that I wanted to make.

This does mean I won't have very many aliens to take to the MCM Expo in London, but space is limited there this year, and hopefully the ones in Sheffield will now find new homes, then I can use the proceeds of their 're-homing' to fund making some more new and exciting ones!

Birmingham Comic-Con

Well, I am back! The Etsy shop is half re-opened, I'm still tried, but still buzzing with ideas after this weekends MCM Expo at Birmingham's NEC. Instead of too much waffling I'm posting lots of photo's here that will hopefully give you a taste of the event, and the always amazing costumes that so many people put together for these Expos that transform them into such colourful events. Ellie has a smart new camera and even managed to get a video clip ( You Tube Video ) of one of the 'parades' of characters - everyone from Darth Vader, Indiana Jones, Xena, to 'Top Gears' The Stig!!! There was even a stall of an R2D2 builders club, with lots of R2D2's wandering around the venue!

A very large and very empty NEC

Home for the next two days, the last set of tables on the end of this row
 

Of course, after a three hour drive the first bit of transformation needed was the hall itself! We got there by 2pm on Friday, ready to unload and put everything together, and transform some unexciting wooden tables into our stall.


A short video of The Parade

R2D2's from the builders club, note the massing Star Wars Stormtroopers at the top right of the picture

Another R2D2, this one hiding in a corner

Fight! Fight! Plenty of chances for some mock posed super-hero/villian fights!

An unlikely group!